After attracting tremendous attention — both good and bad — for its fall 2025 campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney, American Eagle Outfitters is doubling down.
The 28-year-old Sweeney is featured in American Eagle’s summer campaign, which breaks Wednesday and focuses on shorts with the theme, “Syd for Short: American Eagle Jean Shorts.” The summer campaign shows the evolution of the partnership, shifting the spotlight to the seasonal staple and introducing Syd, a new dimension of Sydney Sweeney.
This campaign follows the controversial fall 2025 campaign, which was anchored by the widely discussed “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” message. It generated enormous attention across social media, with more than 40 billion media impressions in September alone. It also ignited outrage online over the company allegedly glorifying the actor’s white heritage, blond hair and blue eyes. While sparking a ton of debate, the campaign proved to be a major hit with consumers, investors and on social media.
Craig Brommers, chief marketing officer, said he wasn’t gun shy about featuring Sweeney, again. In fact, just the opposite.
“Obviously we have the most talked-about marketing campaign of 2025, not just in our industry, in any industry,” said Brommers. “And our customer was clear. They are clamoring for a new chapter in the American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney storyline. And I think the key word is new, something that moves the story forward.”
Sydney Sweeney in the American Eagle shorts campaign.
Courtesy of American Eagle
Brommers said they started to think about what they wanted to do next together. “The most obvious questions, where do you take the most talked-about brand and talent partnership next? And as always, it has to start with the brand, the product and the season. And when you think about American Eagle and summer, you naturally think about jean shorts. It’s the most casual expression of Gen Z’s bestselling jeans brand. So we thought that jean shorts would be a great jumping-off point,” he said.
Sydney Sweeney models shorts in American Eagle’s summer campaign.
Courtesy of American Eagle
Jennifer Foyle, president and executive creative director, American Eagle and Aerie, added: “From the free spirits of the 1970s to the trendsetters of today, jean shorts have been the highlight of summer fashion for generations and no one perfects the warm-weather style like American Eagle. Summer is defined by a rare kind of magic, an opportunity to live confidently and in the moment. Pairing classic cutoffs with Sydney Sweeney’s signature ease makes AE denim the must have shorts this season.”
According to Brommers, when you think about Sweeney, the pubic thinks about the red carpet, the box office and Emmy nominations, “but also Syd, as the authentic, casual side of this megastar.”
“We took those two ideas and put them together, and it became ‘Syd for short’ which is the tag line,” said Brommers.
He said the campaign celebrates American Eagle’s jean shorts, and the ease of being surrounded by people who truly know you. “And I also think that our customer base very much relates to the Syd of Sydney Sweeney,” said Brommers.
Asked how sales performed last fall during the period when Sweeney was in the ad campaign, Brommers called it record-breaking. “The stock went considerably up. Our new customer acquisition was record-breaking. We had denim sellouts within days and weeks. It was the most successful brand and business campaign in the history of American Eagle.”
Jay Schottenstein, executive chairman and chief executive officer of American Eagle Outfitters, said last month, “Building on the improved trends beginning last summer, we achieved a record fourth quarter and holiday period, with double-digit growth at Aerie and Offline and solid, positive performance at American Eagle.”
Whether there was any hesitation to feature Sweeney again, Brommers said: “Because it was the most successful campaign in the history of the company and because we know our American Eagle customers are excited about a new chapter, the answer is no. We’re excited to be partnering with Syd again, and again, something that feels fresh and new and real as well.”
The campaign introduces “Syd,” a more casual dimension of Sydney Sweeney in American Eagle shorts during her relaxed, everyday life, whether she’s at home, running errands of enjoying the beach. She is captured on the sand against the backdrop of blue skies and open water. The campaign focuses on key styles such as the low-rise Shortie and the Cheeky, said Brommers.
The images were shot in Los Angeles. “Having now worked with Syd a couple of times, she really has a producer’s mindset. She really is a roll-up-your-sleeves type of business person as well. So we really wanted to create again this idyllic summer setting that Sydney Sweeney could become Syd, and she could talk about her connection to the American Eagle brand and her connection to wearing jean shorts in the summer, and really this idea of muting the external noise, being your true self and living your life in American Eagle jeans shorts in the summer,” said Brommers.
In terms of whether this campaign is provocative at all, Brommers said, “Any time you work with a cultural figure of the magnitude of Sydney Sweeney, I’m certain there will be conversation about it. But the intent of the campaign was really about not being the persona that you see on the red carpet, and really be your real self. And I think that really translates to our customer base quite well.”
Sydney Sweeney appears in the “Syd for Short: American Eagle Jean Short” campaign.
Courtesy image
As for what Sweeney delivers that another Gen Z celebrity wouldn’t, Brommers said, first, it’s her authenticity. “Syd has legitimately worn American Eagle jeans for years. She wears them now as she is followed by the paparazzi. I know our customer base can see through one-off business deals, and they know when something feels authentic and real, and our partnership with Sydney certainly does. When we think about Gen Z, they’re not defined as one persona like they may have been in previous generations. So most Gen Z kids are multihyphenate threats themselves, whether students or artists or community activists, whatever it is. I think that’s what Syd is, someone that’s aspirational to them. She’s an actress, she’s a businessperson, she’s a spokesperson, she’s an outdoors person, and the list goes on,” said Brommers.
“And I think the final thing is, whatever Sydney Sweeney does, the world pays attention. And so cutting through the noise of modern life is important as you work with potential partners,” the CMO said.
Brommers said one of their key learnings from the first season with Sweeney was their joint collaboration with the Crisis Text Line, where Sweeney helped bring attention to domestic violence. Again, they’ve created the Syd jeans and Syd short where proceeds will go to the Crisis Text Line. “These items sold out almost immediately, so we’re looking forward to a great response,” said Brommers.
“There’s something timeless about a great pair of jean shorts. They’re simple, but they make you feel confident and put-together without trying too hard,” said Sweeney.
“Crisis Text Line, a cause so close to my heart, has been a part of this partnership from the beginning. I love knowing that when everyone wears these pieces, they are also a part of something meaningful, that directly helps people who need it,” said Sweeney, who currently stars in HBO’s drama series, “Euphoria.”
American Eagle plans a 30-story 3D billboard in Times Square that will go up Wednesday featuring the campaign. There will also be outdoor takeovers in key cities around the country. Sweeney will participate in some real-life activations in the coming weeks and months ahead.
Brommers said American Eagle has a store in every single state in the U.S. and when they launched the fall campaign with Sweeney they had new customer acquisitions in every county in America.
On the topic of whether he was surprised by the whole debate that occurred last fall surrounding the “great jeans” messaging, he said, “I knew that partnering with Sydney Sweeney was going to start the conversation. Obviously, this was a huge cultural conversation, and again, the most talked-about marketing campaign of the year.”
“I think that ultimately a vast, vast, vast majority of Americans knew that that story was just one story in many stories that American Eagle tells. We’re excited to have Syd back.” Brommers said they have several campaigns going on right now featuring country music stars Ella Langley and Bailey Zimmerman. “They’re off to a very hot start. Obviously we’ve had recent partnerships with Martha Stewart and Travis Kelce. As a marketer, you want to work with the right talent at the exact right time, which I think we had a knack in doing over the course of the last nine months or so. And I think bringing Syd back at this very specific time at the start of summer is another opportunity for us to be at the right place at the right time.”
