Urban Outfitters is a famous brand of apparel that offers stylish clothing made of quality materials.
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However, it also presents itself as a shop for everyday wear.
Those looking to buy quality clothes at a store that markets itself as “for everyone” may find a surprise with their expensive pricing.
It often reaches heights typical of premium brands.
Their prices tend to start at $55 on apparel and only increase from there.
Even their shoes hover around the $100 mark.
With such high prices, you may wonder why a brand like Urban Outfitters is so expensive.
Here are 10 reasons Urban Outfitters is so expensive.
Why Is Urban Outfitters So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)
1. Performance
The vast majority of Urban Outfitters stores aren’t performing as well as they used to.
With stores open practically across the world, it takes a lot of work to keep all of them afloat.
For a while, Urban Outfitters faced some serious problems with their products not selling.
Looking at their stock performance, they held strong from February 2021 to August 2021 with closings around the $41 x 1,000 mark.
As of late, though, their closings have been closer to around the $30 x 1,000 mark.
It’s the 30 x 1,000 performance that has also been prevalent in the past five years.
Struggling to make any upward movement, Urban Outfitters is closing some of its stores.
The only way to survive reduced sales is to increase the price of those that are selling.
They have to carry the performance that the rest of their products aren’t supplying.
The problem with this is that if the price becomes too expensive, then it can drive customers away, too.
Since Urban Outfitters targets young adults and teenagers, they rely on the young adults having a large enough expendable income to spend on clothes.
2. Independent Artists
When Urban Outfitters does pay independent artists for their designs, that also eats into their budget.
One of the aspects that Urban Outfitters has a reputation for is featuring artists with unique designs.
The designs they create bring a lot of popularity to the brand overall.
In this way, Urban Outfitters is slightly different than other clothing brands.
They prefer to focus on unknown independent artists over big-name artists.
Buying their designs, however, can sometimes be pricey for the store.
If they already see a reduced revenue because of other various factors, then paying for independent artists only makes the problem worse.
The result is an increased price on the design.
It helps cover the cost of the purchase for the design and supports the store.
If the design is a hit, then any design from the artist in the future will also have a more expensive price.
The store knows that its customers enjoy that artist’s work.
3. Unconventional Clothing
Urban Outfitters has a reputation for unconventional clothing.
Some of their clothes feature profanity while others focus on cult art and punk-style attire.
Urban Outfitters is one of the few large brands that sell this type of clothes.
Because of that, they’re able to price their unconventional clothing at a higher price.
It’s difficult for teenagers and young adults to find those styles anywhere else.
It’s much more convenient for them to head to the store with their friends than it is to try and find a smaller shop with little brand awareness.
They may not even be aware that there are other stores, particularly online, that sell similar clothes.
Instead, Urban Outfitters offers them convenient shopping for unconventional clothing styles and designs.
When the demand for this particular style of clothing is high, the store can further increase its price.
This often happens when a particular design sells quickly.
The demand for it is so high and the supply so limited that Urban Outfitters can increase the price to balance demand and supply.
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With nowhere else to turn, teenagers and young adults pay a high price to have access to the style and type of clothing that they believe defines them.
4. Keeping The Cool Factor
Urban Outfitters takes the same stance on its prices as many other high-end stores do.
They believe that if they were to make their store more accessible by lowering their prices, then the store would lose its “cool” and “exclusive” factor.
If anyone can buy the same design, then the exclusivity of the design loses its meaning.
Urban Outfitters understands that the teenagers and young adults who shop at their stores do so because they want to feel unique.
They want to be trendsetters.
That’s harder to do when everyone buys the same shirt because it’s cheap.
By keeping their prices high, they restrict how many teenagers and young adults can afford their clothes.
That makes those who can afford them feel cool and as though they’re part of an exclusive club.
Because they want to continue feeling that way, they continue to stop at the store.
By keeping their products exclusive to those with a high enough income to afford them, Urban Outfitters makes its customers feel cool, influential, and exclusive.
5. Mixing Apparel With Home Commodities
Clothing isn’t the only product that you’ll find at Urban Outfitters.
They all sell goods for your home and apartment.
These often match the same kind of unconventional style as their clothing.
Since they’re juggling both apparel and home commodities, their prices are higher.
That’s because Urban Outfitters needs a lot more warehouse space to house their home products.
Rental fees, shipping costs, and buying furniture and other goods can be expensive.
The company has to cover those expenses through higher prices.
Like their clothes, they also focus on high-quality products for their home department.
Those types of products don’t come cheap.
Since they’re buying them in bulk for all their stores, it’s a pricey investment.
If Urban Outfitters stuck with only selling apparel, then their prices may have been a bit cheaper.
Since they’re trying to be both an apparel store and a home department store, they have to work harder to sell both.
Both departments carry each other.
If one starts to decrease in popularity and sales, then it influences the prices on the other side of the store as well.
Urban Outfitters is expensive because it’s two stores in one.
6. High-Quality Materials
One of the main reasons that Urban Outfitters uses to justify its high prices is that they use high-quality materials in their products.
This is true to some extent.
Many of their apparel products use high-quality materials that make them last longer.
They feel better against the skin and make the colors and shapes of the designs on them crisper.
Their shoes are also high-quality.
They use the best materials to ensure they last for years and endure a lot of abuse.
Their home products often feature high-quality materials as well.
At the very least, they’re the best of faux versions of pricier materials.
High-quality materials drive up the prices of their products because they’re more expensive.
They require more time to harvest and more time to process.
Sometimes they even come from rare sources.
Since they’re rare, Urban Outfitters has to pay more for them.
Those costs are then passed on to the buyer.
The consumer eats the cost by buying the product at a high price.
It helps cover the cost of manufacture and gives the store revenue.
It’s also why cheaper products use lower-quality materials.
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It’s cheaper to harvest and process them.
As a result, they can sell a cheaper product and still make a profit.
Since Urban Outfitters wants to sell high-quality products, their prices are higher.
7. High Prices
Another reason Urban Outfitters is expensive is that they set their prices that way.
Not all of their items are unreasonably priced, however.
You can find great prices on excellent quality products.
The majority of their products, on the other hand, are considered highly-priced.
8. Limited Editions
A final reason Urban Outfitters is expensive is that it has limited editions.
Their vinyl records, in particular, often only have a limited number available.
Many artists even make their vinyl tracks exclusive to Urban Outfitters.
Because you can only get them at the store, the price for them skyrockets.
There’s very little supply when demand for them is extremely high.
They make vinyl records of the top artists at the time.
You’ll find several Taylor Swift, Lana Del Ray, and One Direction vinyl records at their stores.
They try to take a pulse on what their target group is listening to the most, then they make an exclusive deal with the artist.
That also means they need to pay a certain amount in royalties to the artist.
Royalties and the cost of making the vinyl can add up.
To cover the cost, the price for the vinyl record is high.
Since vinyl records are rare, especially for today’s bands and artists, Urban Outfitters can set them at a high price.
Their customers are unable to buy them anywhere else.
How To Save Money At Urban Outfitters
If you want to support Urban Outfitters but don’t have the budget to afford their clothing, shoes, or home goods, then there are a few ways you can save money.
Follow these tips to save money at Urban Outfitters.
1. Search For Deals
Like any other store, Urban Outfitters does run sales now and then.
Whether it’s around a particular holiday or because they want to, you can find regular sales on their website.
To stay abreast of future sales, you might want to subscribe to their newsletter.
It will inform you of any upcoming deals or new releases on products.
You can also use other coupon-hunting apps and websites to find other coupons to give you even more chances at making a deal.
Some deals can even take half off the original purchase.
It’s a great way to buy a design that you love without having to blow your budget.
2. Try Other Retailers
If you like the style of Urban Outfitters you can find other retailers who also have a similar style.
Some stores include:
- Madewell
- ASOS
- Zara
- TopShop
- WildFox
- Free People
- Reformation
These shops tend to use unique designs and often make partnerships with independent artists.
3. Thrift Shop
Another great way to save money on clothes from Urban Outfitters is to go to a thrift shop.
Eventually, teenagers and young adults will outgrow their clothes.
They also tend to go through them to pursue new looks and trends.
Those clothes end up in thrift shops.
It’s a great way to find high-quality clothing at a fraction of the cost.
Since Urban Outfitters is a popular brand, finding them at a thrift store can be difficult.
However, it’s worth searching.
Finding a shirt, pair of shoes, or other products from this brand at a thrift store is like finding a gold mine.
Take the time to visit the various thrift stores in your area.
You’re sure to find a great product at an even greater price, often in support of a good cause.
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Category: WHY
