Photo Credit: Ajay Suresh / CC by 2.0
Urban Outfitters’ live concert series heads to five college campuses with Gen-Z in mind, featuring Quavo and Towa Bird. The electrifying back-to-school bash kicks off on August 13.
Urban Outfitters has been a major proponent for the ever-increasing popularity of vinyl records, having boasted a decade ago that they were an unexpected leader in vinyl sales. Now, the clothing retailer has announced its back-to-campus live concert tour, featuring performances by Quavo and Towa Bird. UO Live, aimed at Gen-Z audiences, will hit five college campuses starting on August 13.
The traveling campus series captures “one-of-a-kind, can’t-miss experiences designed to foster community/connection for an exciting school year ahead.” As a clothing outlet, the series also aims to “inspire […] fashion through exclusive collabs.” Partners include Birkenstock with UO-exclusive styles, limited-edition drops from BAGGU, new water bottle styles from hydration kings Owala, “cozy collegiate staples” from Champion, and the latest seasonal styles from Urban Outfitters’ in-house denim label BDG.
“These limited-edition collections will be available in 20 speciality campus-adjacent shops, curated for all dorm needs — fashion, stationary, dorm decor, and beauty,” says Urban Outfitters. “Color coordinating for each school will be featured in each store (i.e. orange for Princeton).”
The featured college towns for the concert series include Athens, GA; Georgetown, DC; and Tucson, AZ. Urban Outfitters has also recently partnered with Pinterest to open a series of 20 “Campus Essentials” pop-up stores on campuses including New York University, University of Texas, and Arizona State University.
UO also points out their first store was located on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, so the brand is also making a return to its roots. It’s expected that many of the latest UO pop-up stores will appear at those same campuses.
Though a clothing retailer by trade, Urban Outfitters made headlines back in 2014 after the company’s chief administrative officer Calvin Hollinger claimed to Wall Street analysts that UO was the world’s premier seller of vinyl records. But Billboard analysts were quick to point out that claim simply wasn’t true. Even ten years ago, Amazon was the largest seller of vinyl in the US, with over 12% of the market share; Urban Outfitters tailed with (an admittedly impressive) 8.1% market share.
While Billboard’s data only accounted for the United States, it’s important to recognize that Amazon has maintained a much larger music presence internationally than Urban Outfitters; the clothing retailer only boasted around 50 stores outside the US, compared to the 300-plus stores they have within the country.
Urban Outfitters has still managed to cash in on significant vinyl moments, such as Singles Day (November 11), in which it releases limited-edition vinyl singles for collectors to drool over. Last year, the company dropped 11 vinyl singles from artists like Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Lil Uzi Vert, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, and NSYNC. The UO Music Shop carries over 2,000 vinyl titles, including pressings of newly released albums and classic hits.
