Dive Transient:
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Khristene Son on Monday started serving as J.C. Penney’s new senior vice chairman of pattern, model and design, the division retailer stated by e mail.
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She stories to Chief Merchandising and Provide Chain Officer Michelle Wlazlo, per the announcement.
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Son spent the final 5 years at Deckers, the place she held numerous design roles at footwear model Ugg, per her LinkedIn web page. Over time she additionally had design and content material positions at Charlotte Russe, tween model Justice and Outdated Navy, amongst different manufacturers.
Dive Perception:
In contrast to malls together with Kohl’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom, which have needed to steadiness the calls for of shareholders as they shift their methods, J.C. Penney is privately owned — largely by two main landlords which have an curiosity in preserving its largely mall-based shops open.
Regardless of ongoing gross sales and revenue declines and a tough vacation quarter, J.C. Penney remained within the black in 2023. In asserting a $1 billion-plus turnaround plan a few yr in the past, Penney singled out merchandising upgrades as a key aim.
On the time, the corporate famous that it “has been on the entrance traces of personal model improvement and strategic partnerships that may ship nice high quality at an excellent worth,” citing its rent of celeb stylist Jason Bolden to revamp two of its personal labels. The corporate has additionally partnered with influencers and dressmaker Prabal Gurung for particular collections.
On Tuesday, the corporate stated that Son “brings a singular mix of artistic imaginative and prescient and enterprise acumen to JCPenney’s Merchandising staff.”
Final yr, a bit over a 3rd of J.C. Penney’s complete web gross sales got here from girls’s attire, footwear and equipment, with one other quarter from males’s classes, 18% from residence, 14% from purses, magnificence and jewellery, and 9% from toys and kids’s attire, based on monetary filings. The corporate is making use of a lot of its turnaround assets to an emphasis on inclusivity and the working households it sees as its core base.
