FP Movement, Free People’s activewear subbrand, is opening its first stand-alone location in Century City, CA on October 16, followed by a store in Boulder, CO on November 27.
“When we created FP Movement, having stand-alone stores was always part of the equation,” Sheila Harrington, president of Free People, told WWD. “It’s a way to connect with the brand more fully. Digital, obviously, is very, very important. But the idea of being able to walk into a store, touch the product, connect with the people behind the brand, feels really important.
FP Movement was launched in 2014 and is owned by Urban Outfitters.
On Urban Outfitters’ second-quarter conference call on August 28, Harrington said FP Movement was Free People’s “largest strategic growth initiative,” and the activewear line’s growth outpaced total brand growth in the quarter and was positive in all channels. Online sales were up triple-digits with growth achieved across both performance and nonperformance classes.
Harrington added on the call, “In the second quarter, our marketing teams continued to increase our investment in Movement with strategic digital and creative brand prospecting tactics, including the FP Movement ambassador program. Building on our brands Moving Together campaign, the team began virtual workouts in the first quarter and hosted a Free People virtual retreat over Memorial Day weekend that supported the fitness and wellness space in a unique way. Our FP Movement customer base grew by 175 percent. With the growth of brand awareness, digital sales and the success of our 50 shop-in-shops within the Free People stores, we are excited to open the first FP Movement stand-alone location in Los Angeles this fall. This will be followed by a location in Boulder, Colorado in the fourth quarter. These stores are the first of several scheduled for next year. This quarter’s tremendous success across all channels and categories reinforces the large growth opportunity. FP Movement has a unique position in the fitness and wellness space, and we believe it has the ability to rival total Free People Brand revenue.”
Free People has 143 stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Photo courtesy FP Movement
