[DRESSBARN LOGO]

                              THE DRESS BARN, INC.
                               30 Dunnigan Drive
                            Suffern, New York 10901

September 19, 2002

To Our Shareholders:

    The Dress Barn, Inc. ('Dress Barn') is offering to purchase up to 8,000,000
shares of its common stock (the 'Shares') from existing shareholders. The price
will not be in excess of $17.00 nor less than $15.00 per Share. The Company is
conducting the tender offer through a procedure commonly referred to as a 'Dutch
Auction.' This allows you to select the price within the specified price range
at which you are willing to sell your Shares to Dress Barn.

    On September 18, 2002, the last trading day prior to the commencement of the
tender offer, the closing price per Share for Dress Barn's common stock on the
Nasdaq National Market ('Nasdaq') was $11.29 per share. Any shareholder
tendering shares directly to the Depositary, whose Shares are purchased in the
offer, will receive the net purchase price in cash and will not incur the usual
transaction costs associated with open-market sales. Any shareholders owning an
aggregate of less than 100 Shares whose Shares are properly tendered directly to
the Depositary and purchased pursuant to the offer will avoid the applicable odd
lot discounts generally payable on sales of odd lots.

    The offer is explained in detail in the enclosed Offer to Purchase and
Letter of Transmittal. I encourage you to read these materials carefully before
making any decision with respect to the offer. The instructions on how to tender
Shares are also explained in detail in the accompanying materials.

    Neither Dress Barn nor the Board of Directors makes any recommendation to
shareholders as to whether to tender or refrain from tendering their Shares.
Each shareholder must make the decision whether to tender Shares and, if so, how
many Shares and at what price or prices Shares should be tendered. Dress Barn
has been advised that certain directors and executive officers of Dress Barn
intend to tender approximately 276,800 shares as more specifically discussed in
Item 11 of the Offer to Purchase.

                                           Sincerely,

                                           David R. Jaffe
                                           President and Chief Executive Officer