Maurices, typeset as maurices, is an American clothing retail chain based in Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

. Founded in 1931, the chain comprises more than 750 stores in 44 states, primarily located in shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

s and smaller towns. The chain is owned by The Ascena Group

DressBarn

Dress Barn is an American retailer of women's clothing. The first Dress Barn was opened in 1962 in Stamford, Connecticut, by Roslyn Jaffe. The company began trading on NASDAQ in 1982...

, who acquired it in 2005.

In 2011, Maurices was rated one of the "Top Ten Best Employers in Retail" by Forbes.com

Celebrity Endorsements

In November 2011 maurices announced a cooperation with celebrity designer Christopher Straub

Christopher Straub

Christopher Straub is a fashion designer who was a contestant on season 6 of the competitive reality show Project Runway and also appeared on season 1 of the competitive reality show Models of the Runway as the designer for the model Katie Sticksel, Celine Chua, and Matar Cohen...

 from the reality television show Project Runway

Project Runway

Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...

 season 6 which aired on Lifetime Network. The products are labeled Christopher Straub for maurices and were released nationwide on Friday, November 25, 2011. Straub also designed a plush puppy as part of the collection to benefit the American Cancer Society

American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...

. This cooperation is a follow-up to the maurices Main Street Model Search which occurred earlier in 2011 with Straub.