Now I’m curious. :)
What do you really think about Urban Outfitters?

laura

shoot me an email and i’m happy to tell you. i don’t like to discuss negative viewpoints of mine in public because i get a little worried about overzealous lawyers. ;)

d*s

aaah that squirrel is too adorable! :)

Personally, I’d like to read some honest opinions from everyone else, except anyone named “anonymous”.

I love to hate UO, but I can get Vans and good books when they go on clearance because no one ever buys the good ones.

Their new website is a little clunky, but way better than before. But not as good as it should be. I like the new catalogs: better models, better photography.

I wish the clothing was made, and fit, better.

I like that they don’t advertise.

I don’t like their bad rep for stealing art, which isn’t entirely true anyway. I’ve noticed a lot of new stuff (like the Eleanor Grosch stuff) that falls under some kind of “Artist Series” where they seem to be reaching out, and paying, artists for their work and commissioning stuff like Ray Fenwick’s sheet sets.

That owl’s got devil eyes.

I think that they (the design team) want to really be true to artists and work really hard to come up with great designs. I’m sure that the creative force behind UO and Anthropologie truly believe in what they are doing. The unfortunate reality is that it is a publicly owned company, and what usually matters most then is the bottom line. The profits. Profits often times come at the expense of quality and customer service. Customer service suffers when employees are not paid well. Again, all of this goes back to the bottom line - profit.
With all that said, I do not believe that it has to be that way. I think they have lost their original intention of creating a company that supports the individual. There are plenty of publicly owned companies that do it well. UO has lost it’s way unfortunately. And I know all too well - I work for them….

I’d be interested in what you think of UO as well. I helped open the Atlanta store when it opened and being there was not fun in the least.

It’s nice to see Eleanor getting a lot of attention these days (her Keds line, her clock and pillows at UO, etc.) - I went to college with her brother.