You thought they just sold clothing, but J.C. Penney has their own research and development facilities!
From the New York Post: ” J.C. Penney is at the forefront of an explosion in so-called performance clothing, a category dominated by wrinkle-free and stain-resistant fabrics that slash dry-cleaning bills and appeal to time-strapped consumers.”
It gets better: ” To stay ahead of these trends, about 45 J.C. Penney engineers conduct more than 1 million tests a year in three company-owned factories: a flagship lab in Carrollton, Texas, and satellite facilities in Hong Kong and Singapore… Under development today at [J.C. Penney’s Carrollton R&D] lab — a sort of Willy Wonka’s factory for retail, complete with gadgets like the button basher and launderometer — is anti-microbial underwear that eliminates odors and collagen-injected socks to keep feet smooth.”
via Jeff Jarvis.