American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) is pulling the plug on its third-party logistics experiment.
The company is shuttering its Quiet Logistics division just over four years after acquiring the business for roughly $360 million.
At the time, the acquisition was designed to bring more of AEO’s supply chain in-house, enabling the retailer to operate a network of warehouses that could power next-day and same-day delivery for its own brands like Aerie and third-party merchants like Kohl’s, Fanatics and Steve Madden, among others. The deal followed up a similar, separate transaction to acquire delivery and fulfillment firm AirTerra, which was later integrated into the Quiet business.
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According to a company statement, the apparel retailer says it will discontinue Quiet services for third-party customers over the next several months, and shut down its Boston and Dallas fulfillment centers in the first half of 2026.
The company had also previously planned to close a fulfillment center in La Palma, Calif. ahead of Quiet’s cessation of operations. The firm’s Atlanta fulfillment center will remain open to provide distribution services for American Eagle.
“This strategic decision will enable AEO to prioritize growth and focus on its portfolio of leading lifestyle brands,” said a company spokesperson in a statement. “Quiet has valued its partnerships with its customers and, where we are able, are assisting customers to identify and transition to new providers. We appreciate the contributions of our associates, and we are committed to doing what we can to support them as well.”
In April 2022, months after the closing of the acquisition, AEO executive chairman and CEO Jay Schottenstein said the deal would make the company “the anti-Amazon” to compete with the e-commerce giant and other major retailers like Walmart and Target. The company had touted the service’s ability to cut the retailer’s delivery times by fulfilling closer to the consumer.
The first year of the collaboration offered promising services to bolster the experience for clients, including the launch of a national delivery network, which featured a universal delivery label that enabled packages to be shipped across 40 carrier networks. Quiet also partnered with real estate brokerage JLL to offer a percentage rent model to customers using its warehouses.
But the next year showed the first overt signs of cracks in the acquisition, with Quiet president and AEO chief supply chain officer Shekhar Natarajan abruptly leaving the company just a week after speaking about the business at a retail conference.
Upon Natarajan’s departure, an AEO representative said the company was looking to pull back on expenses to “reset the business” as it “has not achieved the plans we envisioned.”
In the years after Natarajan’s exit, the “Quiet” name became a more fitting descriptor for the third-party logistics (3PL) provider, with AEO sharing fewer updates on the unit, or its impact on the retailer’s wider business.
In March 2024, the apparel retailer took a $94 million impairment on the Quiet Logistics business as it adjusted to reduced e-commerce fulfillment demand. Last year, the company shuttered distribution centers in the Chicago and St. Louis metro regions.
The news was first reported by Matthew Hertz, CEO and founder of Third Person, a matchmaker for 3PLs and e-commerce brands, on LinkedIn.
“The market is forcing everyone to pick a lane,” Hertz said. “AEO is pivoting back to focusing on its own volume, leaving a roster of brands looking for new fulfillment homes, fast!”
Jeff Wolpov, senior vice president of Ryder E-Commerce & Ryder Last Mile, called the move “disruptive, but it’s not unprecedented.”
“The brands that move fastest—securing inventory visibility and transitioning to partners with proven rapid-onboarding capabilities—will be the ones that avoid customer impact,” said Wolpov. “Events like this highlight the importance of treating logistics as a strategic partnership, not a transactional one. They also underscore why brands need logistics partners that are transparent about capacity constraints and aligned for the long term.”
AEO’s 3PL exit coincides with another retailer-as-a-logistics provider shakeup.
Hertz also reported that Veyer, Office Depot Corp.’s logistics subsidiary, is exiting its e-commerce fulfillment business. Veyer provided fulfillment, distribution and logistics services for Office Depot customers and other businesses alike, but will focus on services for the retailer going forward. The company will not be shutting down, with the retailer instead folding it into its business solutions unit.
That move follows Office Depot’s $1 billion take-private deal by Atlas Holdings in late 2025.
