Company Recognized on Forbes List of Best Employers for Diversity
2023
FORT
MYERS, Fla., June 21,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chico's FAS, Inc. (NYSE: CHS)
("Company" or "Chico's FAS") today released its Environmental,
Social, and Governance report (the "2022 Impact Report"),
highlighting progress across Chico's FAS toward building and
empowering more sustainable, diverse, and equitable communities,
while creating long-term value for Chico's FAS stakeholders.
"At Chico's FAS, our four strategic pillars of being Customer
Led, Product Obsessed, Digital First, and Operationally Excellent
are seamlessly connected to our values of growing the Company,
while caring for our customers and teams. I am proud of the
progress we have made, which is fundamental and importantly vital
to our business and our customers," said President and CEO
Molly Langenstein.
Highlights of the 2022 Impact Report are noted below.
- 100% increase in Higg Index reporting by Tier 1 vendors and
factories*.
- Added 36 new Mindful Fabrics**, for a total of 98 Mindful
Fabrics** featured in our collections in 2022.
- 100% compliant with all 108 National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework controls.
"Our Board, executive leadership, and associates are working
together to advance our values through our environmental, social,
and governance ("ESG") focus areas," said Kim Roy, independent Board member and ESG
Committee Chair. "Chico's FAS believes that a well-informed and
engaged community is key to achieving our strategic pillars and ESG
goals. By holding ourselves accountable, being transparent about
our current state of operations, and regularly reporting on our
actions, we believe we will continue to make meaningful progress in
achieving our ESG goals, while providing beautiful products that
our customers can wear without compromise. Together, we can be
inspired and inspire others in identifying new opportunities to
work together and drive positive change."
The Company also announced that it has been recognized again on
the Forbes list of the "Best Employers for Diversity" – this time
for 2023. The "Best Employers for Diversity" award is determined
based on a survey from approximately 45,000 U.S. employees working
for companies with a minimum of 1,000 employees.
To read the Chico's FAS 2022 Impact Report, please
visit https://esg.chicosfas.com/.
*Tier 1 factories source raw materials and manufacture
finished products for our brands; vendors help identify suitable
Tier 1 factories. Tier 1 factories do not include laundries, mills,
finishers or other subcontractors.
**Mindful Fabrics are
fabrics made with more mindfully produced and sustainably sourced
raw materials.
ABOUT CHICO'S FAS, INC.
Chico's FAS is a Florida-based
fashion company founded in 1983 on Sanibel Island, FL. The Company
reinvented the fashion retail experience by creating fashion
communities anchored by service, which put the customer at the
center of everything we do. As one of the leading fashion retailers
in North America, Chico's FAS is a
company of three unique brands – Chico's®, White House
Black Market®, and Soma® – each thriving in
their own white space, founded by women, led by women, providing
solutions that millions of women say give them confidence and
joy.
Our Company has a passion for fashion, and each day, we provide
clothing, shoes, and accessories, intimate apparel and expert
styling in our brick-and-mortar boutiques, digital online
boutiques, and through StyleConnect®, the Company's
customized, branded, digital styling tool that enables customers to
conveniently shop wherever, whenever, and however they prefer.
As of April 29, 2023, the Company operated 1,262 stores in
the U.S. and sold merchandise through 58 international franchise
locations in Mexico and through
two domestic franchise locations in airports. The Company's
merchandise is also available at www.chicos.com,
www.chicosofftherack.com, www.whbm.com, and www.soma.com.
To learn more about Chico's FAS, please visit our corporate
website at www.chicosfas.com. The information on our corporate
website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this press
release or incorporated into our federal securities law
filings.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION
REFORM ACT OF 1995
This press release contains statements concerning our current
expectations, assumptions, plans, estimates, judgments, and
projections about our business and our industry, and other
statements that are not historical facts. These statements,
including, without limitation, the quote from Ms. Langenstein, the
quote from Ms. Roy, statements regarding our business strategies
and strategic initiatives (including our four strategic pillars),
and our environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") efforts and
goals are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In most cases,
words or phrases such as "aim," "anticipates," "believes," "could,"
"estimates," "expects," "intends," "target," "may," "will,"
"plans," "path," "outlook," "project," "should," "strategy,"
"potential," "confident," "assumptions," and similar expressions
identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are based largely on information currently available to
our management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from
historical results or those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Although we believe our expectations
are based on reasonable estimates and assumptions, our expectations
are not guarantees of performance. There is no assurance that our
expectations will occur or that our estimates or assumptions will
be correct, and we caution investors and all others not to place
undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited
to, those factors described in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" in our most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and, from time to time, in Item
1A, "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and the
following: the ability of our suppliers, logistics providers,
vendors, and landlords, to meet their obligations to us in light of
financial stress, labor shortages, liquidity challenges, bankruptcy
filings by other industry participants, and supply chain and other
disruptions; our ability to sufficiently staff our retail stores;
changes in general economic conditions, including, but not limited
to, consumer confidence and spending patterns; the impacts of
rising inflation, gasoline prices, and interest rates on consumer
spending; the availability of, and interest rates on, consumer
credit; the impact of consumer debt levels and consumers' ability
to meet credit obligations; market disruptions, including pandemics
or significant health hazards, severe weather conditions, natural
disasters, terrorist activities, financial crises, adverse
developments affecting the financial services industry, political
and social crises, war and other military conflicts (such as the
war in Ukraine) or other major
events, or the prospect of these events (including their impact on
consumer spending, inflation, and the global supply chain); shifts
in consumer behavior, and our ability to adapt, identify, and
respond to new and changing fashion trends and customer
preferences, and to coordinate product development with buying and
planning; changes in the general or specialty retail or apparel
industries, including significant decreases in market demand and
the overall level of spending for women's private branded clothing
and related accessories; our ability to secure and maintain
customer acceptance of in-store and online concepts and styles; our
ability to maintain strong relationships with our vendors,
manufacturers, licensors, and retail customers; increased
competition in the markets in which we operate, including for,
among other things, premium mall space; our ability to remain
competitive with customer shipping terms and costs; decreases in
customer traffic at malls, shopping centers, and our stores;
fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and commodity
prices; significant increases in the costs of manufacturing, raw
materials, transportation, importing, distribution, labor, and
advertising; decreases in the quality of merchandise received from
suppliers and increases in delivery times for receiving such
merchandise; our ability to appropriately manage our store fleet,
and our ability to achieve the expected results of any store
openings or store closings; our ability to appropriately manage
inventory and allocation processes and leverage targeted
promotions; our ability to maintain cost-saving discipline; our
ability to generate sufficient cash flow; our ability to operate
our retail websites in a profitable manner; our ability to
successfully identify and implement additional sales and
distribution channels; our ability to successfully execute and
achieve the expected results of our business, brand strategies,
brand awareness programs, and merchandising and marketing programs
including, but not limited to, the Company's three-year strategic
growth plan, sales initiatives, multi-channel strategies, and four
strategic pillars, which are (1) customer led, (2) product
obsessed, (3) digital first, and (4) operationally excellent; our
ability to utilize our Fort Myers
campus, distribution center, and other support facilities in an
efficient and effective manner; our reliance on sourcing from
foreign suppliers; significant adverse economic, labor, political,
or other shifts (including adverse changes in tariffs, taxes, or
other import regulations, particularly with respect to China or Vietnam, or legislation prohibiting certain
imports from China or Vietnam); U.S. and foreign governmental
actions and policies, and changes thereto; the continuing
performance, implementation, and integration of our management
information systems; our ability to successfully update and
maintain our information systems; the impact of any system failure,
cybersecurity, or other data security breaches, including any
security breaches resulting in the theft, transfer, or unauthorized
disclosure of customer, employee, or company information that we or
our third-party vendors may experience; the risks that our share
repurchase program may not successfully enhance shareholder value,
or that share repurchases could be negatively perceived by
investors; our ability to comply with applicable domestic and
foreign information security and privacy laws, regulations, and
technology platform rules or other obligations related to data
privacy and security; our ability to attract, hire, train,
motivate, and retain qualified employees in an inclusive
environment; our ability to successfully recruit leadership or
transition members of our senior management team; increased public
focus and opinion on ESG initiatives and our ability to meet any
announced ESG goals and initiatives; future unsolicited offers to
buy the Company and actions of activist shareholders and others,
and our ability to respond effectively; our ability to secure and
protect our trademark and other intellectual property rights; our
ability to protect our reputation and our brand images;
unanticipated obligations or changes in estimates arising from new
or existing litigation, income taxes, and other regulatory
proceedings; unanticipated adverse changes in legal, regulatory, or
tax laws; and our ability to comply with the terms of our credit
agreement, including the restrictive provisions limiting our
flexibility in operating our business and obtaining additional
credit on commercially reasonable terms.
These factors should be considered in evaluating forward-looking
statements contained herein. All forward-looking statements that
are made, or are attributable to us, are expressly qualified in
their entirety by this cautionary notice. The forward-looking
statements included herein are only made as of the date of this
press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise.
Investor Relations Contact:
Julie MacMedan
Chico's FAS, Inc.
(239) 346-4384
julie.macmedan@chicos.com
Chico's FAS, Inc. • 11215 Metro Parkway • Fort Myers, Florida 33966 • (239)
277-6200
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SOURCE Chico's FAS, Inc.