Talbots Announces Key Senior Executive Appointments

HINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Talbots, Inc. (NYSE: TLB) today announced that it has named two senior executives with extensive merchandising and design expertise who will work closely together to realign Talbots product and elevate its brand image. The Company has appointed a Chief Creative Officer and Chief Merchandising Officer as part of its strategy to strengthen, reposition and reinvigorate the Talbots brand.

Michael Smaldone Named Chief Creative Officer, Talbots Brand

In a newly-established position, Michael Smaldone, 43, was appointed Chief Creative Officer of the Talbots brand, as part of the Company’s goal to rapidly migrate to a design driven brand. With more than 25 years of design expertise and an intimate understanding of the 35+ customer, Mr. Smaldone will be based in the Company’s Product Office in New York City, where he will build a complete Talbots brand design function. Mr. Smaldone will oversee the direction and delivery of the Talbots brand image to ensure that it embodies the essence of the brand in all aspects that reach the customer in a consistent manner. Mr. Smaldone was most recently Senior Vice President of Design at Ann Taylor. Previously, Mr. Smaldone served as Chief Design Officer of Anne Klein, and Creative Director of Elie Tahari.

Basha Cohen Named Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer, Talbots Brand

With more than 25 years of fashion and merchandising expertise and a strong background in specialty and multichannel retail, Basha Cohen, 47, joins Talbots as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer of the Talbots brand. Ms. Cohen brings significant experience overseeing product development and merchandise management, which includes her former position as Executive Vice President of Design and Merchandising at the Kellwood Company, where she was responsible for conceiving and launching a new business division - Dockers Women’s. Ms. Cohen previously served as Senior Vice President of Women’s Product Development at J. Crew, as well as Senior Vice President of Design and Buying at Laura Ashley PLC. She succeeds Hal Bosworth, who retired in July 2007. Ms. Cohen will be based in Hingham, Massachusetts at the Company’s headquarters’ facility.

Both executives will report directly to Trudy F. Sullivan, Talbots president and Chief Executive Officer.

Commenting on the appointments, Ms. Sullivan said, “We are thrilled to welcome two strong and proven industry talents. Basha and Michael bring a merchandising and design expertise that can infuse a new energy into the Talbots brand and move our product and image forward in a way that will best resonate with our customer. This is an exciting time for Talbots, as the addition of these two key executives further strengthens our management team and represents a significant step in getting our Talbots brand back on track.”

The Talbots, Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer and cataloger of women’s, children’s and men’s apparel, shoes and accessories. The Company currently operates a total of 1,428 stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and the U.K., with 1,157 stores under the Talbots brand name and 271 stores under the J. Jill brand name. Both brands target the age 35 plus customer population. Talbots brand on-line shopping site is located at www.talbots.com and the J. Jill brand on-line shopping site is located at www.jjill.com.

The foregoing contains forward-looking information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by such forward-looking terminology as "expect," "look," "believe," "anticipate," "outlook," "will," "would," "target," "would yield," or similar statements or variations of such terms. All of the "outlook" information (including future revenues, future comparable sales, future earnings, future EPS, and other future financial performance or operating measures) constitutes forward-looking information.

Our outlook and other forward-looking statements are based on a series of expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about our Company which involve substantial risks and uncertainty, including assumptions and projections concerning integration costs, purchase-related accounting adjustments, acquisition synergies and, for each of our brands, store traffic, levels of store sales including meeting our internal plan and budget for regular-price selling and markdown selling for the indicated forward periods, and customer preferences. All of our outlook information and other forward-looking statements are as of the date of this release only. The Company can give no assurance that such outlook or expectations will prove to be correct and does not undertake or plan to update or revise any "outlook" information or any other forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions, estimates or projections, or other circumstances occurring after the date of this release, even if such results, changes or circumstances make it clear that any projected results will not be realized.

Any public statements or disclosures by us following this release which modify or impact any of the outlook or other forward-looking statements contained in or accompanying this release will be deemed to modify or supersede such outlook or statements in or accompanying this release. Our forward-looking statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties as to future events which may or may not occur, including whether our recently announced strategic review of our operations and any significant changes which may result from or in connection with such process will favorably impact our productivity and profitability in the short-term or long-term and the timing of any such matters, acceptance of the Company's fashions including its seasonal fashions, effectiveness of the Company's brand awareness and marketing programs and new promotional cadence strategy, and any different or any increased negative trends in its regular-price or markdown selling, retail economic conditions including consumer spending trends, the current housing issues and uncertainty in the financial and credit markets, success of our expected marketing events in driving store traffic and store and direct marketing sales, success of our catalogs in driving both our direct marketing sales and in driving store traffic, the Company's ability to anticipate and successfully respond to constantly changing customer tastes and preferences and to produce the appropriate balance of merchandise offerings, the Company's ability to sell its merchandise at regular prices as well as its ability to successfully execute its sale events including the timing and levels of markdowns and appropriate balance of available markdown inventory, our ability to accurately estimate and forecast future full-price and markdown selling for each of our brands, the success of our current executive-level searches, the risk that the J. Jill business will not be successfully integrated, the risk that the J. Jill merchandise changes will not be well accepted, the risk that the cost savings, operational efficiencies, and other synergies from the transaction may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected, the risk associated with integrating and operating profitably and successfully as a multi-brand chain for the first time, the risk that the acquisition will disrupt Talbots or J. Jill's core business, the reaction of Talbots and J. Jill customers and suppliers to the changes being made within the organization, effectiveness and profitability of new concepts, and the risks associated with CEO succession. In each case, actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking information.

Certain other factors that may cause actual results to differ from such forward-looking statements are included in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the Talbots website under "Investor Relations" and you are urged to carefully consider all such factors.