As retailers across the board strive to keep their consumers engaged, JCPenney is betting on catering more broadly to its petite audience with a new collection.
Launched in partnership with singer-songwriter Ally Brooke, the Bold Elements x Ally Brooke collection aims to put a special focus on petite sizes—something the brand has offered for over 50 years—but also features pieces in standard and plus sizes.
For JCPenney’s newly appointed Brand CEO Michelle Wlazlo, it’s about both catering to a wider audience but also inspiring loyalty.
“Once customers realize we have a petites business, and we offer so much choice, every one of our brands comes in petites, and they see the great fit and no alterations and all of that, they become loyal for life,” Wlazlo told Retail Brew. “So, a lot of this is just education that we have petites, which I think is why we’ll get some new customers who…will be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t have to go through alterations anymore.’”
Brooke, who is petite herself at 5 feet tall, was a perfect choice to represent the collection, not just because of her height, but because Bold Elements, JCPenney’s private label brand, has historically had a larger Latinx customer base.
“She has a little bit of a cultural following because of her history, and also she has a deep connection because of her Mexican-American roots to many of our customers,” Wlazlo said. “The bonus of it came to hear her passion around fashion, regardless of stature…but I think this is the first time that I’ve been here at JCPenney, and I think from our history, that we’ve actually had something designed from the lens of someone who is petite. And breaking those norms has been the best thing, because so many people think they can’t wear certain things because they’re petite.”
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With the new partnership, Wlazlo said she hopes to grow JCPenney’s private-label business—a move embraced by many other retailers that has been a continuous focus for leadership at the company—but remain true to its core audience.
“We’ve been very public in saying that we really are here to celebrate America’s working families—across all income, all geographies, all everything,” she said. “We’ve been a family destination for 122 years, and that is our customers, and we’re proud of it. And those families need to have all of their locations served, whether that’s dressy, whether that’s our salon business, whether that’s our fine jewelry or beauty. That is who we’re serving—big families on a budget.”
With inflation and rising costs being a major challenge for brands and customers over the past year, a good deal on a quality product is valuable, and it’s what JCPenney is banking on moving forward.
“There’s economic challenges for our customers, and no matter what happens with interest rates and all the things going on, we offer incredible quality value for our customers,” Wlazlo said. “The focus for me just has to have people feel really good about [when] they still want to celebrate occasions and go out to dinner and go to work in the best outfit that they feel will last them that has great value…There’s always going to be something going on, but that, in itself, is already a challenging job, to make sure that we keep our quality and our value proposition alive no matter what so that our customers can enjoy all of those things.”