Rtw Retailwinds, Inc. (RTW) SEC Filing 10-Q Quarterly report for the period ending Saturday, August 3, 2019

Exhibit 99.1

FINAL: FOR RELEASE

RTW RETAILWINDS, INC. ANNOUNCES 2019 2nd QUARTER RESULTS

~ Reports Total Sales of $201.9 Million ~

~ eCommerce Business Grew to 30% of Sales from 26% in the Prior Year Quarter~

~ Reports $83.3 Million in Cash / $1.28 Per Diluted Share with No Debt Outstanding ~

New York, New York — August 22, 2019 — RTW Retailwinds, Inc. [NYSE:RTW], an omni-channel specialty apparel retail platform for powerful celebrity and consumer brands, today announced results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2019 ended August 3, 2019.

Gregory Scott, Chief Executive Officer of RTW Retailwinds, said: “We continue to execute against our strategic initiatives, most notably building the foundation of our multi-brand digital platform to address customer opportunities. Fashion to Figure, our on-trend plus-size brand, delivered positive comp results reflecting the ongoing implementation of our strategic vision. Happy x Nature, our ready-to-wear brand in partnership with Kate Hudson, continues to build momentum driven by the strength of Kate’s active and engaged social following. We also experienced positive comp results in our celebrity brands, driven by a significant comp increase in the Gabrielle Union sub-brand. In addition, we made key additions to the RTW executive team representing industry leaders who bring the expertise necessary to drive our near and long-term growth objectives.”

“That said, we were disappointed with second quarter results in our core New York & Company brand. While our traffic and eCommerce business improved sequentially from the prior quarter, and we delivered positive increases in new customer acquisition, we continued to experience decreases in brick-and-mortar traffic as well as decreases in basket size and ongoing weakness from our SoHo Jeans sub-brand. We responded swiftly to these challenges by reducing receipts in the second quarter. As we move forward we are also addressing these challenges with a sense of urgency, beginning with our Customer First initiative launching this Fall. At the same time, we experienced increases in variable eCommerce expenses particularly in shipping, and this increase combined with reduced vendor rebates and increased recruiting fees, negatively affected our operating results in the quarter. We also incurred $2.3 million of losses from our new businesses in the quarter, compared to breakeven in the prior year.”

“Looking ahead to the third quarter, as we continue to experience challenging trends in our core New York & Company brand, we will continue to focus on the growth of the New York & Company eCommerce business which has shown stronger traffic and sales trend, as reflected in our guidance for the third quarter. We have repositioned our product investments for Fall recognizing the ongoing weakness in our SoHo Jeans sub-brand, and will lean into the celebrity brands, our dominant wear-to-work pants category, and the lounge/athleisure category. Finally, our Customer First initiative, led by Traci Inglis, President, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer, is expected to transform the customer journey across our portfolio of brands and position us for long term growth. We remain committed to our strategic priorities and are making the necessary adjustments reflecting the current environment.”