Ascena Retail Group (2024)

FAQs

How is Ascena Retail Group doing? ›

Ascena filed for Chapter 11 protection in July 2020 with more than $1 billion in debt, part of the wave of retail bankruptcies that occurred in the first few months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. Ascena later sold its assets , opens new tab, including apparel retailers such as Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant and Loft ...

Dive Brief:

In a culmination of the dismantling of its apparel portfolio under Chapter 11, Ascena Retail Group on Thursday said that it has agreed to sell its Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant and Lou & Grey brands to an affiliate of private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $540 million.

Ascena brands include LOFT, Lane Bryant, Justice, Lou & Grey, Cacique and Ann Taylor. It operates through an extensive network of stores and eCommerce websites in the US, Canada, and others. Ascena is headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey, the US.

Ascena said in late May that it ended the fiscal third quarter with outstanding debt of $1.3 billion with interest payments due in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 of $20.9 million and its next quarterly loan payment of $22.5 million due in November.

Under the plans, Ascena — which owns Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, Loft and Lou & Grey — will be renamed Mahwah Bergen Retail Group. Ascena originally filed for bankruptcy last July. In December, private equity firm Sycamore Partners agreed to acquire the company — and bring it out of bankruptcy — for $540 million.

Lizanne Kindler (Jan 2021–)

Ascena Retail Group / CEO

The Company's operations consist of its direct channel operations and approximately 3,400 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico as of August 3, 2019. The Company had annual revenues for Fiscal 2019 of approximately $5.5 billion.

Company Overview:

Ascena has a total of 4,690 stores that are mostly in the U.S.

Knitwell Group, previously known as Ascena Retail Group, is headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey. KnitWell Group is the parent company to various brands such as Ann Taylor, Loft, Lou & Grey, Lane Bryant and sold all throughout North America and Puerto Rico.

Sycamore had bought the brands from Ascena Retail Group for $540 million in November 2020. Lizanne Kindler, current CEO of Talbots, will lead KnitWell Group as Executive Chair and CEO.

Does Ascena own Dress Barn? ›

On May 21, 2019, Ascena Retail Group announced that it would eliminate Dressbarn's brick-and-mortar format and would be spun off. Dressbarn was acquired by the private equity firm Retail Ecommerce Ventures.

Ascena Retail Group is a Private company.

A new Delaware corporation, Ascena Retail Group, Inc., or Ascena, has replaced The Dress Barn, Inc. (“DBI”) as the publicly held corporation.

Sycamore acquired Talbots for approximately $391 million in 2012.

Description. Ascena Retail is a private company with an estimated 53,000 employees.

Ascena Retail Group — the parent company of Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lou & Grey, Lane Bryant, Catherines, Cacique, and Justice — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, with plans to shutter an 1,100 stores across its brands.