Lane Bryant and Isabel and Ruben Toledo Form Collaboration

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Oct 09, 2013, 10:46 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- This fall Lane Bryant will be bringing the designs and artistry of Isabel and Ruben Toledo to 500 doors as their first designer association. The partnership will debut as the first ever designer collaboration for the brand with the soft launch of a small holiday assortment followed by a full collection for spring 2014 with ready-to-wear, outerwear and accessories. Ruben Toledo's signature sketches will be the focus in the holiday collection which will consist of a novelty tee shirt and tote bag. For the spring, the company will be doing a fashion show highlighting the new collection rolling out to full distribution plus Lanebryant.com, their highly successful e-commerce site.

Lane Bryant's CEO Linda Heasley said, "Ruben's tote and tee will be fun and a nice way to introduce the brand. Coming into spring with a large introduction is giving us the time to do it right from both a product and merchandising point of view. Finally, we're looking together at all product categories and nothing is being ruled out as a possibility for inclusion down the road. This is a big deal for us and we're treating it in that manner in every way we can."

Isabel Toledo had this to say, "When the Lane Bryant team came to us we were intellectually on board from the first moment. Their unique customer base is an inspiring and diverse audience for which we look forward to crafting new and innovative fashions, accessories and even some other categories. We also wish to introduce our vision of color, design, look and style and with the vast manufacturing capabilities at their disposal, we know whatever we design will be made well and fit and feel marvelous. This seems so natural to Ruben and me and we cannot wait to unveil what we're doing together."

About Lane Bryant^®: Lane Bryant^® is the nation's leading women's special size apparel retailer, providing stylish and high-quality fashion in sizes 14-28. The Lane Bryant collection includes a wide selection of career to fashion conscious apparel as well as accessories, footwear, hosiery and Cacique^® intimate apparel. Lane Bryant^® fashions are available nationwide at its 805 Lane Bryant stores, and online. Lane Bryant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASNA). Please visit lanebryant.com and cacique.com for store locations and the latest fashion trend information.

About Isabel and Ruben Toledo: ISABEL TOLEDO ENT INC. was launched in 1984 by newlyweds Ruben and Isabel Toledo. By 1991 they were participating in both New York and Paris Fashion Week. The Toledo's mounted their first exhibition at The Museum at FIT in 1997 titled Toledo Toledo – A Marriage of Art and Fashion, accompanied by a book by the same name. In 2005 the Toledo studio received The Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for their work in fashion. The same year Isabel Toledo received the prestigious Couture Council Award for Artistry in Fashion. The husband and wife collaborative work was once again the subject of both an exhibition and a Yale University Press publication titled "Fashion From the Inside Out" in 2009. In a moment of great significance, Isabel Toledo became a household name when Michelle Obama wore Toledo's iconic Lemon Grass ensemble to the historic presidential inauguration ceremony of her husband Barack Obama.The company will celebrate its 30 year anniversary as an independent design house which produces and sells everything with an Isabel Toledo label at their midtown studio headquarters in Manhattan's Tin Pan Alley.