Talbots Further Strengthens Merchandising Team

Lizanne Kindler Named SVP of Merchandising, General Merchandise
Manager of the Talbots Brand
HINGHAM, Mass.--(Business Wire)--The Talbots, Inc. (NYSE: TLB) today announced that it has named
Lizanne Kindler, an accomplished merchant with experience in both
store-based and online retailing, to the position of Senior Vice
President of Merchandising, General Merchandise Manager, of the
Talbots Brand.

Trudy F. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of The
Talbots, Inc. commented, "The addition of Lizanne reflects our
company's ongoing initiative to strengthen, reposition and
reinvigorate our Talbots brand. With this appointment, we have
completed the process of filling five key positions announced in the
fall of 2007, with reputable industry talent."

Ms. Kindler, 38, was most recently Senior Vice President, General
Merchandising Manager of Ann Taylor Loft. In that position, she helped
guide the vision and strategic direction for the Loft Brand,
re-organized the merchandising team to support growth initiatives and
was involved in the brand's planning and allocation, marketing, visual
merchandising and stores. Ms. Kindler joined the Ann Taylor
organization in 1992, and held a series of increasingly responsible
executive positions, including Vice President, Merchandising for
Sportswear and several other Loft product categories; Senior Director,
Merchandising for AnnTaylor.com, and various merchant roles at both
Loft and Ann Taylor.

In her new role at Talbots, Ms. Kindler will oversee the
merchandising strategy and development of the Talbots brand apparel,
shoe and accessory businesses. She will report to Basha Cohen, who
recently joined Talbots last month as Executive Vice President, Chief
Merchandising Officer.

"We are thrilled to add a seasoned specialty retail executive of
Lizanne's caliber to the Talbots team," Ms. Cohen noted. "She is
broadly experienced in a variety of product categories that are
important to Talbots future, and has a successful track record of
launching new growth initiatives, while maximizing existing business
opportunities. Lizanne's professionalism, proven capabilities and
compelling leadership style will be tremendous assets to our
organization and will contribute to the revitalization of our
highly-regarded brand."

The Talbots, Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer
and direct marketer of women's apparel, shoes and accessories. The
Company currently operates a total of 1,426 stores in 47 states, the
District of Columbia, Canada and the U.K., with 1,155 stores under the
Talbots brand name and 271 stores under the J. Jill brand name. Both
brands target the age 35 plus customer population. Talbots brand
on-line shopping site is located at www.talbots.com and the J. Jill
brand on-line shopping site is located at www.jjill.com.

The foregoing contains forward-looking information within the
meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements may be identified by such forward-looking terminology as
"expect," "look," "believe," "anticipate," "outlook," "will," "would,"
"target," "would yield," or similar statements or variations of such
terms. All of the "outlook" information (including expected future
revenue impact, expected future operational benefits, expected exit
expenses, future comparable sales, future earnings, future EPS, and
other future financial performance or operating measures) constitutes
forward-looking information.

Our outlook and other forward-looking statements are based on a
series of expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about
our Company which involve substantial risks and uncertainty, including
assumptions and projections concerning exit costs and timing, outcome
of negotiations with landlords and other third parties, exit plan
inventory levels, valuations and sales, store traffic, levels of store
sales, ,and our internal plan and budget for regular-price selling and
markdown selling for the indicated forward periods. All of our outlook
information and other forward-looking statements are as of the date of
this release only. The Company can give no assurance that such outlook
or expectations will prove to be correct and does not undertake or
plan to update or revise any "outlook" information or any other
forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in
assumptions, estimates or projections, or other circumstances
occurring after the date of this release, even if such results,
changes or circumstances make it clear that any forward-looking
information will not be realized.

Any public statements or disclosures by us following this release
which modify or impact any of the outlook or other forward-looking
statements contained in or accompanying this release will be deemed to
modify or supersede such outlook or statements in or accompanying this
release.

Our forward-looking statements involve substantial known and
unknown risks and uncertainties as to future events which may or may
not occur, including whether our recently announced strategic review
of our operations and any significant changes which may result from or
in connection with such process will favorably impact our productivity
and profitability in the short-term or long-term and the timing of any
such matters, the risk that operational benefits expected to be
realized from our exit plans will not be achieved or may take longer
to achieve than expected, acceptance of the Company's fashions
including its seasonal fashions, effectiveness of the Company's brand
awareness and marketing programs and new promotional cadence strategy,
and any different or any increased negative trends in its
regular-price or markdown selling, retail economic conditions
including consumer spending trends, the current housing issues and
uncertainty in the financial and credit markets, success of our
expected marketing events in driving store traffic and store and
direct marketing sales, success of our catalogs in driving both our
direct marketing sales and in driving store traffic, the Company's
ability to anticipate and successfully respond to constantly changing
customer tastes and preferences and to produce the appropriate balance
of merchandise offerings, the Company's ability to sell its
merchandise at regular prices as well as its ability to successfully
execute its sale events including the timing and levels of markdowns
and appropriate balance of available markdown inventory, our ability
to accurately estimate and forecast future full-price and markdown
selling for each of our brands, the success of our current
executive-level searches, the risk that the J. Jill business will not
be successfully integrated, the risk that the cost savings,
operational efficiencies, and other synergies from J. Jill acquisition
may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected,
the risk associated with integrating and operating profitably and
successfully as a multi-brand chain for the first time and the
reaction of Talbots and J. Jill customers and suppliers to the changes
being made within the organization. In each case, actual results may
differ materially from such forward-looking information.

Certain other factors that may cause actual results to differ from
such forward-looking statements are included in the Company's periodic
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and
available on the Talbots website under "Investor Relations" and you
are urged to carefully consider all such factors.

The Talbots, Inc.
Julie Lorigan, 781-741-7775
Vice President, Investor Relations
or
Berns Communications Group
Stacy Berns/Melissa Jaffin, 212-994-4660
Investor/Media Relations

Copyright Business Wire 2008