At 11:30 on February sixth, my social justice group and I walked into the lobby of the Aerie design office on 37th street. After signing in, Abbey Ruggiero, the kind lady in which I was able to schedule the interview with, came downstairs on the elevator to pick us up.

We take the elevator three flights up, and the dim elevator’s doors open up to reveal the Aerie design floor. Equipped with bright lights, a huge lightbulb sign reading Aerie welcomes us. The entire wall was covered in wood, creating a rustic cabin look.

Past the two doors lay the magical place where everything happened. We walked by racks filled with fabric and mannequins wearing outfits that were being worked on, waiting for the summer of 2018, where they would be sold along with the rest of Aerie’s upcoming collection – the theme of which, we’re not allowed to tell.After walking for about a minute we reached Jen Foyle’s office, where Abbey walked us in and then returned to her desk to work.

In her office, the first thing Jen does is shake our hands and hand us a VIP card to Aerie – 30% off our entire purchase. Then, the questions began.

Jen talked about how the new Aerie campaign has had an amazing turnout: how she has been getting a positive feedback from customers, how so many models are asking to model for them, and how sales have risen. She also showed us two examples of how Aerie has gone beyond what other lingerie stores are doing. First, we were told the story of how the Make-a-Wish Foundation reached out to an Aerie store when a patient of theirs wanted to go to the mall with her friends. Even though they were only asked to open their store early for her to come and shop, not only did they do that, but they also decorated the changing rooms, created a basket of goodies for them, and gave the girl a $500 gift card. Then, Jen told us about how that night, they were having a celebration at their pop-up store on Spring Street for the All Woman Project, who they recently collaborated with for a campaign. When she asked us if we wanted to attend it, we were overjoyed.

 

Right after school, we ran to the Spring street store, incredibly excited. We had so much fun that night. At four, we watched (and I was able to interview!) Iskra Lawrence and the founders of the All Woman Project, and at 6, we attended the open gallery, where we met Peyton List and Daya.