URBN Announces Partnership with FABSCRAP to Address Commercial Textile Waste

PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), a leading global lifestyle retailer, today announced a partnership with FABSCRAP to support the organization in reducing the fashion industry’s impact on the planet. URBN will facilitate FABSCRAP’s expansion into the Mid-Atlantic region by providing a new physical FABSCRAP location in Philadelphia, and a working capital grant.

URBN’s relationship with FABSCRAP began in 2019 as part of the Company’s efforts to reduce waste in its supply chain. Each year, over 6.3 million tons of textiles are wasted during the design and production process to make clothing (A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future, Ellen McArthur Foundation). URBN began working with FABSCRAP to recycle fabric waste from their knitting, sample, and pattern-making rooms.

Headquartered in New York City, FABSCRAP is a nonprofit organization that has pioneered a system to reuse and recycle fabric waste. FABSCRAP is dedicated to countering the fashion industry’s commercial textile waste problem, diverting as much unused material as possible from being landfilled or incinerated, while simultaneously creating an accessible materials resource for creative communities.

“We are excited about the partnership with FABSCRAP as part of the next step in our sustainability journey,” said Frank J. Conforti, Co-President and COO, URBN. “Philadelphia is a perfect location to expand due to local demand for service and many relationships with design and art universities and nonprofits in the region. We believe this expansion will facilitate an infrastructure solution for FABSCRAP and our community,” finished Mr. Conforti.

“It’s fantastic that URBN supports the fabric recycling and reuse infrastructure FABSCRAP is building. This infrastructure is a key component of a more sustainable future for fashion,” said Jessica Schreiber, CEO of FABSCRAP. “We are leading the change in how the industry handles fabric waste during the design process, though our work relies on companies and individuals within the industry recognizing the issue and actively seeking a solution. URBN is actively contributing to our growth, increasing the accessibility of our services, and accelerating our impact,” finished Ms. Schreiber.

For more information regarding the URBN x FABSCRAP partnership, please visit URBN Making an Impact. For more information on FABSCRAP and their mission as a textile reuse and recycling resource, please visit www.fabscrap.org.  

Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) is a leading lifestyle products and services company which operates a portfolio of global consumer brands comprised of Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, FP Movement, Terrain, Urban Outfitters, Nuuly and Menus & Venues brands.  The Company’s brands offer lifestyle-oriented general merchandise and consumer products through 644 stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, global websites, and catalogs.  Free People, FP Movement and Urban Outfitters wholesale sell their products through department and specialty stores worldwide, digital businesses and the Company’s Retail segment.

This news release is being made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain matters contained in this release may contain forward-looking statements. When used in this release, the words “project,” “believe,” “plan,” “will,” “anticipate,” “expect” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any one, or all, of the following factors could cause actual financial results to differ materially from those financial results mentioned in the forward-looking statements: the impacts of public health crises such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the difficulty in predicting and responding to shifts in fashion trends, changes in the level of competitive pricing and promotional activity and other industry factors, overall economic and market conditions and worldwide political events and the resultant impact on consumer spending patterns, the effects of the implementation of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from membership in the European Union (commonly referred to as “Brexit”), including currency fluctuations, economic conditions and legal or regulatory changes, any effects of war, terrorism and civil unrest, natural disasters, severe or unseasonable weather conditions or public health crises, increases in labor costs, increases in raw material costs, availability of suitable retail space for expansion, timing of store openings, risks associated with international expansion, seasonal fluctuations in gross sales, the departure of one or more key senior executives, import risks, changes to U.S. and foreign trade policies, including the enactment of tariffs, border adjustment taxes or increases in duties or quotas, the closing or disruption of, or any damage to, any of our distribution centers, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, risks associated with digital sales, our ability to maintain and expand our digital sales channels, response to new store concepts, our ability to integrate acquisitions, any material disruptions or security breaches with respect to our technology systems, failure of our manufacturers and third-party vendors to comply with our social compliance program, changes in our effective income tax rate (including the uncertainties associated with the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, regulatory changes and legal matters and other risks identified in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that actual results may differ materially from any projected results expressed or implied therein.