aerie
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Jay Schottenstein keeps going back to the floor
He learned retail in the family stores. Decades later, the American Eagle Outfitters chairman and CEO is still working through the same problem: how to grow a business without losing sight of the person buying the jeans.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is a Pittsburgh-headquartered specialty apparel retailer that has spent nearly five decades selling jeans to teenagers and young adults - and, more recently, learning how to sell a great deal more than jeans. Founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman, the company now runs a five-brand portfolio: the namesake American Eagle denim and casualwear label; Aerie, the intimates and swim brand built on unretouched imagery; OFFLINE by Aerie in activewear; Todd Snyder in premium menswear; and Unsubscribed, a slow-fashion experiment. Fiscal 2025 revenue reached roughly $5.5 billion across about 1,168 company-operated stores, 357 internationally licensed locations, and a digital business spanning ae.com, aerie.com and toddsnyder.com. The company describes its flagship as the leading jeans brand for US shoppers aged 15 to 25. Its recent story is one of divergence: Aerie crossed $2 billion in trailing-twelve-month revenue and posted 25% comparable-sales growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, while the American Eagle brand has been flatter - even after the widely debated Sydney Sweeney denim campaign of July 2025 delivered what management called unprecedented new-customer acquisition.
Wendy Kula
Wendy Kula is a sports and consumer-brand marketing executive who was named Chief Marketing Officer of Saucony in May 2026. A former Stanford lacrosse player with more than two decades in the industry, she most recently served as vice president of women's brand marketing for North America at Nike, where she led the brand's Super Bowl return with the 'So Win' campaign and the launch of A'ja Wilson's signature shoe. Before Nike she built relevance for American Eagle's Aerie and scaled MISSION, the cooling-technology company co-founded by Serena Williams and Dwyane Wade. At Saucony she oversees global brand marketing, digital, creative, and go-to-market strategy across performance and lifestyle running.