Come fall, the J.C. Penney juniors and young men’s departments are aiming for an elevated cool factor.
The midtier department store will launch C7P…A Chip & Pepper Production, a denim and sportswear collection created by the denim designing identical twin brothers Chip and Pepper Foster and sold exclusively at Penney’s. The collection will hit selling floors in time for back-to-school in more than 500 of Penney’s 1,033 doors nationwide. It will also be sold online at jcp.com.
“Our young customer is very brand- and trend-conscious,” said Ken Hicks, president and chief merchandising officer at Penney’s. “They know the Chip & Pepper brand and understand the look. Now they will be able to buy it for a price they can afford.”
Inspired by the California surf lifestyle of the Fosters, the C7P line maintains the same look and integrity brought to the designers’ Los Angeles-based premium denim label, but with a slightly more youthful flair. For the first delivery in the junior area, the line consists of four jeans styles — two flares, a boot-cut and Bermuda shorts — all available in light, medium and dark washes. There also will be two different T-shirt styles and two logo hoodies. Hicks said with each delivery, the collection will expand into a complete sportswear collection.
Creative Artists Agency, a Hollywood talent firm, and Mamiye Brothers Inc., a New York-based teen and tween apparel manufacturer, devised the collaboration.
“We have been talking to Chip and Pepper about this for some time,” Hicks said. “They’ve been very involved in every aspect of the design, and I’ll tell you, these guys know jeans. They are truly pros and take it seriously — from the wash to the fit — they make every bum look great.”
The C7P line, which will retail from $14.99 to $34.99, sits at the top of the junior sportswear offerings both in design and price point at Penney’s, Hicks said. It will be mixed in with the store’s existing selection of junior brands, including Arizona, Southpole and Self Esteem.
Hicks declined to divulge anticipated first-year sales.
“We’re making America hip,” shouted the excitable Chip Foster. “After taking a look at all of the stores that we could possibly partner with, J.C. Penney is the best. It’s the number-one store for teens. They are in markets that our premium line is not in, and it will give our brand huge recognition.”
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The brothers, who said they have been in negotiations with the store for about one year, came up with the name C7P by accident.
“It’s a typo,” Pepper explained. “It happens all the time in our office. We go to type the ampersand and we forget to hit the shift key, so it always comes out C7P. We thought it was a perfect and fun name for a label — and this way, we don’t have to go back and fix it back to an ampersand.”
The company’s signature Chip & Pepper line, which retails between $63 for a T-shirt to $200 for a pair of jeans, sells in about 1,000 doors worldwide. With the launch of C7P, the Fosters said they expect their brand awareness to jump. Pepper said that after noticing more designers getting into collaborations, he and his brother knew this was an important step they wanted to take.
“The market is changing so fast and you just have to keep changing with it,” Chip said. “When opportunities like this come up, you have to take it and hang on tight.”