As a part of its ongoing all-are-welcome strategy, JCPenney has recruited Prabal Gurung for a collaboration.

The Recent York-based designer is vocal concerning the importance of inclusivity, and the retailer is counting on that status to resonate with shoppers nationwide. Offered in 25 sizes and retailing for lower than $100, the iMPower by Prabal Gurung collection is supposed to appeal to a big selection of shoppers — including recent ones. It’ll debut online and in 300 of the retailer’s 660 stores on March 2 at midnight CST. The colourful limited-run of dresses and jumpsuits is supposed to convey a get-it-while-you-can sentiment with shoppers.

In an interview Tuesday, Michelle Wlazlo, JCPenney’s executive vp and chief merchandising officer, spoke of how Gurung shared values with the retailer. The corporate decided to work with him on account of his “sought-after designs and mission to embrace an inclusive world, celebrating the wonder in all women,” she said.

Gurung commitment to inclusion has long been engrained in his work and never in a check-the-box variety of way, Wlazlo said. To spotlight inclusivity, Norman Jean Roy photographed six enterprising women for the gathering’s imagery — model and actress Shalom Harlow, volleyball player Natalia Bryant, singer and songwriter Varsha Thapa, Thirteen Lune founder Nyakio Grieco, Prados Beauty founder Cece Meadows and Sara Happ’s namesake founder. Together with presenting powerful women, the pictures also showcase different body types and ethnicities. Throughout the shoot, the talent each responded to designs in the gathering that might enhance their very own wardrobes, in accordance with Wlazlo.

Each model chosen a charity or cause that JCPenney is donating $10,000 in honor of Women’s History Month. A donation of that quantity can also be being made to Gurung’s preferred charity, the Shikshya Foundation Nepal, an education-driven organization that the designer helped establish in 2011. Gurung was not available for an interview.

The campaign also touts three founders of beauty brands which are available through JCPenney including its anchor one, Thirteen Lune. Rolling out recent beauty departments with a mixture of mass, prestige and emerging founder-led brands is one among the objectives that JCPenney chief executive officer Rosen has prioritized. The corporate has introduced greater than 100 beauty brands including 70-plus ones which are female or BIPOC-led [Black, Indigenous and people of color].

Earlier this month, the Simon Property Group, which acquired JCPenney in 2020, flagged that the chain’s 2022 sales had been hampered by inflation and reduced consumer spending. But because the pandemic appears to wind down, some shoppers proceed to purchase dressed-up styles, which the retailer had continued to supply throughout the shutdown and had seen solid interest in, in accordance with Wlazlo.

With a social media reach of nearly 1.9 million, Gurung stands to potentially boost JCPenney’s connection to the digitally minded — one other priority for the corporate. As of last fall, 25 percent of the corporate’s sales were generated by online purchases. As for the way much of an element Gurung’s social media following was in JCPenney’s decision to work with him, Wlazlo said his design talent was the driving force. (With 2.8 million followers on Instagram alone, Bryant brings her own social media might to the equation, as do among the campaign’s other models.)

Although JCPenney’s radical modernization a decade ago fell flat, the corporate is edging into elevated offerings occasionally similar to the Gurung collaboration. 4 years into her tenure at JCPenney, Wlazlo said she was captivated with the Rosen-led regime and the corporate’s future.