Chico's FAS, Inc. Publishes Its Environmental, Social, and Governance 2022 Impact Report

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
[email protected] 

Chico's FAS, Inc. • 11215 Metro Parkway • Fort Myers, Florida 33966 • (239) 277-6200

SOURCE Chico's FAS, Inc.