Dive Brief:
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Menswear brand Todd Snyder, now part of American Eagle Outfitters’ stable, will open its first U.S. store at 60 Madison Avenue, a neoclassical building near Madison Square park, in a bustling area of midtown across from the Flatiron building, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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The store will open in October and feature some aspects of one of Snyder’s popular stores in Tokyo, which includes a tailor shop, a barber, and a whiskey bar, according to the Journal.
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In an interview last year, after the announcement of American Eagle’s purchase and American Eagle's planned New York store for him, Snyder told GQ magazine: “I want it to be the ultimate store for a man. I want to make a place that’s approachable with good price points and things, like our collaboration with Rocky Mountain Featherbed, that are going to make us more unique, more competitive.”
Dive Insight:
While his most ardent fans may be found in Japan at the moment, Todd Snyder is a quintessentially American designer, with, put simply, an American style. He is known to blend a low-key approach and disregard rules, always with good fit and attention to detail.
American Eagles’ acquisition of Snyder’s business bodes well for both parties. It’s always helpful to a designer to have corporate backing, and American Eagle will be able to attract higher spending, higher fashion-minded men while maintaining the “American” in its name.
“It’s really our type of look, the American styling,” Jay Schottenstein, American Eagle’s chairman and interim chief executive, said in a statement last year.
The Iowa born and bred Snyder spent time as a designer at J. Crew and his work was described by GQ, who named him one of America’s best new designers in 2012, as fitting for “the guy who wears a jacket and tie because he wants to, not because he has to.”
The move helps the American Eagle attract a wider clientele beyond its traditional teenage customer who, frankly, doesn’t have the kind of money older shoppers do.
That has been tough for the entire teenage-apparel space in general, which has had a hard time getting teens to look up from their phones. (Literally: young people these days are saving up for new phones and other high-priced tech rather than splurging on clothes.) Competition from fast-fashion retailers like H&M and Forever 21 is also hurting American Eagle, as teens begin to crave more in-style and unique clothing.
The acquisition also includes Snyder’s Tailgate brand, a nostalgic line of vintage-like sports and pop-culture-themed apparel like old high school sweatshirts and letter jackets, Evil Knievel T-shirts, and Star Wars-wear. American Eagle says it would like to open some 200 Tailgate stores at U.S. college campuses.