Jones Group, the fashion and footwear company behind such brands as Nine West, Stuart Weitzman, and Jones New York, reported an unexpected operating profit on Wednesday, helped by a surge in sales of its jeans to U.S. department stores last quarter.

Revenue slipped 1.1 percent $845.6 million, but was still better than the $837 million Wall Street was expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Wholesale jeans wear sales, previously a struggling business, led the charge with a 20.9 percent jump, and international wholesale footwear sales also improved.

Jones' posted a net loss of $3.2 million, or 5 cents per share, for the period ended July 6, compared with net income of $8.4 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier.

But excluding costs related to restructuring, the company earned 2 cents per share, while Wall Street was expecting a loss of 12 cents per share.

Jones lowered its sales forecast for the fiscal year slightly to a range of $3.79 billion to $3.89 billion, from $3.80 billion to $3.95 billion. The new range was largely in line with Wall Street expectations.