For the last 20 years, Ann Taylor and LOFT have built a legacy of lifesaving impact on breast cancer research, raising more than $62 million for BCRF. This year, to mark two decades of incredible support, the brands’ parent company, KnitWell Group, will unite all eight of its iconic American apparel brands and 20 million customers for a first-of-its-kind philanthropic campaign for BCRF: the “Sisterhood of Strength.”
KnitWell Group is a multi-brand powerhouse that includes Ann Taylor, Chico’s, Haven Well Within, Lane Bryant, LOFT, Soma, Talbots, and White House Black Market in its portfolio. Last year alone, Ann Taylor, Haven Well Within, Lane Bryant, LOFT, and Talbots raised $5 million for research. Together with newly added Chico’s, Soma, White House Black Market, and the brands’ associates and customers, KnitWell aims to raise $10 million for BCRF this year.
KnitWell’s commitment could not be coming at a more critical moment. To the alarm of experts, breast cancer is on the rise in younger women in the U.S. And one in eight will be diagnosed in their lifetime.
“As a female-led organization that serves women across a broad demographic with eight brands, this is a cause that touches each and every one of us in a significant way,” KnitWell’s Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer Lizanne Kindler said. “Individually, our brands are strong. Together, we are powerful and know we can make an even greater impact with the support of our associates and our customers. And that’s what we intend to do with the Sisterhood of Strength.”
This year, customers can donate in store and online, as well as purchase brand-specific Cares Cards that not only raise crucial funds for BCRF but also offer a discount on their purchases. Select KnitWell retailers will sell additional BCRF-supporting merchandise, host “Shop for a Cause” events with a percentage of the day’s sales benefitting the Foundation, and match customer donations made on Pink Day, October 5, in store and online.
KnitWell’s 2024 Sisterhood of Strength campaign also features powerful digital storytelling and in-store imagery of 20 breast cancer thrivers, who represent the unrelenting reach of breast cancer. They are women from across the country, spanning ages, backgrounds, and experiences. And yet, their shared journey with breast cancer connects them in a sisterhood unlike any other, one touched by a life-threatening disease that undeniably revealed their capacity for resilience.
Miriam Dance, who was treated for triple-negative breast cancer in 2021, joined this year’s Sisterhood of Strength campaign and reflected on her experience with the disease.
“I learned the importance of community and who you have surrounding you,” she said. “I learned what resilience means. I learned that being authentic and sharing my story is my purpose. If I can help others in any way by sharing my story through words or music, that is what I want to do.”
Funds raised through this year’s Sisterhood of Strength campaign support the KnitWell Group Fund in support of Breast Cancer Prevention, which backs BCRF investigators who are innovating breast cancer risk assessment and reduction, improving early detection and screening, and reducing life-threating racial disparities in screening, treatment, and outcomes.
“We know that research is the only path to eliminating breast cancer. But three decades of fueling the world’s most promising research has taught us that the only way we will end breast cancer is by doing it together,” BCRF President and Chief Executive Officer Donna McKay said. “KnitWell Group’s Sisterhood of Strength campaign is a beautiful and impactful way to support our critical, lifesaving work and represents what we know to be undoubtedly true: It is only through community, connection, and unwavering commitment that will we unravel this disease. We are so grateful to KnitWell Group, their associates, and their customers for joining us in taking action to improve women’s health.”
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