How Urban Outfitters is marketing home decor to Gen Z
Urban Outfitters is honing in on the home space as it continues to court Gen Z, its chief merchandising officer, Marybeth Cahill, told Modern Retail in an interview.
The brand has been ramping up its decor and furniture options for college students and recent graduates through various partnerships, activations and product releases. In May, Urban Outfitters launched “UO Haul,” a campaign for back to school that kicked off with deploying trucks decorated as dorm rooms throughout New York City. It also mailed out 500,000 copies of its first dorm-centered print catalog.
Then, in subsequent months, Urban Outfitters rolled out a collaboration with Chipotle, held a dorm makeover contest with HGTV and created a collection of $500-and-under dorm or apartment essentials called “Design Your Dorm.” It’s now planning college pop-ups for the fall, building on efforts it rolled out last year.
Urban Outfitters isn’t new to home; the brand has sold items like bedding and chairs for decades. But the brand is focused on staying competitive in the space, especially as Gen Z has no shortage of brands or channels for buying things like comforters, desks or bean bag chairs. Dorm decoration is also a hot topic on social media, especially when it comes to TikTok and Instagram, and Urban Outfitters looks to users’ videos to both source inspiration and see if its products are resonating.
The home category is key to Urban Outfitters’s parent company, which oversees Nuuly, Anthropologie and Free People, in addition to Urban Outfitters. According to Urban Outfitters, Inc.’s 10-K from April, home accounted for 16% of net sales in fiscal 2025, compared to 66% for apparel and 13% for accessories. Urban Outfitters doesn’t break out sales by home, but it does marry the section with the rest of its assortment. “It’s very common for us to take a textile print and do it in pajamas or do it in accessories,” Cahill said.
Modern Retail spoke with Cahill to learn more about the brand’s plans for the home space. Below are highlights of the interview, which have been edited for length and clarity.
A three-pronged approach to home products
“I often reference [our approach] as the ‘3Fs.’ There’s an element of functionality that we want to provide with home — making things easier and useful and workable for our customer and their living space. It 100% has to be fun, and that’s what you see come through in every single thing. … And you want it to evoke this feeling of either delight — which everyone needs, because there’s so much stress in the world — or comfort.
A perfect example of where this trifecta came into play was Catwala [a water bottle with Owala that has a cat collage on it]. Function[-wise], we all need to hydrate, right? But how fun to put cats on it. … The tumbler was one of our best sellers, and it sold out that day [it was released]. … [The partnership with] Chipotle was also unexpected cleverness. Who would think to put Chipotle in Urban Outfitters? But it also makes so much sense, because the two really intersect with Gen Z, and they’re both fan-favorite brands.”
On maintaining momentum, year-round
“We really [have a] Gen-Z focus, but there are different lifestyles and life moments within. … For someone who is in high school, they’re thinking of that dorm [experience]. And then for college [students], it’s that first year, but they might be doing another move outside of the dorm or cohabitating. Then, for a post-grad, maybe they’re moving to New York and a small space. So, we are constantly thinking of the journey of the three, which is sometimes the same, sometimes not.
When it comes to bedding and furniture, these are typically very seasonal. The good news is that furniture, bedding, textile and decor are very important, but we also have this whole other amazing business in gifting and novelty, whether it’s Hello Kitty or Pop Mart stuff. These are the daily glimmers of delight that are always on 24/7.
Hydration has also been a huge trend, … and gathering is important, whether you’re playing games or inviting someone over to your first apartment for charcuterie or a mocktail or a cocktail. Valentine’s Day has turned into Galentine’s Day, and Thanksgiving has turned into Friendsgiving. It goes back to: The answer is with the customer. If we know what they’re doing, we can give them the tools to help that moment be even more amazing.”
Getting inspiration from Gen Z
“It does start with the customer, and [head of brand marketing and communications] Cyntia [Leo] and her team go very deep into our group of ambassadors, doing surveys and focus groups. I actually don’t kick off a season of product unless I am looking at the work Cyntia provided. Recently, Cyntia and her team went out and did a closet raid. What are they wearing? Why? How are they describing it? What words are important to them? That, coupled with just a healthy education of market research and social media, really provides great answers for how we speak to our customers.
Sometimes, retailers can be kind of isolated and think, ‘Oh, here’s what we think the answer is.’ The answer is always with the customer. … This is actually a fun story: On Friday nights, [my family] will go to this restaurant near Villanova [University], where all the kids go before they go out. At one point, I was like, ‘Man, they’re all on their phones.’ But that was for a few minutes, and all of a sudden, [a group] pulled out cards and started playing question games. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love this.’ I brought that back to the home team and said, ‘This is a fun thing to get after to help them enjoy each other more and their gathering more.’ … Now, the cards are coming. They’re on the way. … The world can be tough, and there’s a lot going on, but if we can provide that little glimmer of joy, we’re doing our job.”
Holiday plans for 2025
“Gifting is huge for us, and home is really at the center of that. What will feel different this year versus last year is that gifting will amplify. This came from customer insights, but there’s gifting for others, and then there’s self-gifting. … And I think we’ve done that, both in apparel and in home.
There’s going to be some great novelty coming. That’s something we do so well, but [it will be] amplified and beyond the norm of the actual item. We’re having fun with things like Owala [water bottles] and HydraMini [speakers]. And there are going to be some fun things happening in scent, which is so important and such a giftable item.
One of the messages that the marketing team brought [to the merchandising team] was, ‘Small gifts, big impact.’ … Gone are the days of the generic gift card or what have you. I think we’re going to offer a great experience to the customer, and they’re going to be delighted. So, there’s lots happening. Our gift shop goes live at the end of September.”