American Eagle Outfitters is betting big on a major fall campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney to reinvigorate the company’s denim sales.

“I think this is potentially one of the biggest gets in American Eagle history,” said Craig Brommers, chief marketing officer, in an interview. “Sydney Sweeney is the ‘It’ girl of the moment, and she is helping us create the ‘It’ jeans campaign of the season. Sydney really encapsulates American Eagle. She is the girl who can play the red carpet but she’s also the girl next door, and that duality really defines Gen Z and Millennials,” he said.

During the ad campaign shoot in Los Angeles, Brommers said he was impressed with Sweeney’s comfort and ease on the set and that “she legitimately loves our jeans.” He witnessed how comfortable she was in her own skin, and “I think she just has this magnetism that everyone, women and men, are drawn to.”

The 27-year-old Sweeney rose to fame for her role in HBO’s “Euphoria,” and was featured in the first season of “The White Lotus,” among other roles.

“The campaign is definitely going to push buttons and have fun, and probably be a little more sensual than we’ve been in recent years — with this underlying optimism and humor that only Sydney Sweeney can bring,” said Brommers.

Sweeney will be the face of the print campaign and appear in all video content. A major part of the campaign, titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” will be a 3D billboard in Times Square. “It is going to be so eye-catching. I mean, think about the ‘It’ girl of the moment reaching down into Times Square, pointing to people in Times Square, showing off her jeans in Times Square in a 3D billboard. It’s really going to stop people,” he said. The billboard is 20 stories high.

“There is something so effortless about American Eagle — it’s the perfect balance of being put-together but still feeling like yourself,” said Sweeney in a statement. “Their commitment to creating pieces that make you feel confident and comfortable in your own skin is something that resonates with me. It’s rare to find a brand that grows with you, the way American Eagle has for generations. They have literally been there with me through every version of myself.”

In addition to AE’s Times Square flagship, the brand has a big retail presence in SoHo and the Upper East Side in New York. “The Times Square flagship is our number-one money-making store in the entire fleet,” said Brommers. American Eagle has about 800 stores throughout the U.S.

“This fall season, American Eagle is celebrating what makes our brand iconic — trendsetting denim that leads, never follows,” said Jennifer Foyle, president and executive creative director of AE & Aerie. “Innovative fits and endless versatility reflect how our community wears their denim: mixed, matched, layered and lived in. With Sydney Sweeney front and center, she brings the allure, and we add the flawless wardrobe for the winning combo of ease, attitude and a little mischief.”

American Eagle is also partnering with Snapchat, which is the number-one way that Gen Z communicates with one another, said Brommers. The brand will create sponsored Snap Stories, that will allow Sweeney to directly message users. “We have come up with something extremely clever where Sydney is going to be directly messaging users in that Snapchat Stories section. We’re also going to be doing our first paid campaign within BeReal, where you snap a video in what you’re doing in the moment. We’re putting Sydney front and center throughout the reel,” said Brommers.

Sweeney is also going to be helping American Eagle launch a broadcast channel on Instagram. It shows up in one’s Instagram feed, and Sweeney will be talking denim directly to the app’s users.

In addition, American Eagle will have a weeklong first-time presence on the Exosphere of Sphere in Las Vegas. “Sphere advertising has become so viral in forms like TikTok and Instagram that we really think it’s going to catch on everywhere to see her and to see this really impactful creative on the Sphere…,” he said.

For back-to-school they are putting Sweeney in some men’s jeans and will put her image on the men’s side of the store as well as the women’s. Her image will be featured in the windows of all 800 American Eagle stores.

While Brommers declined to reveal how much they are paying Sweeney, he said, “We never release that, but I’m very happy to say it’s one of our biggest talent partnerships ever.” Brommers said they have Sweeney exclusively for their category.

Brommers noted that American Eagle hired Molly Dickson, Sweeney’s longtime stylist, to style Sweeney in American Eagle denim essentials. In addition, Dickson will be giving denim styling tips throughout the season. “It’s the first time we’ve worked with a stylist of this caliber that will help with credibility and certainly fashion credibility, and certainly celebrity credibility,” he said.

American Eagle will also do an AR try-on in Snapchat. “Who doesn’t want to be in Sydney’s jeans? And so we’ve created this augmented reality try-on that people will be able to wear Sydney’s jeans inside of Snapchat as well.” The campaign’s tag line “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” and “Get inside Sydney Sweeney’s jeans” is “a play on words,” said Brommers. “There’s clever humor used throughout the campaign. Sydney was all in on it,” said Brommers.

Asked about his prognosis for back to school, he said, “We’re excited. Listen, kids are going to be going back to school. People are going to be excited to buy their fall wardrobes. I know the world is a little funky right now, but everyone feels better in a great pair of jeans. And I think that’s going to be the spirit of this campaign. And you know, jeans continue to be the go-to silhouette in those fall wardrobes….The campaign will showcase Sydney in high-rise flares, low-rise baggy and wide legs. She’ll be in some shorts as well. The diversity is exciting this season. She makes the jean jacket look really good.”

As part of the campaign, American Eagle will launch “The Sydney Jean” on which Sweeney collaborated and includes a butterfly motif on the back pocket that represents domestic violence awareness. One hundred percent of the net proceeds of “The Sydney Jean” will be donated to the Crisis Text line, a charity Sweeney is passionate about.

A standout piece in the collection is the new denim jacket inspired by Sweeney’s on-set style, reimagined from a real-time tailoring moment with Dickson, which will be available Aug. 10 and retails for $79.95. For fall, American Eagle features more than 200 fits including more than 50 new styles, from the ’70s-inspired high-rise flare to the low-rise baggy wide leg styled on Sweeney.

Asked if this campaign changes how American Eagle shows up in the culture, Brommers said, “I think that this is really about a reset. This is a moment to reclaim American Eagle’s jeans authority. And I think the creative speaks for itself. It’s playful, it is elevated, but yet it’s accessible at the same time.”

Brommers likes to refer to the back-to-school season as the company’s Super Bowl. “There’s no bigger season for American Eagle than back to school. It’s a time that we need to really cut through, grab attention and dominate as the jeans authority in America. And we really feel like we’ve got the ammunition to do it this season,” he said.

For the first quarter, American Eagle’s business was challenging and American Eagle comps were down 2 percent, as reported. “It was a little trickier in Q1. I think the retail climate has improved since the early early days of 2025, and now we’re focussed on execution,” said Brommers.