Gap hires designer for Old Navy
Gap Inc. is hiring celebrity designer Todd Oldham as design creative director for its struggling Old Navy chain.
Oldham, who also has design deals with La-Z-Boy and Target, will develop a line under his label to sell exclusively at Old Navy stores, Gap said Friday.
Dawn Robertson, president of the Old Navy division, called the pairing “a huge win for both of us” and said Oldham, 45, would help “elevate and evolve” the brand.
“Todd’s successful career in fashion and design has distinguished him as an innovative creative thinker who also understands how to appeal to a broad audience,” she said in a statement.
The Texas-born Oldham’s offbeat fashion designs helped make him a star early in his career, and he has since branched out in many directions. He signed on with Target in 2002 to launch a line of dorm furnishings, creating an alliance that has since become commonplace between high-end designers and low-cost retailers.
Oldham operates a design studio under his name, is host of “Todd Time” on MTV’s “House of Style” and has even designed floral arrangements for FTD.com.
“He’s really become a brand in and of himself,” said Debra Stevenson, marketing committee chairwoman for Fashion Business Inc. in Los Angeles.
He’ll need some magic to reel shoppers back into Old Navy stores, a top priority for the San Francisco-based parent of almost 3,100 Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores. Mired in a three-year sales slump, the company has been enlisting a rash of new talent to try to right itself.
In July, it hired a new chief executive, Glenn Murphy, a former Canadian drugstore executive. It also recently named Patrick Robinson, formerly artistic director for Paco Rabanne, as design chief for its namesake brand.
Oldham was unavailable for an interview Friday, but his spokesman, Greg Rossiter, said Oldham would help Old Navy differentiate itself from its competitors.
“He just has an eye for what’s relevant, what’s current,” he said.
Stevenson thinks enlisting Oldham makes sense.
“I think it’s a thoughtful, strategic alliance, and it could be very exciting to watch him put his spin on the Old Navy brand,” she said. “I certainly think it’s a match because of his exuberant youthful style.”
But the executive director of the California Fashion Assn. gave a thumbs down to the appointment of Oldham, who in the past has considered himself a textile designer first and foremost and has not focused on apparel in recent years. It would have been smarter to find a fresh, young apparel designer, Ilse Metchek said.
“It’s absolutely astounding,” she said. “They should look forward, not backward.”
And although retailers increasingly look to celebrities and big-name designers to give their brands a little zing, it doesn’t work to employ a well-known designer as “a life vest,” Metchek said. “It doesn’t work in a turnaround.”
Oldham will start his new job Oct. 1.
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