Aéropostale Inc., is an American

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

–based retailer of casual apparel and accessories, principally aimed at young adults and teenagers. Aéropostale maintains control over its proprietary brands by designing, sourcing, marketing, and selling all of its own merchandise. The company sells via Aéropostale stores in the United States and through its

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

site. Aéropostale's licensees operate Aéropostale and P.S. from Aéropostale locations in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The first Aéropostale stores were opened in 1987 by R H Macy & Co. in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

, and in

Short Hills, New Jersey Short Hills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) situated within Millburn, in Essex County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey, and part of the New York metropolitan area. The community is a commuter town for resi ...

Pronunciation

Many different pronunciations of the brand name have developed in the United States: arrow-PAUSE-tall, arrow-PUS-tall-ee etc.. According to a video posted by the company on YouTube, the English pronunciation is a simplified version of the French word, which means "French airmail service." In French, it's /a e ʁɔ pɔs ˈtal/. In English, it's /ˌɛər oʊ poʊ ˈstɒl/ or, in

spelling pronunciation A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronoun ...

, "arrow-post-ALL."

Subsidiaries

The now-defunct ''P.S. from Aéropostale'' began in 2009, and originally only offered apparel at value prices to the 7–12 age market. In winter of 2011, P.S. added apparel for three-, four-, five- and six-year-olds to their collections, being introduced with the holiday clothing. Beginning in November 2013, the Bethany Mota collection was added to Aéropostale stores, featuring clothing and accessories designed by American video blogger Bethany Mota. Also beginning in the fall of 2013, the Live Love Dream collection (LLD) was added to Aéropostale stores. Live Love Dream features lounge and activewear geared to girls. The company also offered a secondary brand called Jimmy'Z that focused on surf and skater clothing. The 14 stores were branded as more upscale with higher price points than its parent chain. The company closed all Jimmy'Z in fiscal 2009. In October 2014, the company launched their latest collection, United XXVI, which features clothing with an edgier look. The company works with video bloggers Nash Grier, Hayes Grier, and Cameron Dallas to create these looks based on the type of clothing the boys enjoy. Aéropostale currently has the following brands for girls: Free State, Hobie, Invite Only, Junie & Jade, Lorimer, Map to Mars, The Bikini Lab, United XXVI. And for boys: Free State, United XXVI.

Competition

Aéropostale mainly competes with other outfitters,

Abercrombie & Fitch Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) is an American lifestyle store, lifestyle retailer, founded in 1892 which focuses on contemporary clothing targeting customers in their early 20's to mid 40's. Headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, the company operate ...

and its subsidiary retailer Hollister Co., and

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as well as a few smaller brands. Aéropostale's younger brand, P.S. from Aéropostale, competed with brands such as A&F's younger subsidiary Abercrombie Kids and, formerly, American Eagle's 77kids.

Promotions

In 2007, the company began doing promotions with successful figures to increase brand awareness, and since 2008 started to collaborate with non-profit organisations and artists.

Legal issues

* In March 2007, Aéropostale was accused of infringing a patent owned by Card Activation Technologies, Inc. in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois. In a separate lawsuit on the same patent, Card Activation received a ruling on claim construction which it interpreted as "extremely favorable" to its interpretation of the patent and its "pursuit of infringers" of the patent. * In June 2007, Aéropostale was accused of infringing a patent owned by Picture Patents, LLC in a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York. * In July 2009, Aéropostale was accused of infringing a patent owned by Furnace Brook, LLC in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois. *

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and Chief Merchandising Officer Christopher Finazzo was terminated in November 2006 after an investigation by the

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

revealed that he had concealed and failed to disclose personal and business interests with South Bay Apparel, a major vendor. The SEC issued an investigation on the Finazzo matter in January 2008. A criminal indictment was unsealed and announced June 11, 2010 in U.S. Court in Brooklyn, NY charging Finazzo and Doug Dey, the owner of South Bay with

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

and

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

. Finazzo was convicted on 16 counts, including 14 counts of mail fraud and one each for wire fraud and conspiracy on April 25, 2013.

2016 bankruptcy

After thirteen consecutive quarters of losses, the company was delisted from the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

on April 22, 2016, and began trading under the symbol "AROP" as an over-the-counter stock. Aéropostale filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

on May 4, 2016, with assets of $354 million. The company closed 113 of its 739 U.S. stores and all 41 (in addition to 20 already closed prior to the filing) in Canada, the majority of which were unprofitable and responsible for the company's losses. The company exited bankruptcy in September 2016, after a $243 million bid from a consortium of licensing firm

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, mall operators

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and

General Growth Properties GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American Commercial property, commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin Bucksbaum, Martin, Ma ...

, and capital-investment firms

Gordon Brothers Gordon Brothers Group is a retail focused investment firm that was founded in 1903 by Jacob Gordon. The firm has made headlines with its acquisition of Polaroid from bankruptcy in 2009 and its subsequent sale to Polish businessman Wiaczesław Smo ...

and Hilco Merchant Resources. By January 2017, Aéropostale had reopened over 500 stores under its new management. Aéropostale products returned to Canada in 2019, through boutiques in Bluenotes stores and a dedicated online shop. Following the acquisition in 2017, the company transferred its design, production and distribution license in Europe to the London-based LDN Fashion Design group. It has an annual turnover of almost 1.5 billion dollars (2020) and 1,000 stores in the Americas.

References

External links

*
Official P.S. from Aéropostale website

Aéropostale SEC　Filings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aeropostale Clothing brands of the United States Clothing retailers of the United States Jeans by brand Clothing companies based in New York City American companies established in 1987 Clothing companies established in 1987 Retail companies established in 1987 1987 establishments in New York (state) Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada 2000s fashion 2010s fashion Authentic Brands Group