By year's end, Liz Claiborne executives expect their combined chains to grow to 340 total units. By the end of the year officials plan 20 new stores in its Lucky Brand Jeans chain, as well as 20 for Sigrid Olsen, 12 new Elisabeths and four Mexx stores. They also forecast a total of 32 new outlet stores in North America and Europe.

Also on tap are plans to open the first Juicy Couture stores outside of Las Vegas by the end of the year, with one each in Atlanta and Dallas. The first Juicy store opened in Simon Property Group's Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas last year.

Executives do not plan to bring their chains' unit counts as high as some competitors, they say. For example, they plan on growing Lucky Brand Jeans to a maximum of 250 stores from its current total of 95.