Chico’s FAS Creates Intimates Brand TellTale
Just in time for National Lingerie Day, Chico’s FAS, parent company to women’s apparel and accessory retailer Chico’s, is launching bra and underwear brand TellTale.
The intimates line will start with seven collections, ranging from sexy to comfortable to functional. And with names like The Ghoster or The Romantic, the idea is to offer a little something for everyone.
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“No woman is one thing,” Kimberly Grabel, general manager, or “ringleader,” of TellTale, told WWD.
The collections include a mix of push-up bras and bralettes in everything from cotton to see-through mesh, as well as underwear and bodysuits.
The target audience, Grabel said, is the “new adult woman,” somewhere between 30 to 35.
“She’s not fully set in her ways,” Grabel explained. “She hasn’t had kids yet. Or, maybe she’s had a baby, but she takes the baby out with all her friends on a Saturday night for dinner, because she’s in denial that this baby is going to change her life. So, she’s kind of in that life stage.”
Mary van Praag, brand president of Chico’s other intimates and apparel brand Soma, will run TellTale. Products are available exclusively at MyTellTale.com, starting Wednesday. But van Praag said TellTale may be available in stores or through wholesale channels at a later date. Prices range from $34 to $69 and come in sizes between 32A to 40DD.
In addition to Chico’s, Soma and now TellTale, Chico’s FAS includes women’s apparel, footwear and accessories brand White House|Black Market.
The expanded push into lingerie may be an attempt for the parent company to win back market share in a continually changing retail landscape. Shares of Chico’s FAS are down more than 65 percent year-over-year and the company announced store closures earlier this year.
But Chico’s already-established brand name may serve as a competitive advantage for TellTale, van Praag said.
“We don’t have to go out and think about getting funding,” she said. “I’d like to think of this new brand as a well-resourced startup.”
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