Early 2000s indie sleaze fashions could also be returning to runways, however the retailer that introduced hipster type to the plenty is exiting San Antonio. After a 16-year run, City Outfitters will shut its Outlets at La Cantera outpost on Thursday, January 22.
Followers of the model got little rationalization for the shutter, which was introduced by way of signage on the store’s doorways. In response to trade tracker The Robin Report, guardian firm URBN is closing underperforming shops whereas specializing in its rising Free Individuals, FP Motion, and Nuuly rental model. The company is ready to debut a brand new FP Motion retailer at La Cantera later in 2026.
Richard Hayne, Judy Wicks, and Scott Belair began the model in 1970 as a part of a College of Philadelphia entrepreneurship course, initially calling it Free Individuals. When the enterprise grew to 2 storefronts, they created the City Outfitters identify. Finally, the 2 labels would diverge on type, though every capitalized on American counterculture.
Whereas Free Individuals carried on the freewheeling hippie aesthetic of the ‘70s, City Outfitters specialised in a extra present type of hip. At its top, it turned a must-stop for suburbanites desirous to cop city indie type.
On the style facet, shops carried ironic t-shirts, reclaimed workwear, and retro sneakers. The house part centered on vinyl information, flooring pillows, and tapestries. In-store units by bands like Vampire Weekend and Bloc Social gathering helped nail down its particular model of cool.
In recent times, nevertheless, its younger demographic has shifted in the direction of fast-fashion manufacturers like Shein and Zara, whereas the classic type market was upended by on-line marketplaces equivalent to Depop and Poshmark. And a sequence of high-profile controversies hardly helped endear the model to its hipster base.
In 2011, City Outfitters drew ire from U.S. indigenous teams decrying its line of “Navajo” clothes and niknaks. In 2014, shops bought a pretend bloodstained sweatshirt referencing the 1970’s Kent State bloodbath. And the model has featured pink triangle and six-pointed star prints that have been lambasted for resembling the badges Jewish and LGBTQ-plus prisoners have been pressured to put on throughout the Holocaust.
The City Outfitters house can be transformed into San Antonio’s first Arhaus showroom, which will even take up a few of the footprint of the adjoining Smooth Environment retailer. In recent times, the Northside procuring heart has seen its retail combine shift away from youthful outlets like Perpetually 21, more and more catering to higher-end prospects on the lookout for furnishings and designer items.
