WEEHAWKEN, NJ, November 15, 1999 - Consistent with its strategy to become a leading provider of e-commerce services and branded merchandise, Hanover Direct, Inc. (AMEX: HNV) today announced that it has taken a majority equity stake in Always In Style®. Always In Style® is a unique, consumer service that provides individualized style and taste advice and customized e-commerce merchandise offers. Personalization and customization have been identified as the number one consumer need on the Internet as we enter the 1999 holiday season. Always In Style® recommendations are based on individual input provided by consumers in an interactive environment. This information is matched against proprietary knowledge-based technology to yield each client FREE personal image and style advice and, if desired, customized e-commerce merchandise offers. Retail merchants can license the Always In Style® brand 'seal' and functionality to build loyalty and targeting. Hanover Direct, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer, Rakesh K. Kaul also announced that Always In Style® will launch later this year at www.alwaysinstyle.com.

"Our ownership of the Always In Style® brand represents the next step in our unfolding Internet strategy. As we have previously stated, our Internet goal is comprised of three parts: To be a leading provider of merchandise goods to consumers via enhanced shopping experiences; To be a leading provider of e-commerce services to brand name manufacturers and retailers anxious to reap the benefits of this exciting new channel of distribution; and To be an incubator of on-line enterprises. Always In Style® will be Hanover's first on-line enterprise with the goal to be the leading personalization and custom applications knowledge software," Kaul stated.

Kaul added, "Always In Style® brand leadership rests on its consumer pledge to serve as an infomediary representing the interests of the consumer. It offers an individualized navigational format driven by style and taste preferences that we believe are very important metrics in the personal and home merchandise e-commerce consumer space. The pioneering and proven technologies underlying Always In Style® offer one-on-one benefits and problem solving solutions."

"The architecture upon which Always In Style® is based gives it flexibility and feature functionality not seen in other profiling services," noted Michael Contino, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Hanover Direct, Inc. "Participating retail partners will find the Always In Style® system to be dynamic; it's equally good across a variety of product categories and can handle a large number of inputs and survey questions all in real time. Consumers will find the site to be extremely interactive; it's very easy to navigate and quick in presenting targeted recommendations; because of this, we expect high 'stickiness' and frequent customer visits."

"This architecture also offers our retail partner network the functionality of a ready made solution. We can quickly and easily integrate their products into www.alwaysinstyle.com, or, if they prefer, we can seamlessly interface our functionality directly into their e-commerce portal or site. Either option requires minimal work for our partners and can be done in as little as 48 hours," stated Contino.

Always in Style LLC was founded by Doris Pooser upon the introduction of her first book, Always in Style, in 1985. Pooser, a recognized expert in the fashion and beauty industries, also has extensive experience in software development. Twenty years of time-tested methods of analysis have been incorporated into each of the Always in Style Profiles, the software package Pooser developed to automate the fashion and style analysis logic. To date, more than 100,000 Always in Style Personal Profiles have been delivered to men and women worldwide, most purchasing them by mail directly from Always in Style for $35 each.

"We have a time-tested product already embraced by consumers worldwide, poised for expansion via the Internet with the right partner. Few companies competing in today's Internet space have taken the time to know their consumer. Hanover, with its branded focus, understands our offering and goal to become the industry leader in consumer advisory infomediary services. Partnering with Hanover gives Always In Style® the ability to grow via access to Hanover's unique combination of knowledge capital, 24/7 programming support and e-commerce experience that will help us achieve that goal," stated Pooser.

Based on a multi-tiered algorithm, each recommendation incorporates individual characteristics and data on thousands of prior test results. Because of this 'time-tested' algorithm, the personal advice, educational information and product recommendations are genuinely unique to the user as is the timeframe in which the Profile has been generated. An early version of the Always In Style® system has also been a popular feature on the iQVC web site with tens of thousands of style recommendations delivered free to iQVC's customers since its incorporation into their popular shopping site.

"The Always In Style® logic and algorithm were engineered to make it scaleable to handle large volumes of clients and flexible so our channel partners would have the least amount of effort on their side. Always In Style® is in line with our philosophy of developing extremely robust and flexible systems that are scaleable and are 'quick to entry' to market with new adaptations. Maintenance of the site on a 24/7 basis will now be the responsibility of our Joint Venture with RS Software (India) Limited, Desius System Services, who will also be responsible for the development of future enhancements," Contino added.

"Our investment in Always In Style® provides the retailer with a ready-made solution and a virtually instantaneous way of adding this functionality to their web site. Developing this technological know-how on their own or making the investment to duplicate the programming would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming," stated Kaul.

"Retailers joining the retail partner network will not only generate traffic from Always In Style® clients but will also benefit from the targeted marketing programs that could be developed based on the infomediary services offered. These include one-on-one e-mail offers, personalized wardrobes and gift services, and cross merchandising and cross-promotional programs. E-commerce retailers will generate quick payback and benefits by incorporating Always In Style® into their web sites because it leads to demonstrable improvement in transactional activity, loyalty and lifetime value of the customer."

"Our business model generates revenue from fees charged for these infomediary services. The Company will explore the feasibility of seeking venture capital financing in the future to accelerate the rollout of the Always In Style® brand. We expect to announce complete details on this new venture, including our retail partners, in the weeks to come," concluded Kaul.

Hanover Direct, Inc. (AMEX: HNV), and its business units, provide quality, branded merchandise through a portfolio of catalogs and e-commerce platforms to consumers, as well as a comprehensive range of Internet, e-commerce, and fulfillment services to businesses. The Hanover Brands division is comprised of the Company's catalog and e-commerce web site portfolio of home fashions, apparel and gift brands, including Domestications, The Company Store, Turiya, Domestications Garden & Kitchens, Kitchen & Home, Encore, Improvements, The Safety Zone, Silhouettes, Tweeds, International Male, Undergear, and Gump's By Mail. Hanover Direct is the exclusive distributor of the Compagnie de la Chine brand in North America; the Company owns Gump's, a retail store based in San Francisco; and, the Company has a majority equity stake in Always In Style®. Each brand can be accessed on the Internet individually by name. The Web Services division is comprised of the Company's Internet marketing services group, systems platform, fulfillment and telemarketing and third party fulfillment service vendor, Keystone Internet Services, Inc. (www.keystoneinternet.com). Information on Hanover Direct, including each of its divisions, can be accessed on the Internet at www.hanoverdirect.com.  

CONTACT:
AGG International, Public Relations
Paula Zwerdling
Managing Director
(212) 869-8230

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