J. C. Penney Company, Inc. recently announced that it has significantly enhanced its highly successful Stafford and Worthington brands, reinforcing their position among the country’s top career wear brands with their signature style and quality at a smart price. With new styles, categories, fits and performance features, the Stafford and Worthington brands enable customers to better define their personal styles with versatile career wear that meets the demands of their diverse workplaces and multi-faceted lifestyles – all at a great value. The new Stafford for men and Worthington for women brands are now available in-store, online at jcp.com and via catalog.

“Our research shows that customers also want versatility in their wardrobes -- as well as basic career pieces -- that allow them to transition easily from the office to after-work. Stafford and Worthington have long been their first choice for career wear, and with our new enhancements we are launching, we are thrilled to be able to address all of our career customers’ apparel needs,” said Ken Hicks, president and chief merchandising officer for JCPenney. “With new merchandise categories and fits, the updated Stafford and Worthington brands are professional, while offering customers’ the ability to show their personal style – all at JCPenney’s great quality and value. With these enhanced offerings, we look forward to meeting the needs of our highly loyal Stafford and Worthington customers while introducing new customers to these exceptional brands.”

Stafford and Worthington, both JCPenney private brands, have been providing career wear to men and women for three decades. With strong customer acceptance and loyalty, these brands have meaningful brand recognition well beyond JCPenney stores, Internet and catalog. In addition to apparel, each brand offers a full range of categories including accessories and footwear.

Stafford:

Established in 1981, Stafford is known for its industry-leading innovation and performance and is widely recognized for its best-in-class quality and value in men’s tailored clothing and accessories. Stafford offers customers an array of expanded fits, along with wardrobe options and solutions to meet the demands of today’s diverse workplace. Additions to the Stafford brand include the introduction of a dress business casual sportswear line with items such as Oxford shirts, sweater vests, blazers, pants and more. To better assist customers in finding the items they need, Stafford is now available through three distinct sub-brands:

  • Stafford Essentials – Provides classic styling, dependable quality and value-oriented wardrobe staples that have been the foundation of the Stafford brand for decades.
  • Stafford Performance – Features items made with natural fabrics, blended with technically advanced synthetics (ex. stain and wrinkle resistant) to create the perfect combination of style and performance.
  • Stafford Signature – Provides customers affordable luxury with items featuring high-quality fabrics and impeccable detail. Stafford’s new dress business casual sportswear line falls into this sub-brand.

Worthington:

Launched in 1985, Worthington delivers versatile, on-trend, head-to-toe looks for the modern lifestyle career woman. Designed to ensure a coordinated look, new enhancements to the brand include upgraded, season-less, stretch and easy-care fabrics along with an expanded assortment of the brand’s petite and women’s sizes. Recognizing that pants are the foundation from which a woman builds her career wardrobe, JCPenney has also extended the brand’s pant offering with three distinct fits based on a woman’s body shape. The pant fits include:

  • Modern – Sitting just below the waist, this is Worthington’s most versatile fit.
  • Curvy – Offering a contoured fit that sits slightly below the waist, this fit is perfect for those built with a smaller waist than hip measurement.
  • Straight – Sitting lower on the waist, this slimmer fit is perfect for those with little difference between their waist and hip measurement.

With a pant as her core career piece, women can choose from an array of tops and accessories throughout the collection to create a variety of looks for today’s workplace.

Additional enhancements:

The expansion of Stafford and Worthington is complemented with a new in-store visual presentation that highlights the additions to each brand, along with mannequins showcasing head-to-toe looks to assist customers in bringing pieces together in a fashionable way. JCPenney’s website, jcp.com, showcases the additions to each brand, along with a variety of Worthington and Stafford “Solutions” pages offering tips and ideas, as well as customer reviews. The expanded collections will be further supported by direct mail and online marketing.

About JCPenney

JCPenney is one of America's leading retailers, operating 1,093 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as one of the largest apparel and home furnishing sites on the Internet, www.jcp.com, and the nation's largest general merchandise catalog business. Through these integrated channels, JCPenney offers a wide array of national, private and exclusive brands which reflect the Company's commitment to providing customers with style and quality at a smart price. Traded as "JCP" on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company posted revenue of $19.9 billion in 2007 and is executing its strategic plan to be the growth leader in the retail industry. Key to this strategy is JCPenney's "Every Day Matters" brand positioning, intended to generate deeper, more emotionally driven relationships with customers by fully engaging the Company's 155,000 Associates to offer encouragement, provide ideas and inspire customers every time they shop with JCPenney. For more information on JCPenney visit www.jcpeneny.net.

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