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Urban Outfitters says fall is coming early this year.
The retail corporation announced in its earnings call on Wednesday that it would bring in fall products earlier, anticipating supply chain issues resulting from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“While our teams continue to focus on increasing inventory turns, the uncertainty around tariffs means we are likely to bring in fall product a bit earlier,” said the brand’s finance chief, Melanie Marein-Efron.
Marein-Efron said to save costs, the brand shifted its mode of transporting stock from air to boat, a change which added about 30 days to delivery time.
The change in delivery method also comes with the risk of the fashion not being “as accurate as we would like it to be,” she said.
“While there is some fashion risk of bringing product in early, we believe that it is prudent planning to bring in fall inventory, which is less sensitive to fashion, early, given the uncertain tariff outlook and any potential supply chain disruptions that could occur in the future,” she said.
Representatives for Urban Outfitters did not respond to BI’s query about whether customers would be able to shop fall fashion in-store earlier.
The company, which also owns retail brands Anthropologie, Free People, and Nuuly, sources its products mainly from India, Vietnam, and Turkey, Marein-Efron said.
Per Trump’s announcement on April 2, 10% tariffs would be applied to goods from all countries entering the US. Goods from India, Vietnam would be subjected to additional 26% and 46% “reciprocal” tariffs, respectively, he said.
But on April 9, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the additional tariffs to allow room for trade negotiations.
She also said Urban Outfitters may consider “gently and sparingly raising some prices” to mitigate tariff effects.
The company reported a 10.7% revenue increase in the last quarter compared to the same period last year, with $1.33 billion in net sales.
Its shares were up more than 17% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
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