Jones seeks stake in high-end label Rachel Roy: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clothing and shoe company Jones Apparel Group Inc is expected to announce it has bought half of up and coming luxury fashion label Rachel Roy, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Jones, a mainstream apparel name, owns Jones New York, Nine West and Anne Klein. It sold Barneys New York last year.

"We needed a designer with a story to tell as well as an image and an ability to relate to people," the Journal quoted Jones Chief Executive Wesley Card as saying.

Card said very little money had changed hands and no bankers were involved in the transaction, the paper said.

Rachel Roy is minority owned by TSM Capital LLC, an early-stage investment firm, which had planned to wait three to five years before seeking a buyer, the Journal reported.

But "we quickly realized there was such an enormous opportunity" for growth with Jones, it quoted TSM co-founder Marvin Traub, a former chairman of Bloomingdale's, as saying.

(Reporting by Christopher Kaufman; Editing by David Holmes)