Ann Inc. History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Ann Inc., kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
This is the corporate profile - the parent company ANN INC., its brands, its merger and its heritage. The Ann Taylor store brand itself, written from the shopper's side, has its own page in this letter, and the two are deliberately different: this one follows the company. The original opens with the transaction: ascena retail group, inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA) and ANN INC. (NYSE: ANN) announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which ascena will acquire ANN INC. for a combination of cash and stock in an accretive transaction. The Ascena profile in this letter carries the same agreement from the buyer's side.
Heritage: A Dress, a Name, a National Brand
ANN's rich heritage dates to 1954, when founder Richard Liebeskind opened his first shop called Ann Taylor. Back then, 'Ann Taylor' represented a best-selling dress style that had been gifted to the storeowner by his father. The 'Ann Taylor' design embodied the well-dressed woman, and the legacy was born. By 1983, Ann Taylor had grown from a regional brand to a national brand with 47 stores across the United States. That origin - a company named not for a person but for a dress - is the single most repeated fact about this business, and historical descriptions give it pride of place; this profile does the same.
The store counts mark the growth the original tracked. A 2011 summary records ANN represented by two brands with multiple channels: 907 Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Factory, LOFT and LOFT Outlet stores in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as of October 30, 2010, plus the e-commerce sites anntaylor.com and LOFT.com. The 2015 summary updates the estate: 1,030 Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Factory, LOFT, LOFT Outlet and Lou & Grey stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada as of January 31, 2015 - Lou & Grey appearing in the brand list by then. The historical record also records the company's responsibility commitments: ethical supplier partnerships, programs to minimize environmental impact, and contributions to its communities.
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