Having ascended Barbie to silver screen stardom when he was Mattel president and chief executive officer, Richard Dickson has a reputation for transforming American icons. Now at Gap Inc., the industry is eagerly watching what he does with another one.
At WWD’s recent Apparel & Retail CEO Summit, held Oct. 29 and 30 in New York, Dickson, Gap Inc. president and CEO, sat down with WWD executive editor Booth Moore to discuss his plans for Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta.
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“We’ve laid out four priorities for the company and the roadmap, if you will, towards our transformational progress,” Dickson said. “The first, which we repeat relentlessly, is financial and operational rigor. Strengthening our platform — technology, HR, legal, global supply chain, all the support systems to enable our brands to essentially do what they do — is third. And last, but certainly not least and very high on my priority list, is to strengthen our culture. The cultural part, particularly of a legacy company, is such an important and powerful tool that you really need to reinvigorate and inspire.”
Tapping designer Zac Posen, executive vice president and creative director at Gap Inc. and chief creative officer at Old Navy, was another bold initiative that is already paying off in “unlocking the creative spirit.”
Expect more entertainment too, especially with Dickson’s background. “Retail today [is] retail-tainment, and we’ll call it fashion-tainment,” he said. “Either way, you have to create compelling experiences. You’re going to see a lot more content coming out of Gap Inc.’s brands, and I do believe it’s going to be a significant point of differentiation for us.”
