Fair Value Of Financial Assets And Financial Liabilities (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2011	Jul. 31, 2010	Jan. 31, 2011
Transfers of assets between levels	$ 0	$ 0
Auction Rate Securities [Member]
Temporary impairment of auction rate securities	$ 3,021	$ 3,868	$ 3,788
Unsold auction rate securities percentage of total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities	3.90%

Name:

urbn_UnsoldAuctionRateSecuritiesPercentageOfTotalCashCashEquivalentsAndMarketableSecurities

Namespace Prefix:

urbn

Data Type:

num:percentItemType

Balance Type:

na

Period Type:

instant