Apparently somebody over there at Urban Outfitters got jealous over all the attention Gap received during its recent logopacalypse™ because the retailer-of-cool brand has changed its logo and… oh my goodness. [more]

Yes, that vaguely whimsical yellow weirdness resting atop the Urban Outfitters webpage is indeed the new logo – not some hacker’s idea of a prank.

It’s so wacky that it has some asking “is it for real?“

A natural first reaction is to wonder what the hell the brand is thinking. Because… well, because it resembles nothing so much as a loose splatter of scrambled eggs heaved haphazardly across an ecru wall.  

But when something is this straight-up oddball, further reflection is due. And second thoughts lead us to wonder if this isn’t a little bit genius. The retailer has been transitioning from retro 1980s styles to 1990s. That logo couldn’t be more heinously ’90s. (Or, quite possibly, 1890s.) Moreover, who really remembers the old Urban Outfitters logo? When was the last time it really even had one? The bricks-and-mortar stores have always had one logo while the bags and other branding changed regularly. In fact, the brand’s official Facebook page currently features some block UO thing that looks like a direct challenge to UNIQLO.

Urban Outfitters doesn’t owe its logo anything because nobody buys the Urban Outfitters brand. It’s just a retailer that is only as attractive as the bleeding-edge brands it stocks, and thus, it can mess around with its logo all it wants. In fact, it would be irresponsible not to.