Target will continue to expand its private brands this year, building on the 20 labels it has launched thus far as it continues replacing what were largely DTRs, CEO Brian Cornell said during the keynote at the National Retail Federation Show in New York.

The company has moved quickly replace its own and licensed brands (Cherokee, Mossimo, Liz Lange) with a new selection of private labels, including Cat and Jack, Joy Lab and New Day and exclusive collections from Hunter Boots and Casper. For example, Target’s own Threshold homegoods brand was supplanted by new Project 62, Opalhouse and Made by Design labels.

“For years we took pride in assembling a portfolio of home grown billion-dollar brands, but somewhere along the way our private label business started to slow because we were emphasizing the wrong thing. We were trying to grow the size of our brands, versus meeting the needs of the consumer.”

That latter factor is far more important, Cornell said. “If you asked our Target customers to name our billion-dollar brands (the Cat & Jack children’s apparel label is approaching $2 billion in annual sales), they couldn’t do it because they really don’t care,” Cornell said. “What they care about is great value, quality, design and newness.”