XML 86 R71.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.19.1

Retirement Plan and Employee Stock Purchase Plan - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
	Feb. 02, 2019	Feb. 03, 2018	Jan. 28, 2017
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Employee contribution percentage	3.00%
Years of age attained	20 years 6 months
Compensation expense	$ 12,100,000	$ 10,600,000	$ 9,800,000
First 3 Percent of Each Participant's Contributions
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Matching contribution to defined contribution plan	100.00%
Next 3 Percent of Each Participant's Contributions
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Matching contribution to defined contribution plan	25.00%
Full-time employees
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Periods of service to be eligible	60 days
Part-time employees
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Periods of service to be eligible	1000 hours
Defined Contribution Pension Plan 401k | Maximum
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Employee contribution percentage	50.00%
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Periods of service to be eligible	60 days
Employee Stock Purchase Plan | Maximum
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Matching investment per pay period	$ 100
Employee Stock Purchase Plan | Minimum
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Qualifying age	18 years
Matching percent of investment	15.00%

X

- Definition

Company match on qualified employee stock purchases.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aeo_CompanyMatchOnQualifiedEmployeeStockPurchases
Namespace Prefix:	aeo_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Defined benefit plan, qualifying age.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aeo_DefinedBenefitPlanQualifyingAge
Namespace Prefix:	aeo_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Defined benefit plan, service period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aeo_DefinedBenefitPlanServicePeriod
Namespace Prefix:	aeo_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Defined contribution plan, employee contributions, percentage of eligible compensation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aeo_DefinedContributionPlanEmployeeContributionsPercentageOfEligibleCompensation
Namespace Prefix:	aeo_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

The compensation expense recognized during the period pertaining to the deferred compensation arrangement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5047-113901

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 710
-SubTopic 10
-Section 30
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6409875&loc=d3e20015-108363

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredCompensationArrangementWithIndividualCompensationExpense
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Minimum period the individual is required to perform services to be fully vested under the deferred compensation arrangement, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 710
-SubTopic 10
-Section 55
-Paragraph 7
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6409961&loc=d3e20487-108367

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109197908&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredCompensationArrangementWithIndividualRequisiteServicePeriod1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Amount of contribution received by defined benefit plan from employer which increases plan assets.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 55
-Paragraph 17
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=112275985&loc=d3e4179-114921

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(iv)(01)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(ii)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e2709-114920

Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108410482&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanContributionsByEmployer
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanDisclosureLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Percentage employer matches of the employee's percentage contribution matched.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedContributionPlanEmployerMatchingContributionPercentOfMatch
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	aeo_DefinedContributionPlansDisclosureAxis=aeo_FirstThreePercentOfEachParticipantsContributionsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	aeo_DefinedContributionPlansDisclosureAxis=aeo_SecondThreePercentOfEachParticipantsContributionsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_TitleOfIndividualAxis=aeo_SalariedEmployeesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_TitleOfIndividualAxis=aeo_PartTimeEmployeeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredCompensationArrangementWithIndividualPostretirementBenefitsByTypeOfDeferredCompensationAxis=aeo_DefinedContributionPensionPlanFourZeroOneKMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredCompensationArrangementWithIndividualPostretirementBenefitsByTypeOfDeferredCompensationAxis=aeo_EmployeeStockPurchasePlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

X

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: