Collaboration with Urban Outfitters

 In order to make my website applicable to the aspirational aspect of the brief, I decided a fake collaboration with a clothing retailer would help. I did research into brands that 16 - 25-year-olds aspire to own and brands they already own. From a case study of 10 people in the age range;

30% said Gucci, 20% stated Superdry, 20% said Levi's, 10% said Chanel and 20% said Rolex.

Going off of brands they deem aspirational that they have in their possession, 40% said Urban Outfitters, 20% said Gucci, 30% said Nike and 10% said H&M.

I decided to start to focus on research into Urban Outfitters.

Research into the brand :

Urban Outfitters is a leading retail brand targeting young adults through a "unique merchandising mix". Urban Outfitters offers a mixture of womenswear, menswear, activewear accessories and musical merchandise - specifically cassette and vinyl records. 

A large portion of merchandise is exclusive to Urban Outfitters, with products specifically created in collaboration with third-party brands. 

Retail shopping is available both online and physically. Shops are often found in built-up metropolitan areas and shopping centres. These enclosed spaces target consumers' aspirations to shop, talk, and congregate with peers.  

A large part of the brand is upcycling old clothing to be environmentally and ethically sustainable. The Urban Renewal Line works to combat production waste by incorporating old scraps of fabrics. 79% of people claim to be worried about environmental issues. UO offers reusable shopping bags and packaging, as well as digital receipts to reduce paper waste.

UO consumers are between 18 - 28 years old. The demographic will heavily follow the hipster subculture and live alternative lifestyles, influenced by the latest trends. Most consumers will live in urban or suburban areas. 

UO consumers are artistic, aspirational, culturally sophisticated, self-expressive and crave acceptance from peers. Most information is received digitally from social media, instead of paper news or peer opinions. 

54 Urban Outfitters stores are located in Europe. It is currently the 4th leading casual apparel shop, and is most popular with my target demographic. It is 5th most popular in terms of online shopping for teens, behind Amazon, Shien, Nike and Lululemon.

The average price range for vinyl (12") is £32. The average price for a graphic T-shirt is £35.

Examples of Urban Outfitters' exclusive vinyl variants:

Often having exclusive colour variations with differentiating opacity and pattern on the vinyl, these records will be available only from the Urban Outfitters website at a mark-upped price.

Creating the collaboration: 

Using photographs taken in a different set of clothes and environments, I photoshopped the original cd to include the new album cover I'd made. To make it seem more realistic, I added a crinkle filter to make it seem less photoshopped. I then added the customised logo collaboration I'd made that included both brand logos.

For the 3rd page of my website, I made another version, using a similar photo, instead using a vinyl record, that includes the picture of another album cover for some variation.