(AEO) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the American Eagle Outfitters Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 American Eagle Outfitters 2022 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn this conference over to your host, Ms. Judy Meehan. Thank you, ma'am. You may begin, at this time, your presentation.

我現在想將這次會議轉交給您的主持人 Judy Meehan 女士。謝謝你，女士。你可以在這個時候開始你的演講。

Good afternoon, everyone. Joining me today for our prepared remarks are Jay Schottenstein, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Jen Foyle, President, Executive Creative Director for AE and Aerie; Michael Rempell, Chief Operating Officer; and Mike Mathias, Chief Financial Officer.

大家下午好。今天和我一起準備發言的還有執行董事長兼首席執行官 Jay Schottenstein； Jen Foyle，AE 和 Aerie 總裁兼執行創意總監； Michael Rempell，首席運營官；和首席財務官 Mike Mathias。

Before we begin today's call, I need to remind you that we will make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon information that represents the company's current expectations or beliefs. The results actually realized may differ materially based on risk factors included in our SEC filings. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

在我們開始今天的電話會議之前，我需要提醒您，我們將做出某些前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於代表公司當前期望或信念的信息。根據我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中包含的風險因素，實際實現的結果可能存在重大差異。除非法律要求，否則公司不承擔因新信息、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Also please note that during this call and in the accompanying press release, certain financial metrics are presented on both a GAAP and non-GAAP adjusted basis. Reconciliations of adjusted results to the GAAP results are available in the tables attached to the earnings release, which is posted on our corporate website at www.aeo-inc.com in the Investor Relations section. Here, you can also find the second quarter investor presentation.

另請注意，在本次電話會議和隨附的新聞稿中，某些財務指標是在 GAAP 和非 GAAP 調整後的基礎上呈現的。調整後的結果與 GAAP 結果的對賬可在收益發布所附的表格中找到，該發布發佈在我們的公司網站 www.aeo-inc.com 的投資者關係部分。在這裡，您還可以找到第二季度的投資者介紹。

And now, I will turn the call over to Jay.

現在，我將把電話轉給傑伊。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. This is clearly an unprecedented time in retail. We are cycling extraordinary and uneven demand patterns brought on by stimulus and COVID over the last few years, and we are navigating through a highly volatile macro environment.

下午好。感謝您今天加入我們。這顯然是零售業前所未有的時期。在過去的幾年裡，我們正在循環刺激和 COVID 帶來的非同尋常和不均衡的需求模式，我們正在經歷一個高度動蕩的宏觀環境。

Our second quarter results reflected these challenges as revenue came in below our plan and markdowns weighted on profit margins.

我們的第二季度業績反映了這些挑戰，因為收入低於我們的計劃，並且降價對利潤率的影響很大。

On the first quarter call, we highlighted the actions we were taking in response to changing demand and to reposition our business for an improved second half. This included a firm goal to rightsize our inventory and reset our expense base to be more in line with demand in the second quarter. Significant progress was made across both these initiatives.

在第一季度的電話會議上，我們強調了我們為應對不斷變化的需求和重新定位我們的業務以改善下半年所採取的行動。這包括一個堅定的目標，即調整我們的庫存規模並重新調整我們的費用基礎，使其更符合第二季度的需求。這兩項舉措都取得了重大進展。

On the inventory side, we've cleared all excess spring and summer goods and entered the third quarter with better inventory levels and fresh back-to-school and fall merchandise. We also actioned expense reductions across the organization.

在庫存方面，我們已經清理了所有多餘的春夏商品，並以更好的庫存水平和新鮮的返校和秋季商品進入第三季度。我們還在整個組織內採取了削減開支的行動。

As Mike will review, we are taking further steps to drive improved profitability and cash generation. This includes a hiring freeze, further reductions in noncritical expenses and lower capital spending. We have also paused our quarterly cash dividend. We have returned $265 million in cash to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases, marking our highest level of returns since 2015.

正如邁克將審查的那樣，我們正在採取進一步措施來提高盈利能力和現金產生。這包括凍結招聘、進一步減少非關鍵開支和降低資本支出。我們還暫停了季度現金股息。我們通過股息和股票回購相結合的方式向股東返還了 2.65 億美元現金，這是我們自 2015 年以來的最高回報水平。

While we will take the rest of this year to strengthen our cash position, we are committed to continuing to return cash to shareholders as a fundamental principle.

雖然我們將在今年餘下的時間裡加強我們的現金狀況，但我們致力於繼續向股東返還現金作為一項基本原則。

On a separate note, we made strategic changes to our leadership structure to enhance focus on consumer experience and our growth initiatives, with combined store and digital operations, to enable a more holistic and cohesive view of the customer.

另一方面，我們對領導結構進行了戰略性調整，以加強對消費者體驗和增長計劃的關注，並結合商店和數字運營，以更全面、更有凝聚力地了解客戶。

The new structure will create efficiencies and strengthen the brand experience as we execute seamlessly across channels. This includes more focus on our international business, where I see tremendous opportunity for our brands.

隨著我們跨渠道無縫執行，新結構將提高效率並加強品牌體驗。這包括更多地關注我們的國際業務，我認為我們的品牌有巨大的機會。

I'm pleased with the positive momentum we are building over the past few years. This change will facilitate a more strategic approach as we further optimize key markets, including Canada and Mexico, while fueling our license partners for continued expansion over the long term.

我對我們在過去幾年中建立的積極勢頭感到高興。隨著我們進一步優化包括加拿大和墨西哥在內的主要市場，這一變化將促進採取更具戰略性的方法，同時推動我們的許可合作夥伴長期持續擴張。

As we navigate through near-term macro challenges, we have not taken our eyes off the strong potential for future growth. Aerie's incredible brand platform continues to see exceptional multiyear growth, with second quarter revenue reflecting industry-leading 25% 3-year compound annual growth rate. I remain extremely bullish on the outlook for Aerie and OFFLINE and their future potential.

在我們應對近期的宏觀挑戰時，我們並沒有將目光從未來增長的強大潛力上移開。 Aerie 令人難以置信的品牌平台繼續實現非凡的多年增長，第二季度收入反映了行業領先的 25% 的 3 年復合年增長率。我仍然非常看好 Aerie 和 OFFLINE 的前景及其未來潛力。

American Eagle is a dominant chain brand and the go-to destination for youth, with very strong brand affinity and recognition. Innovation, new products, fueling new fashion trends and further global expansion are key areas of focus to drive profitable growth. We continue to invest in bringing our customers a seamless and engaging shopping experience across digital and stores.

American Eagle 是一個主導的連鎖品牌和年輕人的首選目的地，具有非常強的品牌親和力和認可度。創新、新產品、推動新的時尚趨勢和進一步的全球擴張是推動盈利增長的關鍵領域。我們將繼續投資，為我們的客戶帶來跨數字和商店的無縫且引人入勝的購物體驗。

Our logistics business, Quiet Platforms, is providing significant benefit to our operations, while also expanding its third-party revenue base by offering innovative and more cost-efficient logistics solutions. The growth in the business so far confirms our initial investment thesis on Quiet's value proposition, to have a differentiated performance model.

我們的物流業務 Quiet Platforms 正在為我們的運營帶來顯著收益，同時還通過提供創新和更具成本效益的物流解決方案來擴大其第三方收入基礎。迄今為止，業務的增長證實了我們對 Quiet 價值主張的初始投資論點，即擁有差異化的績效模型。

I'm encouraged by the business and excited about the long-term growth potential, and I'm proud of the continued progress we are making on our ESG initiatives. We look forward to publishing our first ESG report next week, introducing standardized reporting and increased transparency.

我對業務感到鼓舞，對長期增長潛力感到興奮，我為我們在 ESG 計劃上取得的持續進展感到自豪。我們期待下週發布我們的第一份 ESG 報告，引入標準化報告並提高透明度。

Our brands are healthy, and our business is resilient. Comparisons will eventually stabilize, and the supply chain landscape will continue to improve, restoring agility in our operation. In the meantime, we will stay conservative and focused on the core fundamentals that have brought us success in the past, creating great product, compelling marketing, building unique brands with strong customer connection and chasing into demand.

我們的品牌是健康的，我們的業務是有彈性的。比較最終會穩定下來，供應鍊格局將繼續改善，恢復我們運營的敏捷性。與此同時，我們將保持保守，專注於過去為我們帶來成功的核心基礎，創造出色的產品、引人注目的營銷、建立具有強大客戶聯繫的獨特品牌並追逐需求。

The actions we have taken to reset this year's were a significant undertaking. I am thankful to our teams for acting quickly and purposely. Yet, we know there is more to do in these unprecedented times, and we are focused on driving continuous improvement across the business.

我們為重置今年所採取的行動是一項重大的工作。我感謝我們的團隊迅速而有目的地採取行動。然而，我們知道在這個前所未有的時代還有更多工作要做，我們專注於推動整個業務的持續改進。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jen.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給 Jen。

Thanks, Jay, and good afternoon, everyone. This was clearly a challenging quarter. As we managed through the current environment, we remained focused on adjusting our assortments and rightsizing inventory. I'm pleased to note that we entered the fall season with fresh and current assortments across brands. We have significantly pulled back on fall receipts and continued to adjust forward inventory to be more in line with shopping trends.

謝謝，傑，大家下午好。這顯然是一個充滿挑戰的季度。當我們在當前環境下進行管理時，我們仍然專注於調整我們的分類和調整庫存規模。我很高興地註意到，我們進入了秋季，各個品牌都有新鮮和當前的分類。我們大幅減少了秋季收貨，並繼續調整遠期庫存以更符合購物趨勢。

Clearly, lapping enormous demand from last year has also been a hurdle. Yet I see no letup in the consumer affinity and love for casual, comfy and active wear. It's a lifestyle, not a trend, and it's in demand.

顯然，從去年開始的巨大需求也是一個障礙。然而，我認為消費者對休閒、舒適和運動服裝的喜愛和喜愛並沒有減弱。這是一種生活方式，而不是一種趨勢，而且它很受歡迎。

As we see comparisons to last year's season, I'm confident momentum will come back to us. And in fact, looking forward, there are great new trends emerging around silhouette, color and fabrication that will create even more excitement around the lifestyle.

當我們看到與去年賽季的比較時，我相信勢頭會回到我們身邊。事實上，展望未來，圍繞廓形、色彩和製造的新趨勢將會出現，這將為生活方式帶來更多的興奮。

Now let me provide some second quarter details by brand. Aerie revenue increased 11% compared to last year driven by new store openings. Comparable sales were down 6%, following a 25% comp increase last year. Swimwear remains soft. While overall demand was below our plan, the majority of categories posted increases to last year, undies, leggings, apparel and accessories, all posting positive growth.

現在讓我按品牌提供一些第二季度的詳細信息。在新店開業的推動下，Aerie 的收入與去年相比增長了 11%。可比銷售額在去年增長 25% 之後下降了 6%。泳裝保持柔軟。雖然整體需求低於我們的計劃，但大多數類別都比去年有所增長，內衣、緊身褲、服裝和配飾都實現了正增長。

Additionally, OFFLINE continues to show incredible potential and demonstrate strong customer acceptance.

此外，OFFLINE 繼續顯示出令人難以置信的潛力並展示出強大的客戶接受度。

I'm also pleased to see that Aerie's multiyear growth trajectory remains intact. Since second quarter of 2019, revenues have nearly doubled, growing almost $170 million. Our customer file has expanded by almost 2 million shoppers. We continue to focus on delivering innovation and newness to our customers. SMOOTHEZ is our new collection of favorite first layers that we call anti-shapewear. The launch has been extremely successful, driving incremental traffic to the brand and nearly 6 billion impressions to date.

我也很高興看到 Aerie 的多年增長軌跡保持不變。自 2019 年第二季度以來，收入幾乎翻了一番，增長了近 1.7 億美元。我們的客戶檔案增加了近 200 萬購物者。我們將繼續專注於為客戶提供創新和新鮮感。 SMOOTHEZ 是我們最喜歡的第一層新系列，我們稱之為反塑身衣。此次發布非常成功，為品牌帶來了增量流量，迄今已獲得近 60 億次展示。

Our new BRA-ish bra features revolutionary technology, reestablishing our authority and bringing newness back to the business. We will continue to build out our SMOOTHEZ collection in upcoming seasons.

我們全新的 BRA-ish 文胸採用革命性技術，重新確立了我們的權威，並為業務帶來了新鮮感。我們將在即將到來的季節繼續打造我們的 SMOOTHEZ 系列。

On the marketing front, we launched We Are REAL campaign, amplifying inspirational messages from women within the Aerie community with a strong customer response.

在營銷方面，我們發起了 We Are REAL 活動，通過 Aerie 社區內的女性傳播鼓舞人心的信息，並獲得強烈的客戶響應。

Now shifting to American Eagle. Revenue declined 8% to last year. Comparable sales were down 10%. This followed 39% comp growth in 2021. Category trends were challenged as we cycled exceptional growth last year in a tougher macro environment. Our best categories included men's wear overall, women's dresses, shirts, fleece and accessories.

現在轉向美國之鷹。收入比去年下降了 8%。可比銷售額下降了 10%。緊隨其後的是 2021 年 39% 的複合增長率。由於我們去年在更嚴峻的宏觀環境中實現了異常增長，因此品類趨勢受到了挑戰。我們最好的類別包括男裝整體、女裝、襯衫、羊毛和配飾。

We have been highly focused on making adjustments to our buys to ensure we are better positioned for future seasons. In addition to resetting overall inventory levels to be more in line with demand, we are making adjustments across all categories.

我們一直高度專注於調整我們的採購，以確保我們為未來的季節做好準備。除了重置整體庫存水平以更符合需求外，我們還在所有類別中進行調整。

As we make the transition into new denim silhouettes and fashion trends and bottoms, we see an opportunity to better allocate our investment. Additionally, we are beginning to see pockets of improvement in tops as our focus on outfitting yields results. Here, we are rebalancing our buys to emphasize the trends that are working very well. We are also pleased to see the supply chain begin to normalize. This is creating better inventory flows, shorter lead times and enables us to reestablish our best-in-class test and chase practice.

隨著我們過渡到新的牛仔款式和流行趨勢和下裝，我們看到了一個更好地分配我們投資的機會。此外，我們開始看到上衣的一些改進，因為我們專注於裝備產生結果。在這裡，我們正在重新平衡我們的購買，以強調運行良好的趨勢。我們也很高興看到供應鏈開始正常化。這創造了更好的庫存流動、更短的交貨時間，並使我們能夠重新建立我們一流的測試和追逐實踐。

AE remains #1 in jeans and the #2 favorite brand for females and #3 for male and our core demographic. As a dominant player, AE is continuously bringing newness to the category. This quarter, we launched our new Strigid collection, an industry-first, Strigid jeans marry the latest in fashion trends with our unwavering commitment to comfort.

AE 仍然是牛仔褲中的第一名，女性最喜歡的品牌第二名，男性和我們的核心人群中的第三名。作為占主導地位的參與者，AE 不斷為該類別帶來新鮮感。本季度，我們推出了業界首創的全新 Strigid 系列，Strigid 牛仔褲將最新的時尚潮流與我們對舒適度的堅定承諾相結合。

AE continues to be a leader in social commerce and the new realms of the metaverse as we explore new ways to engage with our customers. In the second quarter, we partnered with Twitch on a gaming tournament, which drove strong traffic to our site. Separately, our Roblox experience has become the second most popular experience on the platform. AE is second only to Gucci with 35 million unique visitors to date and exceptional engagement metrics.

隨著我們探索與客戶互動的新方式，AE 繼續成為社交商務和元宇宙新領域的領導者。在第二季度，我們與 Twitch 合作舉辦了一場遊戲錦標賽，這為我們的網站帶來了強勁的流量。另外，我們的 Roblox 體驗已成為該平台上第二受歡迎的體驗。 AE 僅次於 Gucci，迄今為止擁有 3500 萬獨立訪客和出色的參與度指標。

As I said earlier, across brands, my confidence is stronger than ever. We are focused on delivering innovation and distorting into new trends while maintaining a cautious near-term view. We are ready for the upcoming holiday season and spring is right around the corner, with plenty of exciting trends to leverage.

正如我之前所說，跨品牌，我的信心比以往任何時候都強。我們專注於提供創新和扭曲新趨勢，同時保持謹慎的近期觀點。我們已經為即將到來的假期做好了準備，春天即將來臨，有許多令人興奮的趨勢可以利用。

I want to thank Aerie and the AE team for their hard work and being quick to adapt in a very dynamic macro environment. Thank you. And now, I'll turn the call over to Michael.

我要感謝 Aerie 和 AE 團隊的辛勤工作，並在一個非常動態的宏觀環境中迅速適應。謝謝你。現在，我將把電話轉給邁克爾。

Thanks, Jen, and good afternoon, everyone. As we navigate a challenging retail environment, we are leaning into the strength of our operations. We've invested in our supply chain, which is yielding greater speed, efficiency and cost benefit.

謝謝，珍，大家下午好。當我們駕馭充滿挑戰的零售環境時，我們正在依靠我們的運營實力。我們已經投資於我們的供應鏈，這正在產生更快的速度、效率和成本效益。

We have amazing brands, and our selling channels are very strong. We operate an industry-leading store fleet and a truly best-in-class digital capability.

我們擁有令人驚嘆的品牌，我們的銷售渠道非常強大。我們經營著行業領先的商店車隊和真正一流的數字能力。

In the second quarter, channel performance reflected macro pressures across retail. In stores, lower traffic and lower spend drove a 9% comp decline. Digital sales were down 6%. While down to last year, our digital business had seen significant growth over the past 3 years, with revenue up 60% to second quarter 2019.

第二季度，渠道表現反映了整個零售業的宏觀壓力。在商店中，較低的客流量和較低的支出推動了 9% 的收入下降。數字銷售額下降了 6%。與去年相比，我們的數字業務在過去 3 年中實現了顯著增長，到 2019 年第二季度收入增長了 60%。

Digital penetration has also grown to 33% from 24%. Our mobile app had another strong quarter and is now our largest source of revenue in the direct channel. This is a key positive as app customers are our most engaged and valuable omnichannel customers. We are continuing to invest in the latest new technologies to enhance the customer shopping experience.

數字滲透率也從 24% 增長到 33%。我們的移動應用程序又一個強勁的季度，現在是我們直接渠道的最大收入來源。這是一個關鍵的積極因素，因為應用程序客戶是我們最參與和最有價值的全渠道客戶。我們將繼續投資於最新的新技術，以提升客戶的購物體驗。

In the second quarter, we introduced a new mobile point-of-sale system across our North America store base, giving our customers the flexibility to check out or return items through our store associate anywhere in the store. We expect this to improve transaction speed and minimize wait time, especially as we head into our peak fall and holiday selling seasons.

在第二季度，我們在我們的北美商店基地引入了一個新的移動銷售點系統，讓我們的客戶可以靈活地在商店的任何地方通過我們的商店員工結賬或退貨。我們預計這將提高交易速度並最大限度地減少等待時間，尤其是在我們進入秋季高峰和假日銷售季節時。

As Jay mentioned, the organizational changes we have made will allow us to operate with a more integrated and channel-agnostic customer strategy, and it's going to create efficiencies and cost savings.

正如傑伊所提到的，我們所做的組織變革將使我們能夠以更加集成和與渠道無關的客戶戰略來運營，這將提高效率並節省成本。

We are continuing to rationalize the AE store base and close 7 more stores across the North America fleet in the quarter, bringing our regional store count to 858 stores. This is down from 931 at the end of fiscal 2019. We also added approximately 20 new Aerie and OFFLINE locations in the second quarter, bringing our total openings over the past 12 months to approximately 100 new stores.

我們將繼續合理化 AE 門店基礎，並在本季度關閉北美車隊中的 7 家門店，使我們的區域門店數量達到 858 家。這比 2019 財年末的 931 家有所下降。我們還在第二季度增加了大約 20 家新的 Aerie 和 OFFLINE 地點，使我們在過去 12 個月的總開業數達到大約 100 家新店。

Aerie store expansion strategy has been very successful in building brand awareness. After significant investment over the past few years, we are slowing down the pace of openings as we focus on maximizing these investments. As we've noted in the past, new stores grow at an accelerated rate in years 2 and 3 before approaching the comp store average in year 4. So as new stores ramp up, we expect to see very nice returns from our investments, including both the sales and profit generated within the 4 walls as well as the digital halo created for our online channel.

Aerie 門店擴張戰略在建立品牌知名度方面非常成功。在過去幾年進行了大量投資之後，我們正在放慢開業步伐，因為我們專注於最大化這些投資。正如我們過去所指出的，新店在第 2 年和第 3 年以加速的速度增長，然後在第 4 年接近競爭店的平均水平。因此，隨著新店的增加，我們預計會從我們的投資中看到非常好的回報，包括4 牆內產生的銷售額和利潤，以及為我們的在線渠道創造的數字光環。

Our typical payback period on Aerie stores is less than 3 years, with returns that well exceed our cost of capital and reflect the company's highest ROI.

我們在 Aerie 商店的典型投資回收期不到 3 年，回報遠遠超過我們的資本成本，反映了公司最高的投資回報率。

Moving on to supply chain. After a highly challenging year, I'm very pleased to see inbound supply chain improvement. Shipping delays and bottlenecks are easing, transit times are shorter and freight costs, although still elevated to pre-pandemic history, have come off substantially from highs reached last year.

轉向供應鏈。在經歷了極具挑戰性的一年之後，我很高興看到入境供應鏈得到改善。運輸延誤和瓶頸正在緩解，運輸時間更短，貨運成本雖然仍升至大流行前的歷史水平，但已從去年的高點大幅下降。

As a result, our lead times have narrowed dramatically from their peak last November. Importantly, this is bringing back our ability to be more agile and responsive to changes in demand.

因此，我們的交貨時間已從去年 11 月的高峰期大幅縮短。重要的是，這使我們恢復了更加敏捷和響應需求變化的能力。

On the inbound freight side, we expect to see markup relief in the back half of the year as we anniversary $70 million in higher airfreight related to factory disruptions in Vietnam last fall. This is going to begin to benefit the P&L in the third quarter and build significantly into the fourth quarter and into 2023 as we cycle peak usage. Cotton pricing has also moderated from peaks this past spring, and I expect we're going to see product costs look favorable into next year.

在入境貨運方面，我們預計今年下半年加價將有所緩解，因為去年秋天與越南工廠中斷相關的空運增加了 7000 萬美元。這將開始有利於第三季度的損益表，並隨著我們循環使用高峰期而顯著增長到第四季度和 2023 年。棉花價格也從去年春天的峰值回落，我預計明年我們將看到產品成本看起來有利。

Now moving on to Quiet Platforms. Our localized fulfillment model now handles 1/3 of our direct orders across the AE and Aerie brands and is continuing to drive efficiencies. We are fulfilling orders faster and with fewer shipments. Our cost of fulfilling orders are down to both the last year and to 2019. The resulting savings are helping us to contain delivery costs even as rates remain elevated across the industry.

現在轉到安靜的平台。我們的本地化履行模式現在處理 AE 和 Aerie 品牌 1/3 的直接訂單，並繼續提高效率。我們以更少的出貨量更快地完成訂單。我們履行訂單的成本下降到去年和 2019 年。由此產生的節省有助於我們控制交付成本，即使整個行業的費率仍然很高。

Faster delivery times are contributing to a much better online shopping experience for our customers, with approximately 75% of online orders reaching customers within 3 days of checkout in the second quarter. We even see room for this rate to move higher as Quiet Platforms expands its footprint to service additional markets next year, which should enable nationwide next-day services.

更快的交貨時間為我們的客戶帶來更好的在線購物體驗，大約 75% 的在線訂單在第二季度結賬後 3 天內送達客戶。隨著 Quiet Platforms 明年擴大其業務範圍以服務更多市場，我們甚至看到這一比率還有更高的空間，這應該會在全國范圍內實現次日服務。

Over the past 8 months, we have made significant progress in scaling Quiet Platforms. Since closing the acquisition last December, we have added significant amounts of new customers and entered new markets. We expect the momentum is going to continue in the second half. As new customers are entering the platform, they're realizing efficiencies in their operations, resulting in greater engagement and additional business.

在過去的 8 個月中，我們在擴展 Quiet Platforms 方面取得了重大進展。自去年 12 月完成收購以來，我們已經增加了大量新客戶並進入了新市場。我們預計這一勢頭將在下半年繼續。隨著新客戶進入平台，他們正在實現運營效率，從而提高參與度和額外業務。

While Mike is going to highlight the impact of the business on our consolidated financials, I want to note that it performed in line with our plan, with improved results from the first quarter. I remain very encouraged by all the interest we have received in this business as it continues to expand. As we look ahead, our focus remains on capturing even greater share of the market opportunity.

雖然邁克將強調業務對我們合併財務的影響，但我想指出它的表現符合我們的計劃，第一季度的業績有所改善。隨著它的不斷擴大，我們對這項業務的所有興趣仍然使我感到非常鼓舞。展望未來，我們的重點仍然是抓住更大的市場機會份額。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給邁克。

Thanks, Michael. Good afternoon, everyone. As Jay mentioned, we are taking numerous steps to improve profitability and cash flow, which I'll discuss throughout my remarks today.

謝謝，邁克爾。大家下午好。正如傑伊所提到的，我們正在採取許多措施來提高盈利能力和現金流，我將在今天的講話中對此進行討論。

Let me start with a review of the quarter. Consolidated revenue for the second quarter was $1.2 billion. This was flat to last year, including 2 points of growth from our supply chain acquisitions. Brand revenue declined 2%, following record revenue supported by an exceptionally healthy consumer environment last year. Consistent with what others have said, we saw a slowdown in demand this summer.

讓我先回顧一下這個季度。第二季度的合併收入為 12 億美元。這與去年持平，其中包括來自我們的供應鏈收購的 2 個增長點。在去年異常健康的消費者環境支持創紀錄的收入之後，品牌收入下降了 2%。與其他人所說的一致，我們看到今年夏天需求放緩。

For the quarter, Aerie revenue was up 11% and American Eagle declined 8%. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, total revenue increased 15% and brand revenue was up 12% or $130 million. Gross profit dollars declined 26% compared to last year. The gross margin rate of 30.9% contracted 1,120 basis points. Higher markdowns drove 750 basis points of the decline.

本季度，Aerie 收入增長 11%，American Eagle 下降 8%。與大流行前的 2019 年相比，總收入增長了 15%，品牌收入增長了 12% 或 1.3 億美元。毛利潤美元與去年相比下降了 26%。 30.9%的毛利率收縮了1,120個基點。更高的降價幅度推動了 750 個基點的下跌。

I want to emphasize that as we cleared through inventory in the second quarter, our priority was to maintain the pricing integrity and brand equity built over the past few years. Our AUR in the second quarter was the second highest achieved in the history of the company, down only 4% to last year.

我想強調的是，當我們在第二季度清理庫存時，我們的首要任務是保持過去幾年建立的定價完整性和品牌資產。我們第二季度的 AUR 是公司歷史上第二高，僅比去年下降 4%。

We leaned on end-of-season sell-offs to fully clear out all excess spring and summer goods, which was roughly 1/3 of the markdown pressure in the quarter and had a $30 million impact to profitability. Higher freight costs were a 200 basis point headwind to the gross margin rate, and the integration of our supply chain acquisitions drove 60 basis points of incremental deleverage.

我們依靠季末的拋售來徹底清除所有多餘的春夏商品，這大約是本季度降價壓力的 1/3，對盈利能力產生了 3000 萬美元的影響。較高的運費成本對毛利率造成 200 個基點的不利影響，而我們供應鏈收購的整合推動了 60 個基點的增量去槓桿化。

Turning to expenses. SG&A deleveraged 110 basis points compared to the second quarter of 2021. The mid-single-digit dollar increase was in line with guidance provided last quarter, led by higher wages for store associates, new store opening expense as well as increased corporate compensation, advertising and professional services. This was partially offset by lower incentive accruals and expense actions announced last quarter.

轉向開支。與 2021 年第二季度相比，SG&A 去槓桿化了 110 個基點。中個位數的美元增長與上季度提供的指導一致，這主要是由於店員工資增加、新店開張費用以及企業薪酬、廣告增加和專業服務。這部分被上季度宣布的較低的應計激勵和費用行動所抵消。

We remain laser-focused on resetting our expense base. Since our last update, we have expanded the scope of our expense reductions as we continued to target store and corporate compensation, professional services, travel and advertising. We have implemented a hiring freeze and paused noncritical spending.

我們仍然專注於重置我們的費用基礎。自上次更新以來，我們繼續針對商店和公司薪酬、專業服務、旅行和廣告，擴大了開支削減範圍。我們已經實施了招聘凍結並暫停了非關鍵支出。

With these actions, we now expect $100 million in annualized expense reductions from our original plan, ahead of the $60 million discussed last quarter. This translates to SG&A dollars approximately flat to last year in the second half compared to prior guidance for low to mid-single-digit growth.

通過這些行動，我們現在預計我們最初計劃的年度開支減少 1 億美元，高於上個季度討論的 6000 萬美元。這意味著 SG&A 美元在下半年與去年大致持平，而此前的指導是中低個位數增長。

Second quarter operating profit of $14 million reflected a 1% operating margin. This included a $30 million impact from incremental end-of-season inventory sell-offs mentioned earlier and a $25 million headwind from higher freight costs. It also included a $9 million loss from Quiet Platforms, reflecting a sequential improvement from the first quarter as planned and previously communicated.

第二季度營業利潤為 1400 萬美元，營業利潤率為 1%。這包括前面提到的季末庫存拋售增加了 3000 萬美元的影響，以及運費成本上漲帶來的 2500 萬美元的逆風。它還包括 Quiet Platforms 的 900 萬美元虧損，反映了按計劃和先前溝通的第一季度的連續改善。

Margin pressure was felt across brands due to their miss to plan. Aerie's margins were more impacted as a result of several factors. Aerie saw a larger variance to plan, which was based on outsized growth over the past few years. This resulted in a larger impact from sell-offs to clear inventory, and in-season promotions fell mostly acutely in the second quarter due to the timing of Aerie's seasonal clearance activity.

由於計劃失誤，各品牌都感受到了利潤率壓力。由於幾個因素，Aerie 的利潤率受到的影響更大。 Aerie 看到了更大的計劃差異，這是基於過去幾年的超額增長。這導致拋售對清理庫存的影響更大，由於 Aerie 季節性清倉活動的時間安排，第二季度的季節性促銷活動大多急劇下降。

Additionally, we saw some pressure on margins due to a higher number of new store openings, which are still in their ramp-up period. As inventory resets and newer stores continue to build, we expect Aerie's margins to show a meaningful recovery back to double digits in the second half.

此外，由於新開店的數量增加，我們看到利潤率面臨一些壓力，這些新店仍處於起步階段。隨著庫存的重置和新店的不斷建立，我們預計 Aerie 的利潤率將在下半年顯著恢復至兩位數。

Adjusted EPS was $0.04 per share and included a $1 million interest add-back to net income. Our adjusted diluted share count was 207 million. During the second quarter, we took steps to strengthen our capital structure. We exchanged $342 million or approximately 80% of the principal associated with our convertible note and upsized and extended our ABL facility. This provides additional liquidity under more favorable terms.

調整後每股收益為 0.04 美元，其中包括 100 萬美元的利息加回淨收入。我們調整後的稀釋股數為 2.07 億股。在第二季度，我們採取措施加強我們的資本結構。我們交換了 3.42 億美元或約 80% 的與我們可轉換票據相關的本金，並擴大和擴展了我們的 ABL 設施。這在更有利的條件下提供了額外的流動性。

We also completed a $200 million accelerated repurchase program. In the second quarter, we repurchased 17 million shares as part of the program. With the full benefit of these actions, we expect a third quarter weighted average diluted share count of 198 million.

我們還完成了 2 億美元的加速回購計劃。在第二季度，我們回購了 1700 萬股作為該計劃的一部分。憑藉這些行動的全部好處，我們預計第三季度加權平均攤薄股份數為 1.98 億股。

Consolidated ending inventory cost was up 36% compared to last year, reflecting a 10-point improvement from first quarter levels. From a brand standpoint, Aerie and AE each represented half the increase, with approximately 20% of the increase driven by black leggings, a core item that sees strong year-round demand.

與去年相比，合併期末庫存成本上升了 36%，比第一季度的水平提高了 10 個百分點。從品牌的角度來看，Aerie 和 AE 各佔一半的增幅，其中約 20% 的增幅來自黑色緊身褲，這是一個全年需求強勁的核心項目。

Total inventory units were up 22%. This reflected higher in-stocks as we lapped supply chain disruption last year, earlier receipts of back-to-school and fall goods, reflecting improved lead times, and higher units to support new Aerie and OFFLINE store openings.

總庫存單位增加了 22%。這反映了庫存增加，因為我們去年經歷了供應鏈中斷，更早收到了返校和秋季商品，反映了交貨時間的改善，以及支持新 Aerie 和離線商店開業的更多單位。

Quarter end inventory is current and fresh for the fall season. Clearance levels are in line with last year, and we do not have packaways.

季度末庫存是秋季的最新庫存。清倉水平與去年一致，我們沒有打包。

Given ongoing macro challenges, we have taken further action to reduce inventories for the second half of the year. As we make additional progress, we expect to end the third quarter with inventory up in the mid-single digits and fourth quarter ending inventory down to last year. We anticipate promotional intensity to remain high across retail in the back half of the year. Although we will not be in the end of this, with inventory plans more aligned with demand, we're better positioned to navigate through it.

鑑於持續存在的宏觀挑戰，我們已採取進一步行動減少下半年的庫存。隨著我們取得更多進展，我們預計第三季度末庫存將上升至個位數中位數，第四季度末庫存將降至去年。我們預計今年下半年零售業的促銷強度將保持高位。儘管我們不會結束，但隨著庫存計劃更符合需求，我們更有能力通過它進行導航。

We ended the quarter with $98 million in cash and total liquidity of $453 million. Capital expenditures totaled $69 million in the quarter. As mentioned earlier, we have paused all uncommitted CapEx spend for the balance of the year as we absorb and grow into our investments. For the full year, we now expect capital expenditures of approximately $250 million. This is down from our prior guidance of $275 million, with work being done to reassess investment needs for 2023 as well.

我們在本季度結束時擁有 9800 萬美元的現金和 4.53 億美元的總流動資金。本季度的資本支出總額為 6900 萬美元。如前所述，隨著我們吸收並發展我們的投資，我們已暫停所有未承諾的資本支出支出。我們現在預計全年的資本支出約為 2.5 億美元。這低於我們之前 2.75 億美元的指導，並且正在重新評估 2023 年的投資需求。

Now on to our outlook. Demand remains challenging, especially as we cycle an incredibly strong and record back-to-school season last year, with brand revenue down in the high single digits quarter-to-date. Assuming current trends continue, we expect third quarter gross margin to be in the mid-30s and fourth quarter in the low 30s.

現在談談我們的展望。需求仍然充滿挑戰，尤其是在我們去年經歷了一個令人難以置信的強勁和創紀錄的返校季，品牌收入在本季度以高個位數下降。假設當前趨勢繼續下去，我們預計第三季度毛利率將在 30 年代中期，第四季度將在 30 年代低點。

This reflects higher markdowns as a result of the current demand environment and our seasonal clearance cadence, which is more weighted to the fourth quarter. We are also anticipating freight relief as we lap significant use of airfreight linked to the Vietnam factory closures last year, especially in the fourth quarter.

這反映了由於當前的需求環境和我們的季節性清倉節奏導致的更高的降價，這對第四季度的權重更大。我們還預計貨運會減輕，因為我們去年大量使用與越南工廠關閉有關的空運，尤其是在第四季度。

As I noted earlier, SG&A dollars are expected to be relatively flat in the back half, our tax rate assumption in the high 20s and weighted average share count at approximately 198 million.

正如我之前提到的，預計 SG&A 美元在下半年將相對持平，我們的稅率假設在 20 年代高位，加權平均股票數量約為 1.98 億股。

2022 is clearly shaping up very differently from what we had originally anticipated. As Jay noted, we're prioritizing liquidity and financial flexibility in the near term and pausing our quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share. American Eagle Outfitters has a long history of returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchase. We remain committed to maintaining this precedent in the long run.

2022 年的情況顯然與我們最初的預期大相徑庭。正如傑伊指出的那樣，我們在短期內優先考慮流動性和財務靈活性，並暫停每股 0.18 美元的季度現金股息。 American Eagle Outfitters 通過股息和股票回購向股東返還現金的歷史悠久。從長遠來看，我們仍然致力於保持這一先例。

In the midst of the challenges we're facing this year, we're also working hard to position 2023 for improved profitability, solidifying worker cross-expenses, CapEx and inventory. As Jay noted, our brands and operations remain strong, and I'm confident this will come through in our results next year.

在我們今年面臨的挑戰中，我們也在努力定位 2023 年，以提高盈利能力、鞏固員工交叉費用、資本支出和庫存。正如傑伊所說，我們的品牌和運營依然強勁，我相信這將在我們明年的業績中體現出來。

With that, I'll open it up for questions.

有了這個，我會打開它來提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞銀的 Jay Sole。

I want to ask about Aerie. And if you could just talk about where in the quarter maybe the projection differed from what played out. Was it that your view on the macro was optimistic? Was it some of the styles didn't resonate? Was it some of the categories maybe that you thought would trend didn't versus other categories?

我想問一下Aerie。如果你可以談談本季度的哪個位置，那麼預測可能與實際情況不同。你對宏觀的看法是樂觀的嗎？是不是有些風格沒有引起共鳴？與其他類別相比，您認為某些類別可能不會出現趨勢嗎？

If you can just sort of dive in a little bit and talk about where the differences were in that business versus your expectations, that would be great.

如果您可以稍微深入一點，談談該業務與您的期望之間的差異，那就太好了。

Yes, I can start, Jay. And I could hit some of the trend progression. You can hit the product side of Jay's question. Thanks, Jay, by the way. So if you go back to the first quarter call, May 24, we talked about the consistency of the sales trend that we were seeing through the first quarter. Up in the mid- to high -- mid-teens to high teens to 2019 is what we were talking about then. And we saw that very consistently, February through April.

是的，我可以開始了，傑。而且我可以達到一些趨勢進展。您可以點擊 Jay 問題的產品方面。謝謝，傑伊，順便說一句。因此，如果您回到 5 月 24 日的第一季度電話會議，我們談到了我們在第一季度看到的銷售趨勢的一致性。從中到高——到 2019 年的中青少年到高青少年是我們當時所談論的。從 2 月到 4 月，我們非常一致地看到了這一點。

Actually, in May, up into the call, we actually saw May accelerate to that trend a bit, which made us confident in kind of grounding ourselves in that. But what happened, really mid- to late June, just as others have talked about, we did see a deceleration to trends as we got into summer.

實際上，在 5 月，在電話會議之前，我們實際上看到可能會加速到這一趨勢，這讓我們有信心在此基礎上紮根。但是正如其他人所說的那樣，實際上在 6 月中下旬發生了什麼事，當我們進入夏季時，我們確實看到了趨勢的減速。

That's really continued through July, continued into sort of early mid-August, through back-to-school peaks. And we've definitely seen some improvement in recent weeks here as we've kind of got into September and this past Labor Day weekend. But we're still guiding conservatively and we're assuming that high single digit -- the guidance we're providing is assuming that negative high single-digit trend continues that we've seen quarter-to-date so far.

這種情況一直持續到 7 月，一直持續到 8 月中旬，一直持續到返校高峰期。最近幾週我們確實看到了一些改善，因為我們已經進入了 9 月和過去的勞動節週末。但我們仍然保守地指導，我們假設高個位數 - 我們提供的指導假設負的高個位數趨勢繼續下去，我們已經看到了迄今為止的季度。

So that's what really changed. It was really that mid-June to late June time frame. And I feel like, across the industry, it's been consistent in terms of a bit of a slowdown that occurred at that point. Jen, do you want to answer category for us?

所以這才是真正的改變。確實是 6 月中旬到 6 月下旬的時間框架。而且我覺得，在整個行業中，就當時發生的一些放緩而言，這是一致的。珍，你想為我們回答類別嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Mike, and you said it well. But really, it was isolated in the swim category, to be honest, Jay. We saw really incredible results in all of our other categories. And you heard from Mike how that really impacted from a seasonality standpoint. But well, I like what I'm seeing. Like look, we look forward, we look ahead, we just had one of our best launches ever, the SMOOTHEZ launch, which is highly rooted in intimate apparel, which is seasonless, so I love that category, and leggings are off to a great start.

是的。謝謝，邁克，你說得很好。但實際上，它在游泳類別中是孤立的，老實說，傑。我們在所有其他類別中都看到了非常令人難以置信的結果。你從邁克那裡聽說了從季節性的角度來看這真的是如何影響的。但是，我喜歡我所看到的。就像看，我們期待，我們展望未來，我們剛剛推出了我們有史以來最好的產品之一，SMOOTHEZ 推出，它高度植根於無季節的貼身服裝，所以我喜歡這個類別，緊身褲非常受歡迎開始。

And again, we don't take a lot of markdowns on leggings. They're highly isolated in black. They do the majority of the business. So early on, and it's early to say, but we're very pleased with the results so far for back-to-school. So like I said, going back to Q1 and Q2, very isolated in swim, but other categories saw nice results.

再說一次，我們不會對緊身褲進行大量降價促銷。他們在黑色中高度孤立。他們做大部分的生意。這麼早，現在說還為時過早，但我們對目前返校的結果感到非常滿意。所以就像我說的，回到第一季度和第二季度，游泳非常孤立，但其他類別看到了不錯的結果。

And Jay, maybe the last point to that, too. In the end, for Aerie specifically, we still saw almost doubling the 2019 results. But by the time we got to the end of the quarter, so from a go-forward perspective, now we feel like inventory is reset very appropriately. We've got these new stores that are still in their ramp-up period. Michael described kind of where we think those are headed.

傑伊，也許也是最後一點。最後，特別是對於 Aerie，我們仍然看到 2019 年的結果幾乎翻了一番。但是到本季度末時，從前進的角度來看，現在我們覺得庫存重置非常合適。我們有這些新商店仍處於起步階段。邁克爾描述了我們認為這些的發展方向。

We've got over 100 stores that are sort of noncomp or new going into the back half with inventory reset, very bullish on Aerie for the back half and in terms of where we're going from here, knowing the macro environment is still uncertain. But as we go forward, rest of this year and into 2023, there's a lot of optimism in terms of Aerie's bottom line -- top line growth and bottom line results that we're focused on.

我們有超過 100 家非競爭或新的商店進入後半部分並重置庫存，非常看好 Aerie 的後半部分，就我們從這裡開始的方向而言，知道宏觀環境仍然不確定.但隨著我們向前邁進，今年剩餘時間和 2023 年，在 Aerie 的底線方面存在很多樂觀情緒——我們關注的頂線增長和底線結果。

Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

So Jen, could you speak to demand shifts that you're seeing across categories? What changes are you making across the assortment at Aerie and American Eagle in the third quarter? And is there a way to think about the time line needed, in your view, for inventory completely across the board to be fully reset at this point?

那麼 Jen，您能談談您在各個類別中看到的需求變化嗎？您在第三季度對 Aerie 和 American Eagle 的產品系列做出了哪些改變？在您看來，有沒有辦法考慮在此時完全重置庫存所需的時間線？

Sure, Matt. Mike mentioned it, we certainly get in a great position as we move into Q4 and then as we're looking out to 2023 as far as inventory is concerned. I mean the teams have worked tirelessly to make sure that we are in good position, but also making sure that we distort in the right categories.

當然，馬特。邁克提到了這一點，當我們進入第四季度時，我們當然處於有利位置，然後就庫存而言，我們展望 2023 年。我的意思是團隊不知疲倦地工作以確保我們處於有利位置，但也確保我們在正確的類別中扭曲。

Look, I love what's happening out there right now. We just actually chased something within 19 days. We have deliveries here. So Michael Rempell said it, we're like starting to get best-in-show again.

看，我喜歡現在發生的事情。我們實際上只是在 19 天內追逐了一些東西。我們這裡有送貨。所以 Michael Rempell 說，我們就像開始再次獲得最佳表現一樣。

I would like to say -- the testing and the chase that we're capable of doing in this company is remarkable. I mean I learned it 12 years ago when I joined the company. And it's nice to be in a position where logistics are freeing up for us and we're able to sort of move a little bit more seamlessly.

我想說——我們在這家公司能夠進行的測試和追逐是了不起的。我的意思是我在 12 年前加入公司時學會了它。很高興處於物流為我們騰出空間的位置，我們能夠更加無縫地移動。

There are some category shifts happening. But I just -- it's funny. The team, we were talking today, how we are just so dominant in bottoms. And now that's happening in Aerie as well. From leggings to denim to other bottoms, we are seeing some new shifts in silhouettes in denim. And the teams, like I said, were moving fast and getting into some new categories there from the bottoms perspective. And in Aerie, certainly OFFLINE being a new business for us, we're seeing great results in that business. And I think that, that holds a very promising outlook for the company as far as a growth vehicle.

發生了一些類別轉變。但我只是——這很有趣。團隊，我們今天談論的是，我們如何在底部如此占主導地位。現在這也發生在 Aerie 中。從緊身褲到牛仔布再到其他下裝，我們看到了牛仔布廓形的一些新變化。就像我說的那樣，這些團隊正在快速行動，並從底層的角度進入了一些新的類別。在 Aerie，當然 OFFLINE 對我們來說是一項新業務，我們在該業務中看到了巨大的成果。而且我認為，就增長工具而言，這對該公司來說具有非常有前景的前景。

And certainly, as we've been able to shift the categories in American Eagle, I like what I'm seeing in outfitting. It's taken a little time, a little longer than I thought. But early on, for back-to-school, some of the women's trends that we're seeing, we're able to chase. I mentioned that 19-day chase ability. I mean that's pretty impressive.

當然，由於我們已經能夠改變 American Eagle 中的類別，我喜歡我在裝備中看到的東西。這花了一點時間，比我想像的要長一點。但在早期，對於返校，我們看到的一些女性趨勢，我們能夠追逐。我提到了19天的追逐能力。我的意思是這非常令人印象深刻。

And we're going to continue to test and scale. But mostly, I would like to say that this team has responded fast. We've worked tirelessly. We're not quitting from the marketing to production, to the product categories to the innovation that I'm seeing from this team. We're not quitting here with that. So I'm really proud of the team.

我們將繼續測試和擴展。但最重要的是，我想說這支球隊的反應很快。我們不知疲倦地工作。我們並沒有放棄從營銷到生產、產品類別以及我從這個團隊看到的創新。我們不會就此罷休。所以我真的為球隊感到驕傲。

Great. And then, Mike, could you just speak to the magnitude of the recent EBIT margin contraction that we've seen at Aerie? Maybe if you could just elaborate on some of the drivers of double-digit margins in the back half. And has anything changed on your multiyear view of profitability for Aerie? Or how do we maybe break down the structural versus transitory elements of the profitability of Aerie today relative to previous plans?

偉大的。然後，邁克，您能否談談我們在 Aerie 看到的近期息稅前利潤率收縮的幅度？也許如果你能詳細說明後半場兩位數利潤率的一些驅動因素。您對 Aerie 多年盈利能力的看法有什麼變化嗎？或者，相對於以前的計劃，我們如何分解今天 Aerie 盈利能力的結構性和暫時性因素？

Sure. Thanks, Matt. I mean to Q2 specifically, really first half, I mean, Aerie had some challenges. Obviously, when we talk -- go back to the supply chain disruptions last fall, the airfreight that we experienced mostly in Q4, that -- like some of that carried into Q1, elevated freight costs in general hitting the brand in Q1 and Q2 beyond the airfreight. We talked about that being a 200 basis point impact to the quarter. Aerie was about half of that, I think. So with $20-something million in total, you could take $10 million to $15 million of that being an Aerie impact.

當然。謝謝，馬特。我指的是第二季度，真的是上半年，我的意思是，Aerie 遇到了一些挑戰。顯然，當我們談論時——回到去年秋天的供應鏈中斷，我們在第四季度主要經歷的空運——就像第一季度帶來的一些空運一樣，貨運成本的上漲總體上在第一季度和第二季度打擊了品牌空運。我們談到這對本季度產生 200 個基點的影響。我想，Aerie 大約是其中的一半。因此，總共有 20 多萬美元，你可能會花費 1000 萬到 1500 萬美元作為 Aerie 的影響。

If you think about the -- resetting inventory for -- in Q2 and the $30 million charge I described, Aerie was over half of that. So the combination of those 2 factors, plus the -- Michael talked about the 20 stores we opened in the quarter and the ramp-up of the new stores we've opened in general, those 3 factors, you could take Aerie's operating rate from 3% to double digit in the second quarter alone.

如果你考慮第二季度的 - 重置庫存和我描述的 3000 萬美元的費用，Aerie 超過了一半。因此，結合這兩個因素，加上邁克爾談到我們在本季度開設的 20 家門店以及我們新開的新門店的增加，這三個因素，你可以從 Aerie 的開工率中得出僅在第二季度就實現了 3% 至兩位數。

So as we get into the back half now, inventory is reset. We don't expect any impact from inventory or us overplanning the business like we did in the first half. Freight actually normalizes. We'll anniversary elevated ocean freight from last year. As we've described, we think there's actually some light at the end of that tunnel in terms of freight cost and freight and transportation coming back in line or maybe even some benefit versus last year. And now, we'll have these new stores carrying into the back half and not really -- not much impact from new store opening costs.

因此，當我們現在進入後半部分時，庫存已重置。我們預計庫存不會產生任何影響，也不會像上半年那樣過度規劃業務。貨運實際上正常化。我們將從去年開始提高海運運費。正如我們所描述的那樣，我們認為在貨運成本以及貨運和運輸方面實際上在這條隧道的盡頭有一些光明，甚至可能與去年相比有所受益。現在，我們會讓這些新店進入後半部分，而不是真的——新店開張成本的影響不大。

So those 3 main factors really go away for the back half. We think inventory is reset. And we're focused on where the profitability is of all these new stores and the business in general. So we're very confident in being double digit in the back half, and we're looking forward to '23 already benefiting from all this growth, 30%-plus square-footage growth from these 100 locations and focusing on at least the mid-teen operating rate, if not better, in terms of how we're setting up our plans for next year.

所以這三個主要因素對於後半部來說真的消失了。我們認為庫存已重置。我們專注於所有這些新店和一般業務的盈利能力。因此，我們非常有信心在後半部實現兩位數，我們期待 23 年已經從所有這些增長中受益，這 100 個地點的面積增長超過 30%，並且至少專注於中期-就我們如何制定明年的計劃而言，青少年的開工率，如果不是更好的話。

Our next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗的 Paul Lejuez。

This is Kelly Crago on for Paul. Just curious with the brand sales running down high single digits versus last year's quarter-to-date versus the down 2% you saw in 2Q. I was just wondering if you could help us think about that deceleration by brand.

這是保羅的凱利克拉戈。只是好奇品牌銷售額與去年第一季度相比下降了個位數，而第二季度下降了 2%。我只是想知道你是否可以幫助我們考慮品牌的減速。

And then I'm just curious, given the inventory position has improved so much, is this kind of the function of having less clearance sales available that might have drove some of the sales in 2Q and you're just not expecting that? Just any thoughts there would be great.

然後我很好奇，鑑於庫存狀況已經有了很大改善，這種清倉銷售減少的功能是否可能推動了第二季度的一些銷售，而你只是沒想到會出現這種情況？只要有任何想法都會很棒。

Okay, just let me take the last part of that question first. The $30 million impact to the second quarter profitability to get ourselves right to that inventory, devalue that inventory, it's really down to bringing summer goods into August at a historical clearance level. So we still have -- I'll call -- I'll just leave it at that description. We're in line, and we think we're in a good place in terms of typical historical clearance levels coming into August and the sales related to those units.

好的，讓我先回答這個問題的最後一部分。對第二季度盈利能力的 3000 萬美元影響使我們能夠正確處理該庫存，使該庫存貶值，這真的要歸功於將夏季商品帶入 8 月份的歷史清關水平。所以我們仍然有--我會打電話--我將把它留在那個描述中。我們是一致的，我們認為就進入 8 月份的典型歷史清關水平以及與這些單位相關的銷售而言，我們處於一個很好的位置。

As far as AE's trend, if I think that was the first part of your question, yes, I think we expected coming into Q3 on top of a very hyper back-to-school season last year, with really not having a 2020 back-to-school, stimulus checks out there again, starting in July last year, just that pent-up demand and the amount of money that came to us going back-to-school in the brand because we are such a back-to-school destination, we knew AE lapping that period was going to be tough. So we actually planned for Q3 a bit of a deceleration versus the plan for the first half already, or that was part of the plan initially.

至於 AE 的趨勢，如果我認為這是你問題的第一部分，是的，我認為我們預計在去年的開學季非常火爆之後進入第三季度，而 2020 年真的沒有——開學，刺激措施再次出現，從去年 7 月開始，只是那些被壓抑的需求和我們在品牌中返校的資金數額，因為我們是這樣一個返校的人目的地，我們知道那段時間會很艱難。因此，與上半年的計劃相比，我們實際上已經為第三季度計劃了一點減速，或者那是最初計劃的一部分。

So I'm not necessarily surprised by that based on the macro conditions out there and knowing what kind of back-to-school we were lapping last year. And I think we're -- maybe Jen can take on the product side, what we're seeing so far during fall and what we're expecting going forward. But we're expecting that to normalize a bit, knowing we come out of that hyper back-to-school period here after Labor Day.

因此，基於宏觀條件和知道我們去年的返校情況，我不一定對此感到驚訝。而且我認為我們 - 也許 Jen 可以承擔產品方面的工作，我們在秋季到目前為止所看到的以及我們對未來的期望。但我們預計這會正常化一點，因為我們知道我們在勞動節之後走出了那個超級返校期。

I think you said it well, Mike, just really after coming off of the swim, a little bit of a hangover with the swim business in Aerie in summer. And honestly, obviously, both brands had incredible tailwinds last year. But AE is just getting going. This is a fairly new team and we did have a little bit of that benefit last year with the stimulus and lapping that, the tailwinds, that a lot of retailers benefited of.

我認為你說得很好，邁克，剛剛結束游泳，夏天在鷹巢的游泳業務有點宿醉。老實說，很明顯，這兩個品牌去年都有令人難以置信的順風。但AE才剛剛開始。這是一個相當新的團隊，去年我們確實從刺激和研磨中獲得了一點好處，這是許多零售商受益的順風。

But I like what I'm seeing on the AE team. We're very conservative. We're sticking with our strategy. Like I said, we're testing and scaling new product categories. We have some excitement coming up for spring 2023. I can't tell you my secrets, but some new launches in the AE brand. And we're not going to stop there. And like I said, it's a fairly new team and I like what they're doing. They're turning into a very well-oiled machine. And the Aerie team, again, we have so many new ideas, so many new categories.

但我喜歡我在 AE 團隊看到的東西。我們非常保守。我們堅持我們的戰略。就像我說的，我們正在測試和擴展新的產品類別。我們對 2023 年春季有些興奮。我不能告訴你我的秘密，但 AE 品牌有一些新的發布。我們不會止步於此。就像我說的，這是一個相當新的團隊，我喜歡他們正在做的事情。他們正在變成一台運轉良好的機器。還有 Aerie 團隊，我們有這麼多新想法，這麼多新類別。

I mean I mentioned it. We just launched that SMOOTHEZ category. Let me just say in 1 day, we saw a 30% increase in traffic to the direct site, that 1 day when we launched that campaign. So again, we have to keep on challenging ourselves to comp year-over-year, whether it's marketing, product, production. But that's what we're into right now, and that's what we're thinking about 2023 and beyond.

我的意思是我提到過。我們剛剛推出了 SMOOTHEZ 類別。讓我說在 1 天內，我們看到直接網站的流量增加了 30%，也就是我們啟動該活動的那一天。因此，無論是營銷、產品還是生產，我們都必須繼續挑戰自己以逐年競爭。但這就是我們現在所要做的，也是我們對 2023 年及以後的想法。

And just to clarify there. So the American Eagle brand is kind of driving the deceleration in brand sales quarter-to-date relative to 2Q more than Aerie?

只是為了澄清那裡。那麼，相對於 Aerie，American Eagle 品牌本季度迄今為止相對於第二季度的品牌銷售減速的推動程度是否超過了 Aerie？

Do you mind repeating that? Sorry, you faded out a little bit during your question.

你介意重複一遍嗎？抱歉，您在提問時有點淡出。

Sure. Just it seems like the American Eagle brand is driving the deceleration in brand sales quarter-to-date relative to what you saw in the second quarter. It's more coming from the American Eagle brand versus Aerie.

當然。與您在第二季度看到的情況相比，到目前為止，似乎 American Eagle 品牌正在推動品牌銷售的減速。它更多來自 American Eagle 品牌與 Aerie。

I think it's just based on their likes if you're looking at last year. So Aerie has year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter likes that are high double digits. AE saw nice benefits last year, as I mentioned, from the stimulus. So I think if you just are looking at last year, that might be what you're comparing. But like I said, we're looking at the business on the go-forward.

如果您查看去年，我認為這只是基於他們的喜好。因此，Aerie 的年同比、環比均達到兩位數。正如我所提到的，AE 去年從刺激計劃中獲得了不錯的收益。所以我認為，如果你只看去年，那可能就是你要比較的。但就像我說的那樣，我們正在關注未來的業務。

And it's really interesting, and I'm going to pivot here for 1 second. But there are a lot of conversations out there, what's happening in retail, whether it's getting all dressed up, and certainly, the luxury sector is seeing some benefits of weddings and what have you. But I have to tell you, casual lifestyle apparel is not going away with our sector.

這真的很有趣，我將在這裡旋轉 1 秒鐘。但是那裡有很多對話，零售業正在發生什麼，是否全部打扮，當然，奢侈品行業正在看到婚禮的一些好處以及你有什麼。但我必須告訴你，休閒生活方式服裝並沒有隨著我們的行業消失。

I watch my daughter every day go to school in sweats and a hoodie and it's here to stay. And I think American Eagle and Aerie does it best as far as comfort, casual lifestyle wear. And that's what we're up to you, and that's what we're focused on in the future.

我每天都看著我的女兒穿著汗衫和連帽衫去上學，它就在這裡。而且我認為 American Eagle 和 Aerie 在舒適、休閒的生活方式方面做得最好。這就是我們的決定，也是我們未來關注的重點。

Our next question comes from the line of Marni Shapiro with Retail Tracker.

我們的下一個問題來自帶有零售追踪器的 Marni Shapiro。

I actually like to take a little bit of a step back. And Jay, I want to address this to you because we've been through, and certainly, you've been through periods of time where the customer has pulled back for a moment in time. But it sounds like there's a lot of confidence still here at the company.

我實際上喜歡退後一步。傑伊，我想向您解決這個問題，因為我們已經經歷過，當然，您也經歷過客戶暫時退縮的時期。但聽起來公司仍然充滿信心。

You cleared out the inventory. You're positioning for the back half. I guess broadly speaking, knowing what you know, knowing what you've been through, what gives you the confidence for the back half of next year? Is it the brand's spring? And I guess, how do you think about holiday and further into 2023?

你清理了庫存。您正在為後半部分定位。我想從廣義上講，知道你知道什麼，知道你經歷了什麼，是什麼讓你對明年下半年充滿信心？是品牌的春天嗎？我猜，您如何看待假期以及 2023 年的未來？

So let me ask you, was that question to Jen or is that a question to me? I didn't know who you asked.

所以讓我問你，這個問題是給 Jen 的，還是給我的？我不知道你問誰。

That's to you. I mean you've been doing this as long as I have been doing this. So...

那是給你的。我的意思是，只要我一直在這樣做，你就一直在這樣做。所以...

Well, yes, look, I had been around like a few go-arounds here. We have a great team at American Eagle. The people we have, the merchants we have, are top-notch. They didn't go bad one day. They are top-notch. Jen said that in American Eagle, like we put some new designers in, it takes time for people, if you like, to get acclimated with the brand.

嗯，是的，你看，我在這裡轉了幾圈。我們在 American Eagle 擁有一支出色的團隊。我們擁有的人，我們擁有的商人，都是一流的。他們沒有一天變壞。他們是一流的。 Jen 說，在 American Eagle 中，就像我們引入了一些新設計師一樣，如果你願意，人們需要時間來適應這個品牌。

But the stuff that I see and the stuff that I see that Jen and the team is working on for the holiday season and for the spring of '23 looks very exciting. And also, introducing new concepts into the brand, not just introducing more gamut, but introducing some additional fresh product and add some new type of product too, which could be very exciting.

但是我看到的東西以及 Jen 和團隊正在為假日季節和 23 年春天開發的東西看起來非常令人興奮。而且，在品牌中引入新概念，不僅僅是引入更多色域，而是引入一些額外的新鮮產品，並添加一些新類型的產品，這可能會非常令人興奮。

We emphasized, that this past quarter, we opened -- it was our biggest opening, like Aerie stores, which we should get the benefit in the future. We're seeing -- I'm seeing -- today, I don't want to get too excited because I'll say something and all of a sudden, somebody else pops up somewhere else as far as like the rest of the world.

我們強調，在過去的這個季度，我們開業了——這是我們最大的開業，就像 Aerie 商店一樣，我們應該在未來從中受益。我們看到了——我看到了——今天，我不想太激動，因為我會說些什麼，突然之間，其他人突然出現在其他地方，就像世界其他地方一樣.

But I feel very good about the company. I see the freight rates are going the right way, our timing's coming back on. These past 2 years, everything got out of sync. We had countries close up on us. We had to put stuff on containers. And containers, all of a sudden, they got backed up in ports. It's been a strange year.

但我對公司感覺很好。我看到運費正在朝著正確的方向發展，我們的時機又回來了。在過去的兩年裡，一切都變得不同步。我們有國家對我們關閉。我們不得不把東西放在容器上。集裝箱，突然之間，它們在港口得到了備份。這是奇怪的一年。

Like Jen said, she was smiling because she was able to chase a product and get it in 19 days. We haven't had that happen to us since the beginning of 2020. So that's a very good sign for us to get back in sync.

就像 Jen 所說的那樣，她在微笑，因為她能夠在 19 天內追逐產品並獲得它。自 2020 年初以來，我們還沒有發生過這種情況。所以這對我們恢復同步是一個非常好的跡象。

I think the company is going to be in great shape. And to see the way that investors carry on, I can't control that. The only thing I can control is what we do. And we have a great company, and we have great vision. We're very innovative, whether we're innovative in merchandise, whether we're innovating our technology. I think if you walk into the mall, it's one of the best-looking stores in the malls. We're figuring out more efficient ways of getting the merchandise to the customer and to the stores.

我認為公司將處於良好狀態。看到投資者繼續經營的方式，我無法控制。我唯一能控制的就是我們做什麼。我們有一家偉大的公司，我們有偉大的願景。我們非常創新，無論我們在商品方面是否創新，我們是否在創新我們的技術。我想如果你走進商場，它是商場裡最好看的商店之一。我們正在尋找更有效的方式將商品送到客戶和商店。

So I think we're doing a lot of stuff right. I think we got caught up in this past year, going against last year's figures. But for the future, I think we'll be one of the big winners out there.

所以我認為我們做的很多事情都是對的。我認為我們在過去的一年中陷入困境，與去年的數據相反。但對於未來，我認為我們將成為最大的贏家之一。

Our next question comes from the line of Adrienne Yih with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Adrienne Yih。

Actually, Jay, this might still be for you, but anybody who wants to comment on it. Can you talk about the changing competitive landscape? I know that we have always talked about kind of fast fashion, and there's faster fashion with Boohoo and Asos and now, there's super fast fashion with competitors such as Shein.

實際上，Jay，這可能仍然適合您，但任何想對此發表評論的人都可以。您能談談不斷變化的競爭格局嗎？我知道我們一直在談論一種快時尚，Boohoo 和 Asos 有更快的時尚，現在有 Shein 等競爭對手的超快時尚。

So I'm just wondering how often do you, kind of in your research, how often do you compete against them? And what does that do to the overall kind of pricing pressure?

所以我只是想知道你多久，在你的研究中，你多久與他們競爭一次？這對整體定價壓力有什麼影響？

And then for Mike, when you talk about a pause in the dividend, does that -- would that imply a pause in repurchase activity as well? Or are those 2 distinct events?

然後對於邁克來說，當你談到暫停股息時，這是否意味著回購活動也暫停？還是那兩個不同的事件？

Hey, I can take that if you want. As far as fast fashion and competition, look, there's always competition. I mean that's what our job is, right, to compete and to try to do it better than anyone else out there. And certainly, we're humble, and we certainly pay attention to the new up-and-comers, Shein being one of them.

嘿，如果你願意，我可以接受。就快時尚和競爭而言，看，總是有競爭。我的意思是，這就是我們的工作，是的，競爭並嘗試比其他任何人做得更好。當然，我們很謙虛，我們當然會關注新的後起之秀，Shein 就是其中之一。

And look, we look at building our brand. We're brand-builders. We protect our brands, both American Eagle -- I mean, certainly American Eagle is something to be proud of and Aerie, the new up-and-comer. And that's what we're up to. We are up to building our brands, protecting our brands, not turning on a dial. I think slow-and-steady wins the race in brand-building and how we think about our business. And we think long-term, right?

看，我們著眼於建立我們的品牌。我們是品牌建設者。我們保護我們的品牌，包括 American Eagle——我的意思是，當然 American Eagle 是值得驕傲的，而 Aerie 是新的後起之秀。這就是我們要做的。我們要建立我們的品牌，保護我們的品牌，而不是打開撥號盤。我認為，在品牌建設以及我們對業務的看法方面，緩慢而穩定的方式贏得了比賽。我們認為是長期的，對吧？

So obviously, the retail sector has been hit a little bit more recently. But we're in this for the long haul. And I like what I'm seeing in the future. Jay already said it. He said there's innovation out there that's up-and-coming. We have new ideas. Every day, we have some really new exciting concepts that we're going to launch.

很明顯，零售業最近受到了一些打擊。但我們是長期的。我喜歡我在未來看到的。傑已經說過了。他說，那裡的創新正在嶄露頭角。我們有新的想法。每天，我們都會推出一些令人興奮的全新概念。

And yes, that's -- we stay focused, we stay in our lane. And something I tell our teams every day is just stay in your lane, stick with our brands and look ahead and make sure that we're innovating and competing on our terms.

是的，那是 - 我們保持專注，我們留在我們的車道上。我每天告訴我們的團隊的事情就是留在你的車道上，堅持我們的品牌並展望未來，並確保我們按照我們的條件進行創新和競爭。

And Jen, you talked about concept, we have Todd Snyder, which is on fire there. Mike, do you want to talk about that a bit, Michael Rempell?

Jen，你談到了概念，我們有 Todd Snyder，它在那裡很火。邁克，你想談談這個嗎，邁克爾·雷佩爾？

Yes, sure. I mean look, we're not just -- we are working on American Eagle and Aerie and obviously doing some great innovative things there. But we're also incubating new brands and new businesses. So one of the things we're proud of as a company is we're not resting on our laurels. We're not solely dependent on one business to drive the company. But we're looking for ways to grow it into the future.

是的，當然。我的意思是看，我們不僅僅是——我們正在研究 American Eagle 和 Aerie 並且顯然在那裡做了一些很棒的創新事情。但我們也在孵化新品牌和新業務。因此，作為一家公司，我們引以為豪的一件事是我們不會滿足於現狀。我們不僅僅依靠一項業務來推動公司發展。但我們正在尋找將其發展到未來的方法。

So we have Todd Snyder, which is up well over 50% this year. We're expanding its footprint, opening more stores. It's still an 80% digital business. It's going to be profitable, growing nicely. We're incubating on unsubscribed, which is an exciting new concept that Jen and team launched quietly last year that has about 5 stores open and is doing very nicely.

所以我們有 Todd Snyder，今年的漲幅超過 50%。我們正在擴大其足跡，開設更多商店。它仍然是 80% 的數字業務。它將是有利可圖的，增長良好。我們正在孵化 unsubscribed，這是 Jen 和團隊去年悄悄推出的一個令人興奮的新概念，目前大約有 5 家門店開業，而且做得非常好。

And of course, we're investing in Quiet, which is a business that not only is it providing benefits to American Eagle, but we're very excited about where that's headed and the potential in that business.

當然，我們正在投資 Quiet，這是一項不僅為 American Eagle 帶來好處的業務，而且我們對它的發展方向和該業務的潛力感到非常興奮。

I can handle the -- yes, Adrienne, your question on the dividend. I think, look, our priorities are the same. We are investing back into the business first, which we've done pretty aggressively in the last 2 years and are continuing this year. We've talked about the 100-plus Aerie and OFFLINE locations, and we continue to invest in our digital and supply chain capabilities this year with other projects.

我可以處理 - 是的，Adrienne，你關於股息的問題。我認為，看，我們的優先事項是相同的。我們首先投資於業務，我們在過去 2 年中非常積極地完成了這項工作，並將在今年繼續這樣做。我們已經討論了 100 多個 Aerie 和 OFFLINE 地點，今年我們將繼續通過其他項目投資於我們的數字和供應鏈能力。

On top of that, we've already returned $265 million back year-to-date to shareholders between $65 million in dividend and then the $200 million ASR that was strategically tied to that early convert settlement to offset the dilution of the shares we issued there. But that $265 million is the highest we returned to shareholders in a year since 2015. I think Jay and I both said that in our prepared remarks.

最重要的是，年初至今，我們已經向股東返還了 2.65 億美元的股息，其中包括 6500 萬美元的股息，然後是戰略上與早期轉換結算相關的 2 億美元 ASR，以抵消我們在那裡發行的股票的稀釋.但那 2.65 億美元是我們自 2015 年以來一年內向股東返還的最高金額。我認為傑伊和我都在我們準備好的講話中說過。

So at this point now, we're looking at improving profitability in the back half, generating positive free cash flow in the back half, into next year. And then I'm confident we'll get back to some level of appropriate dividend and investing back in the business first, where we see -- where appropriate, some level of appropriate dividend and then opportunistic share repurchases the way we've approached it. But we will definitely -- we've got the history of returning cash to shareholders, and we will definitely get back to that once we bolster our cash position a bit here.

所以現在，我們正在考慮提高後半部分的盈利能力，在後半部分產生正的自由現金流，直到明年。然後我相信我們會回到一定程度的適當股息並首先投資於我們看到的業務 - 在適當的情況下，一定程度的適當股息，然後機會主義股票回購我們已經接近它的方式.但我們肯定會 - 我們有向股東返還現金的歷史，一旦我們在這裡稍微加強我們的現金頭寸，我們肯定會回到這一點。

Our next question comes from the line of Kimberly Greenberger with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Kimberly Greenberger。

I wanted to just check on inventory. If you could talk about how much you expect inventory to be down at the end of the year, that would be great. I'm just cognizant that at the end of fourth quarter last year, inventory was up around 24% compared to 2019.

我只想檢查庫存。如果你能談談你預計年底庫存會下降多少，那就太好了。我只知道去年第四季度末，庫存與 2019 年相比增長了約 24%。

But looking at the revenue run rate here in the second quarter, revenue -- total revenue is up only, it looks like, about 15% compared to the second quarter of 2019. So I'm just wondering if -- how much you think you could cut inventory by the end of the fourth quarter. And what would your preliminary plan be for how much you would expect inventory to be down next year?

但看看第二季度的收入運行率，收入——總收入似乎只比 2019 年第二季度增長了 15%。所以我只是想知道——你認為多少你可以在第四季度末削減庫存。你的初步計劃是什麼，你預計明年庫存會下降多少？

Hi, Kimberly. I think the fourth quarter right now, I mean, a lot of volume to go, a lot of business to be had. Our projections as we sit here today, we would be down in the double-digit range. So something probably low-double to maybe mid-teen. But that's again a preliminary projection where we find that as we go.

你好，金伯利。我認為現在是第四季度，我的意思是，有很多交易量，有很多業務要做。我們今天坐在這裡的預測，我們將在兩位數範圍內下降。所以有些東西可能是低雙至可能是青少年。但這又是一個初步的預測，我們會在其中發現這一點。

And then for next year, we are going to continue to plan conservatively. This is still an uncertain environment. I think the great thing we're excited about is that we're back to -- from a time line perspective, Michael talked about it, being able to chase again. So we're not committing to inventory 3 to 6 months earlier like we had to in the past 12 months as part of our part of our issue in the spring seasons, how early we committed to those plans and didn't have much flexibility.

然後對於明年，我們將繼續保守地計劃。這仍然是一個不確定的環境。我認為我們感到興奮的是我們回到了——從時間線的角度來看，邁克爾談到了它，能夠再次追逐。因此，我們不會像過去 12 個月那樣提前 3 到 6 個月承諾庫存，這是我們春季問題的一部分，我們有多早承諾這些計劃並且沒有太大的靈活性。

So we're looking at spring as we speak. We've had some initial conversations. Some initial POs have been placed. But we're keeping a lot open to -- and keeping ourselves flexible now that the time lines are back to some of the historical flexibility that we're used to.

所以我們說話的時候正在看春天。我們進行了一些初步的對話。已經放置了一些初始採購訂單。但是我們保持開放態度 - 並且現在我們保持靈活性，因為時間線回到了我們習慣的一些歷史靈活性。

That's really great color. And on the $70 million in freight relief in the back half, I'm wondering if you can help us understand how that portions out between Q3 and Q4. You also alluded to some savings you anticipate in the first half of the year next year. Any numbers you can help us with on that, that would be great.

這真是太棒的顏色了。關於後半部分 7000 萬美元的運費減免，我想知道您是否可以幫助我們了解第三季度和第四季度之間的部分情況。您還提到了明年上半年您預計的一些節省。任何你可以幫助我們的數字，那都很棒。

I believe I'm looking -- I think it was $10 million in Q3 and $60 million in Q4 was the airfreight...

我相信我正在尋找——我認為第三季度是 1000 萬美元，第四季度是 6000 萬美元是空運……

That's right, Mike. Yes.

沒錯，邁克。是的。

Yes.

是的。

Yes, it was $10 million in Q3, Kimberly, and $60 million in Q4 for the airfreight.

是的，Kimberly 第三季度為 1000 萬美元，第四季度空運費用為 6000 萬美元。

And some of that airfreight carried over into Q1 a bit with goods that we sold. That's when we incurred that expense. And we actually sell the units, so some of that impacted Q1 as well and we see some benefit there, we believe, too.

其中一些空運與我們銷售的商品一起進入了第一季度。那是我們產生這筆費用的時候。而且我們實際上出售了這些單位，因此其中一些也影響了第一季度，我們也認為在那裡看到了一些好處。

Our next question comes from the line of Janet Joseph Kloppenburg with JJK Research Associates.

我們的下一個問題來自 JJK Research Associates 的 Janet Joseph Kloppenburg。

I was wondering, Jen, if you could talk a little bit about this shift in denim. We're hearing a lot of mixed weeds on denim right now and maybe some disappointment in back-to-school performance. If you could talk about that and if there's a shift towards something dressier or maybe pants and how American Eagle might be positioned for that.

Jen，我想知道你能否談談牛仔布的這種轉變。我們現在聽到很多關於牛仔布的雜草，也許對返校表現有些失望。如果您可以談論這一點，並且是否會轉向更考究或可能是褲子的東西，以及 American Eagle 可能會如何定位。

And as we look to the future, and you talk about introducing new concepts, I'm just wondering if some of this dress-up trend that we're seeing prevalent today is something that American Eagle can participate in and perhaps that some of your new concepts are built around that, or if you think the dress-up trend is just a temporary moment.

當我們展望未來，你談到引入新概念時，我只是想知道我們今天看到的流行裝扮趨勢中的一些是否是 American Eagle 可以參與的，也許你的一些新概念是圍繞著它建立的，或者如果你認為裝扮趨勢只是暫時的。

How are you, Janet, by the way.

順便說一句，珍妮特，你好嗎。

Yes. I'm great. How are you?

是的。我很好。你好嗎？

Yes, I'm really -- I'm doing well, doing well. Like I said, I think the casual trend is here to stay. And certainly, our generation and the generations to come love casual, comfortable, sportswear, which I'd like to say we do best.

是的，我真的——我做得很好，做得很好。就像我說的，我認為休閒趨勢會繼續存在。當然，我們這一代人以及未來幾代人都喜歡休閒、舒適的運動裝，我想說我們做得最好。

And when it comes to denim, there's definitely some shifts, Janet, and we're certainly reacting to it. We've been working on the inventory. That was a big piece of the inventory rationalization that we need to do from an AE standpoint, and we've been working on that. But inside of denim, there are some really -- some great hotspots that we're seeing that we're able to now go in and distort some of these baggier fits that you're definitely seeing out there, flare. And then we always have our staple in jeggings.

當談到牛仔佈時，肯定會有一些轉變，珍妮特，我們肯定會對此做出反應。我們一直在處理庫存。從 AE 的角度來看，這是我們需要做的庫存合理化的重要部分，我們一直在努力。但在牛仔佈內部，確實有一些我們看到的非常好的熱點，我們現在能夠進入並扭曲一些你肯定會在那裡看到的更寬鬆的合身，耀斑。然後我們總是有我們的主食在jeggings。

And then there is a shift, for sure, into some other bottoms that we're starting to see. And certainly, we're testing all of the silhouettes as we speak again. And we've actually instigated -- like we've initiated a whole new test and scale, not even just based on the time lines that we're getting now based on just the logistics freeing up. We're actually trying new testing scenarios that are going to make us even more smart or smarter, I should say, for the future.

然後肯定會發生轉變，進入我們開始看到的其他一些底部。當然，當我們再次發言時，我們正在測試所有的剪影。而且我們實際上已經發起了 - 就像我們已經啟動了一個全新的測試和規模，甚至不僅僅是基於我們現在基於物流釋放的時間線。我們實際上正在嘗試新的測試場景，這些場景將使我們更加聰明或更聰明，我應該說，未來。

So those are in play right now. We're going to get results very soon, and we're going to be able to -- as Mike and Michael said, we're going to be able to implement those tests for spring and on the go-forward. So -- and there are some new exciting trends happening in bottoms. So we're excited about that.

所以這些現在都在發揮作用。我們很快就會得到結果，我們將能夠——正如邁克和邁克爾所說，我們將能夠在春季和未來實施這些測試。所以 - 底部出現了一些令人興奮的新趨勢。所以我們對此感到興奮。

And then when it comes to our new idea, I can't tell you, but it's very exciting. And it will be launched for spring 2023. And it's a new concept for us, and I'm pretty excited about. We've already had some early reads on some of the product categories and very well-received, very well-received. So more to come there. I can tell you one secret. It's in the American Eagle brand. So very exciting.

然後談到我們的新想法，我不能告訴你，但它非常令人興奮。它將在 2023 年春季推出。這對我們來說是一個新概念，我對此感到非常興奮。我們已經對某些產品類別進行了一些早期閱讀，並且非常受歡迎，非常受歡迎。所以更多的來那裡。我可以告訴你一個秘密。它是 American Eagle 品牌的。非常令人興奮。

Our last question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Telsey 諮詢小組的 Dana Telsey。

As you think about the Aerie business and the rate of growth, can you talk a little bit about store openings? Obviously, you've opened a lot of stores over the past few years. How do you think of current store metrics? And how do you think of the growth of existing stores and what you're doing and adding on the product front?

當您考慮 Aerie 業務和增長率時，您能談談開店情況嗎？顯然，您在過去幾年中開了很多商店。您如何看待當前的商店指標？您如何看待現有商店的增長以及您在產品方面正在做什麼和增加？

We know Jen can answer part of it, but the part of it also is like we're very excited about Aerie's and OFFLINE. OFFLINE is a new concept for us. It's being very well-received. We think it's a big opportunity there, too. And Mike, what do you want to add?

我們知道 Jen 可以回答其中的一部分，但其中的一部分也像是我們對 Aerie 和 OFFLINE 感到非常興奮。離線對我們來說是一個新概念。它很受歡迎。我們認為這也是一個巨大的機會。邁克，你想補充什麼？

Yes, I can just say, I think -- it's a good question, Dana. It's very -- something we're very focused on, not just for the back half, but we're really -- I think it's a major opportunity for us next year in terms of improved profitability, obviously for the brand, but then impacting the company as well.

是的，我只能說，我認為——這是一個很好的問題，Dana。這是非常 - 我們非常關注的事情，不僅僅是後半部分，但我們真的 - 我認為這對我們明年來說是一個重大機會，可以提高盈利能力，顯然對品牌而言，但隨後會產生影響公司也是如此。

So we know that when we open these many stores, we do have a short-term comp impact as markets absorb these new locations and digital shoppers in those markets kind of go to the new stores, and then we see a ramp-up of customers and what we call our digital halo effect 6 to 12 months later.

所以我們知道，當我們開設這麼多商店時，我們確實會產生短期的競爭影響，因為市場會吸收這些新地點，並且這些市場中的數字購物者會去新商店，然後我們會看到客戶數量增加以及 6 到 12 個月後我們所說的數字光環效應。

So if you think about these 100 stores we just opened, we'll carry these into the back half, get our plans right set around them, focus on that into '23, and that digital piece of it kind of kicks in. You can do some of your own math on just the implied revenue growth from these stores.

因此，如果您考慮一下我們剛剛開設的這 100 家商店，我們會將它們帶到後半部，圍繞它們制定正確的計劃，將重點放在 23 年，然後它的數字化部分就會發揮作用。你可以僅對這些商店的隱含收入增長進行一些自己的計算。

And if we believe inventory being positioned conservatively but appropriately to drive the right margin rates, expense focus, we can be mid- to high-teen operating rate, and that will be our goal for the brand. So off of this year's kind of guided profitability, it means significant impact to next year in our mind and that's -- we're already focused on that.

如果我們認為庫存定位保守但適當，以推動正確的利潤率和支出重點，我們的開工率可以達到中高水平，這將是我們品牌的目標。因此，從今年的指導盈利能力來看，在我們看來，這意味著對明年的重大影響，那就是——我們已經專注於這一點。

And for next year, as we talked about, look, we're going to -- we want to grow into these investments. So we have $250 million in capital last year, $250 million in capital this year, a lot of it tied to these Aerie and OFFLINE stores. So from a cash flow perspective and the sort of philosophy that we want to generate, positive free cash flow and focus on the profitability of the investments that we've made, we're probably going to look at a relatively smaller new store count for next year, just so we can focus on that.

明年，正如我們所談到的，看，我們將要 - 我們希望發展這些投資。所以我們去年有 2.5 億美元的資本，今年有 2.5 億美元的資本，其中很多都與這些 Aerie 和離線商店有關。因此，從現金流的角度和我們想要產生的那種理念、正的自由現金流和關注我們所做投資的盈利能力，我們可能會考慮一個相對較小的新店數明年，這樣我們就可以專注於此。

But we still believe there's runway in terms of store growth over the next 3 years. I think there's just a lot of benefit to focusing on the profitability of what we've already invested in over the next 4 to 6 quarters.

但我們仍然認為，未來 3 年門店增長仍有空間。我認為關注我們在未來 4 到 6 個季度已經投資的盈利能力有很多好處。

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of today's question-and-answer session. I would like to turn this call back over to Mr. Jay Schottenstein for closing remarks.

女士們，先生們，今天的問答環節到此結束。我想把這個電話轉回給 Jay Schottenstein 先生的閉幕詞。

Okay. Thank you for joining us today. And hopefully, next earnings calls, that we have like we have more positive news.

好的。感謝您今天加入我們。希望在下一次財報電話會議上，我們有更多積極的消息。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and enjoy the rest of your day.

今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您度過愉快的一天。