NEW YORK — After emerging from bankruptcy earlier this year, footwear chain Payless has hired 5WPR to support its comeback in North America following a competitive review.

As agency of record, 5WPR is charged with raising awareness of Payless’s relaunch, which includes an immersive e-commerce platform and new brick-and-mortar retail concept stores, as well as its apparel and footwear. The first prototype store will launch in December in Miami, the brand’s new headquarters, with plans to expand to 300-500 freestanding stores across North America over the next five years.

There was no incumbent agency, as Payless hasn’t worked with a firm for at least three years during which it filed for two bankruptcies — one in 2017, another in 2019. The retailer shut down its 2,500 US stores during that time, although its 700 or so international stores remain open.

DCX and Latin American agency CCK are among Payless' most recent creative agency partners.

Payless is opening for business nearly a year after it appointed a new executive management team to develop a new strategy. That included hiring Jared Margolis, the former president of CAA-CBG, as CEO. Justo Fuentes, who had been president of BATA Latin America, was named head of LatAm, the company’s largest business unit.

“Despite being in truly unprecedented times, we saw an opportunity for Payless to relaunch into the US market, providing our community with the affordable, value driven products they’ve always searched for, now across multiple categories, at a time when the world needs to pay-less,” Margolis said. “We are so excited to bring Payless back to our 60M+ customers who missed us, with the strategic help of 5W Public Relations, so they and future generations to come can lead the way forward.”