Tween Brands
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| Tween Brands, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Type | Public (NYSE: TWB) |
| Founded | 1987 (As Limited Too, Inc.), 1999 (As TOO, Inc), 2006 (As Tween Brands, Inc.) |
| Headquarters | New Albany, Ohio, USA |
| Key people | Michael W. Rayden, Chairman & CEO Kenneth T. Stevens, President and COO |
| Industry | Retail |
| Website | http://www.tweenbrands.com/ |
Tween Brands, Inc. NYSE: TWB,formerly known as Too, Inc., operates two store concepts: Limited Too and Justice. Limited Too sells apparel, underwear, sleepwear, swimwear, lifestyle and personal care products aimed at girls aged 7-14. Justice, launched in 2004, sells sportswear and accessory items for girls aged 7-14. Justice operates at mainly non-mall locations such as power strip and specialty centers. Tween Brands currently operates 582 Limited Too and 260 Justice stores. Three times a year, spring, fall and holiday, Limited Too offers Too Bucks, which are received with a $50 purchase, and are worth $25 (as of 2007).
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[edit] History
Limited Too was created by The Limited, Inc. in 1987 as a younger girls/infants version of The Limited.
From 1987 through 1995, the number of stores increased from 2 to 288 different retail locations. In 1996, a new senior management team refocused Limited Too into a preteen girls fashion store aimed at 7-14 year olds. In 1999, Limited Too, Inc. spun off to establish a strong and independent brand identity.
From 2001 through 2003 the company operated the mishmash chain which targeted 15 - 20 year old women and sold apparel, accessories, and gifts and competed head-to-head with chains like Gadzooks, Wet Seal, and the women's businesses of Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister Co, and American Eagle Outfitters. The chain folded in 2003 because Too Inc. felt that they knew and understood the preteen customer better. Committed to this focus, Too Inc. launched the first Justice: Just for Girls stores in January 2004.
On July 10, 2006, Too Inc. completed its name change to Tween Brands, Inc., and began trading on the NYSE under the symbol, NYSE: TWB. As of February 2008, there are currently 582 Limited Too stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico as well as 25 franchised stores in the Middle East. Justice opeartes 260 stores throughout the U.S.
[edit] Controversy
[edit] Vanity Sizing
While operating as The Limited Too, stores were proven to practice vanity sizing, leaving inaccuracies in clothing sizes, often making the girl feel overweight at other stores. (example: a girl who would wear a size 12 at other stores would wear a 10 or even an 8 at Limited Too stores).
[edit] Appropriateness of offerings
In 2007 Slate_(magazine) published an article by Emily Yoffe which was critical of the clothing offered for pre-teen girls at several shops, including Limited Too. When she took her eleven-year-old daughter shopping for school clothes, the range available at Limited Too ran to clothing "encrusted with rhinestones or sparkling with glitter", a category Yoffe called "Nitwit Wear" (she mentions a T-shirt with the slogan "I Left My Brain In My Locker"), push-up bras for pre-teens, and boyshort underwear emblazoned "Buy it now! Tell Dad later!"[1]
