Roslyn S. Jaffe, cofounder of the Dressbarn fashion chain and a trailblazer for women seeking careers in the male-dominated retail industry, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday due to natural causes. She was 96.
Jaffe started Dressbarn in 1962 with her late husband Elliot. They opened their first store with just $5,000 in savings in an old abandoned shoe factory in Stamford, Conn., reminiscent of a barn. They saw a need for a one-stop-shop that offered affordable, fashionable wardrobes just as women were beginning to enter the workforce in significant numbers. Jaffe saw a gap in the market, that working women like herself — whether you were a secretary, an associate on the sales floor, or enrolled in an executive training program — lacked access to stylish and professional clothing at reasonable prices. At the time, designer-label wool pencil skirts, sheer blouses, flares, furs and leather coats were all the rage, but with the launch of Dressbarn, Jaffe managed to offer her customers the latest in fashion, including designer looks, at much lower prices. Originally, the store was spelled Dress Barn, but decades later the name was condensed.
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“I took the first floor,” of the factory, Jaffe told WWD in a 2014 interview. “It had a little bullpen for the women to try on clothes, and we sold this lined crepe dress from Jonathan Logan for $5.99 in red and black. The real value was $8.99. Everything we carried was first quality.”
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A year later, the Jaffes opened their second Dressbarn store, and around that time, Elliot quit his job at Macy’s and joined his wife taking an active role in the business.
“There was no venture capital back then so every store opening was a ‘bet the company’ situation,” said David Jaffe, the son of Roslyn and Elliot, who years later became Dressbarn chief executive officer, succeeding his father in the role.
By the time the Jaffes had about 10 stores operating, there was enough critical mass to more methodically open additional locations, David recalled. “They took the company public in 1983. That’s when the growth really took off,” he said.
Dressbarn developed into a popular national chain through the ’70s and into the ’90s, despite having a name that didn’t exactly evoke the most flattering fashion image. The store targeted middle-class, working women, aged 35 to 55, with casual, career and special-occasion apparel and accessories. Dressbarn Inc. changed its name to the Ascena Retail Group in 2009 reflecting the company’s evolution into a multibrand organization through acquisitions and included Ann Taylor, Loft, Lou & Grey as well as other retail nameplates.
By the 2000s, Dressbarn began closing stores running up against intensifying competition from rising specialty chains appealing to the next generation with more contemporary styling. In May 2019, the company said it would shutter all of its remaining 650 stores, though the brand still lives on as an e-commerce site operated by Omni Retail Enterprises.
In addition to spearheading the rise of Dressbarn, “Mrs. J” as Roslyn was affectionately known, was the force behind the annual Roslyn S. Jaffe Awards, a grants program that for several years honored, as she said, “everyday heroes” and grassroots organizations that were on a mission to make the world a better place for women and children in the areas of health, education, social reform and self-esteem. Recognizing her philanthropic work on behalf of women, Jaffe once ushered in Women’s History Month by ringing the opening bell on the Nasdaq. The grant program was established in 2014 by the Ascena Foundation.
“When Dressbarn was founded in 1962, my mother instilled her passion for supporting local communities in everything the company did,” David told WWD.
“My mother was very soft spoken, but when she spoke you listened,” said David. “Everyone wanted to hear what she had to say, but she never wasted time talking, unless she had a real point to make.” He noted that one of her favorite expressions — when life gives you lemons, make lemonade — became the theme for the annual grants award program. As her late husband once told WWD, “Her optimism and resilience kept us going.”
Born in 1929, in Waterbury, Conn., Roslyn Solomon grew up in a modest, working-class Jewish family during the Great Depression. According to her son, her early years were shaped by a strong sense of community and responsibility, values instilled by her parents, who emphasized the importance of education and hard work. “She was a child of the Depression so she knew the value of a dollar,” said David. “But she also had this concept of service to the customer and service to people.” He said it wasn’t just about selling clothes, “It was about helping women look good to feel great and to empower them. This whole idea of providing service led to this concept we as a family felt that it was beholden on us to give back.”
Determined to pursue higher education at a time when few women did, Roslyn attended Simmons College in Boston, graduating in 1950, with a degree in business math, which, when combined with her common sense and pragmatism, provided her with the strong business foundation.
After college, she began her career as an executive trainee at Gimbels, a former department store in New York City. At Gimbels, she honed her skills in merchandising, sales and store operations that would become essential to her as an entrepreneur. During this time, she met Elliot, with whom she would share a partnership in both business and life.
When she turned 90, Jaffe gave an interview to Spectrum News 1, where she told a reporter: “I came into the city after college, and had an apartment with two other girls, one bedroom, three cots in the same bedroom. At that time women could be working in stores, teachers. There were limits to even what a college graduate could do. So I came to New York and got a job in Gimbels… And met my husband, who was at Macy’s on the training program. At that point, we had three children. They were 3, 5 and 7. I was raising the children, but things were changing in the retail field… And it was like a big revolution in retailing. Women were coming into the workplace and they needed clothes to wear. With all this new stuff going on, it was like, ‘Why don’t we do something?'”
She insisted on hiring women, promoted from within and developed policies that supported working mothers long before corporate America caught on. Dress Barn didn’t just sell clothes; it celebrated and supported the everyday woman.
Jaffe remained on the board until her mid-80s, continued as director emeritus for life and frequently visited the company offices.
She shared a 70-year marriage with Elliot, who predeceased her in 2023. She is survived by her three children, Elise, Richard and David; five grandchildren, Byron, Alexandra, Spencer, Rye, and Laurel, and one great-grandchild, Ruby.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the The Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
A celebration of Roslyn’s life will be held on Thursday, 5 p.m. at Temple Sinai in Stamford, Conn.