Ascena Retail Group, Inc. is an American retailer of women's clothing. Ascena also owns Justice, Lane Bryant, and Catherines clothing store brands, and is the parent company of Ann Inc., operator of Ann Taylor and Loft stores. Chairman Emeritus Elliot Jaffe and his wife and co-founder, Roslyn own about 25% of Ascena.
History
The first Dressbarn was opened in February 1962 in Stamford, Connecticut, by Roslyn Jaffe. Jaffe saw the opportunity to provide wear-to-work dresses and clothing for the working woman during a time when women were entering the workforce in greater numbers. The company began trading on NASDAQ in 1982. In January 2011, to reflect its broader holdings, the company was reorganized as a Delaware corporation named Ascena Retail Group, Inc. The company's NASDAQ symbol also changed to ASNA in 2011. In 2005, Ascena Retail Group acquired Maurices Inc. from American Retail Group. In 2009, Ascena Retail Group expanded into the girls' clothing market by purchasing Tween Brands, the owner of the Justice chain of 891 stores. Justice, which is aimed at girls between ages 7 and 14, is the successor of Limited Too, originally launched in 1987 by The Limited. Limited Too changed its name to Tween Brands in 2008, and the company had almost completely converted its remaining Limited Too stores to Justice stores at the time of the Ascena acquisition. In 2012, Ascena Retail Group acquired Charming Shoppes, which was the parent holding company for Lane Bryant, Cacique and Catherines Plus, for $900 Million. On May 18, 2015, Ascena Group agreed to a $2.16 billion acquisition of Ann Inc., the parent company of clothing retailers Ann Taylor and Loft. Ascena Group completed its acquisition of Ann Inc on August 21, 2015. Ann Inc. operates as an Ascena Group subsidiary. On May 1, 2019, David Jaffe stepped down as Ascena’s CEO and as chairman of the board after a 27-year tenure, although he retained a non-chair board seat. Ascena Brands president and CEO Gary Muto replaced Jaffe as Ascena Retail Group’s CEO. Ascena president and Chief Operating OfficerBrian Lynch also left the company on May 1. On May 20, 2019, Ascena announced that it was closing all of its approximately 650 Dressbarn locations, which they did on December 26. On July 23, 2020, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
