J. Jill’s CEO on How the Clothing Retailer Is Leveraging Creators and AI to Drive Growth

Small business takeaway: 

• In revitalizing heritage retailer J. Jill, CEO Mary Ellen Coyne’s growth strategy highlights three broader business trends. First, strategically expanding core product lines—like modernizing denim—can attract new demographics without alienating brand loyalists. Second, leveraging authentic, age-appropriate social media creators rather than traditional models can drive higher engagement and sales. Finally, deploying "human-led" AI for localized inventory and merchandise planning improves operational efficiency and maximizes full-price selling.

When Mary Ellen Coyne became CEO of women’s clothing retailer J. Jill in May 2025, she took the reins of a company born in the 1950s that needed to attract new shoppers while keeping its existing customers happy. 

But she also saw a brand with distinct advantages, including an extremely loyal base of longtime customers, a team of store employees who act as trusted advisers for shoppers, and a target audience of women in a highly coveted demographic.

“I love women’s apparel and I love this market segment”—women between ages 45 and 65, Coyne told CO—. “This customer is at a certain age in her life where she has the time and the disposable income and the inclination to really think about herself,” she said.

“The opportunity to reignite a brand that has been around for so long and has such a loyal following, and has this amazing customer segment was super exciting to me,” Coyne said.

Women in their 50s are the sweet spot of J. Jill’s target audience. And they are having their moment now.

“Powerful modern women of a certain age are exploding the myth that we fade in our 40s and disappear in our 50s,” Susan Scafidi, Founder and Director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School, told CO—.

“A brand like J. Jill with a 50-something target demographic needs to adopt the same confident attitude, embracing its history while continuing to grow in vibrant and interesting ways,” Scafidi said.

“Unlike a fast-fashion company targeting novelty-seeking teens, a label like J. Jill that markets itself to busy, financially savvy grown women needs to convey a clear identity, provide value-based solutions to everyday wardrobe needs, and give customers a reason to refresh their closets,” she said.

A growth plan that is impressing Wall Street 

Coyne’s plan for growing J. Jill includes attracting new customers with a broader product assortment, and leaning into cutting edge and creative marketing strategies and tech innovations, while continuing to listen to and respect the brand’s loyal, long-time customers.

Coyne, who joined the retailer in February 2025, previously served as CEO of J. McLaughlin, where she was credited with boosting sales and profitability while revitalizing the apparel brand. She has three decades of retail experience, starting with Macy’s training program, and including 17 years at Ralph Lauren. 

J. Jill was born in the 1950s, with a small boutique in Western Massachusetts and a catalog business. It began opening stores in the 1990s, was acquired by Talbots in 2006, went public in 2017, completed a financial restructuring to avoid bankruptcy in 2020, and has been in a rebuilding and growth mode in recent years.

In its most recent earnings report in September 2026, J. Jill impressed Wall Street by reporting better-than-expected sales and earnings, with sales for its second quarter inching up slightly to $154.8 million. Investors rewarded the company’s performance by sending the stock up almost 10% the day the news was released. J. Jill’s stock was up 50% year-over-year as of mid-October.

Coyne has focused on three priorities to drive growth—right product, right marketing, and “thinking about the way we work,” she said.

[Read more: Marketers Tap Industry Partnerships and AI to Reimagine Loyalty Programs That Boost Customer Retention and Sales]

Doing something different with denim: New and existing customers ‘really leaned into new leg shapes’

The success of a recent campaign demonstrated the company’s ability to deliver the right product with the right marketing. J. Jill refreshed its denim assortment by adding new leg shapes to its classic authentic fit jean, and by offering a new modern fit jean with a slightly higher rise, in multiple leg shapes. It also added different color washes and additional denim pieces like a belted jacket and a denim trouser with a dressier feel.

“We essentially doubled the assortment that we had in stores and online,” Coyne said. “The customer really leaned into the new leg shapes.”

In addition to the new styles bringing in new customers, the wide leg collection has been a best seller with existing customers, which “was really, really exciting for us,” she said, and a sign that the new designs were aligned with what the returning J. Jill customer wants.

Choosing midlife creators to send an authentic campaign message pays off: Denim sales surpass expectations

Along with the new denim styles, J. Jill tried a different approach to promoting the expanded product line. For the first time, it created a national marketing campaign that used social media content creators instead of models.

J. Jill gathered a group of fashion content creators and influencers in their 40s and 50s and photographed and filmed them trying on, and talking about, the new denim styles. 

The campaign generated over 10 million views within the first 10 days after it launched on social media, and the subsequent growth in denim sales surpassed expectations, Coyne said.

In picking creators for the campaign, J. Jill looked for authentic fans of the new line. “They have to actually like what they’re wearing. They want to wear the J. Jill denim,” Coyne said.

Digital marketing is driving most of the company’s new customer acquisition, she said. 

The social media ad campaigns build awareness by putting the J. Jill brand constantly in front of target new customers “so they move from awareness to consideration” and ultimately to a purchase. 

The retailer’s 256 stores, however, also are a customer acquisition driver. “Half of our acquisition comes from stores—new customers seeing the window and walking in.”

Using AI to make smarter decisions: ‘Our AI philosophy is human-led progress’

J. Jill’s third growth strategy—working smarter—involves leveraging AI-enabled tools to drive efficiencies. 

A new AI-powered merchandise planning and allocation system will be able to better manage inventory by pinpointing demand at the individual store level. By matching inventory levels to local demand and allowing for quick replenishment of sold-out items, this AI tool can maximize the opportunity for full-price selling and drive revenue growth, Coyne said.

[Read more: 5 B2B AI Startups That Are Helping Businesses Large and Small Drive Growth]

Three other AI tools, for financial planning, pricing and promotion, and product assortment, are scheduled to go live next year.

“Our entire AI philosophy is human-led progress,” Coyne said. While employees have been using AI individually to complete manual tasks more efficiently, J. Jill now is “moving to the next phase of AI, which is how can AI help us tackle business initiatives we have,” she said. 

AI can help J. Jill’s staff get the right data, analyze that data, and be “really smart about decisions they’re making as we’re using these tools,” Coyne said. 

The success of the denim campaign, and encouraging signals in terms of sales and customer acquisition show, J. Jill’s key strategies are aligned and working, Coyne said. 

“We feel great about our customer. We feel great about the team we have in place. We’re making progress on all the things we said we’re going to do,” she said. 

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