JCPenney launches digital fashion promo; to debut affiliate sales
JCPenney is paying tribute to teachers while highlighting its fall fashions in a novel promotional campaign. It's also planning an affiliate program.
The department store giant has released a digital magazine called “The Other September Issue” (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the legendary “September Issue” published each year by Vogue) on its first-ever pop-up on the digital publishing platform Substack.
Available without a subscription, “The Other September Issue” features five educators from San Marcos, Texas, styled by celebrity stylist Wouri Vice and JCPenney and shot by global fashion photographer Andrew Matusik, with writing from fashion critic and stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. The teachers are not presented as makeover recipients but as model citizens and fashion icons in their own right.
Teachers from The Other September Issue will also star in JCPenney’s all-new, nationwide TV films, debuting Thursday, Sept. 17 in Prime Video’s first football game of the season, as well as in other on-air community spotlights all season. Previous Prime Video football-themed partnerships include a 2024 campaign that featured Shaquille O’Neill and Martha Stewart in spots airing during Prime Video Thursday night NFL broadcasts.
JCPenney says all eight looks from the entire campaign can be shopped from its stores or website for less than $3,000, including items from Liz Claiborne, Adidas, Levi’s, and Nike.
JCPenney to launch affiliate sales program
JCPenney plans to introduce an affiliate sales initiative in the near future. It will be open to all participants, including the retailer’s associates.
JCPenney focuses on teachers
According to JCPenney, teachers represent more than 10% of its customers. The retailer is targeting teachers as part of a promotional effort called “Everyone Deserves a Better Deal,” which stems from a humorous fashion-focused brand marketing campaign featuring the tagline, “Yes-JCPenney!”, the retailer launched in April 2025.
“Yes-JCPenney” has also included a promotional tie-in with the ABC “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” late-night talk-show program, as well as TV spots and larger-than-life QR-code-enabled ads that were placed in Times Square and at Simon and Brookfield malls across the country.
[READ MORE: JCPenney partners with 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' to promote fashion]
As part of that promotion, JCPenney will also send community-nominated teachers on a “Yes Trip” later in fall 2026.
“At JCPenney we firmly believe everyone deserves a better deal. The double meaning in that expression is intentional,” said Marisa Thalberg, executive VP and chief customer and marketing officer of JCPenney parent Catalyst Brands. “Through this latest expression of ‘Yes, JCPenney,’ we are spotlighting some of the communities we admire most and who also exemplify our customers: teachers. We happen to think they deserve to be the cover models of magazines that inspire others… not to mention be the style icons of the classrooms they dress for every day.”
Plano, Texas-based JCPenney is part of Catalyst Brands and operates the jcp.com e-commerce site and more than 600 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Established in 2025, when JCPenney and the former SPARC Group combined, Catalyst Brands today operates 1,800 retail stores, shop-in-shops, and e-commerce platforms throughout the U.S. and Canada.
