The NPD Group Appoints Dennis Brown President of NPD Fashionworld

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, June 17, 2003 – The NPD Group, Inc., a leading provider of sales and marketing information, announces the appointment of Dennis Brown to president of NPD Fashionworld, the company’s fashion-tracking division. Brown will assume the position formerly held by Diane Nicholson who was appointed vice president, Human Resource Operations. Most recently, Brown served as senior industry analyst with NPD Houseworld, the company’s home products-tracking division.

"Dennis’ experience and enthusiasm will be a significant asset to Fashionworld and to our clients," said Karyn Schoenbart, president NPD U.S. "He has a proven track record in the consumer products industry and will be charged with enhancing the division’s product offerings and looking for new areas of expansion."

Brown brings NPD more than twenty years of marketing, sales and general management experience. Before joining NPD, Brown was senior vice president of World Kitchen, Inc., where he led the sales, distribution and marketing departments for the $1 billion housewares company. Previously, Brown was chief operating officer for Krups North America. Brown also served as president of JBL Consumer Products.

"I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to build on the success attained by Diane and the Fashionworld team," said Brown. "The information NPD provides is extremely valuable to clients and I look forward to applying my experience to enhance our products and further elevate NPD to assist our clients in making informed business decisions."

Working with Brown will be Ron Friedman, vice president of apparel client development and Amy Hyland, director of footwear and sports apparel client development. Senior Industry Analyst Marshal Cohen will continue to provide commentary and analysis to the media as well as clients and prospects.

About NPD Fashionworld®
NPD Fashionworld, a division of The NPD Group, provides sales and marketing information for manufacturers, retailers and related services in the apparel and footwear industries. NPD Fashionworld provides the most accurate market intelligence available, including what is selling, where, to whom and why. Information is delivered online in a secure, Web-based environment via interactive delivery tools that make information accessible and actionable to a wide range of users -- from executives to sales and marketing to research. Today more than 100 market-leading companies in the industry rely on NPD Fashionworld for the knowledge they need to drive better, fact-based decision making.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
Since 1967 The NPD Group has provided reliable and comprehensive sales and marketing information for a wide range of industries. NPD provides critical knowledge on what is selling, where, to whom and why to help our clients make more successful, fact-based business decisions. Today more than 1,300 manufacturers and retailers rely on NPD to help them better understand their customers, product categories, distribution channels and competition in order to help guide their business and positively impact sales and revenues. Information from The NPD Group is available for the following major vertical sectors: apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, cellular, consumer electronics, food and beverage, foodservice, footwear, home improvement, housewares, imaging, information technology, music, software, travel, toys and video games. For more information visit www.npd.com.

For more information:

Sean P. Dolan
The NPD Group, Inc.
Sean_Dolan@npd.com
516-625-2288