Gap Inc. has tapped top industry talent to develop accessories and beauty into “promising growth engines” across the retailer’s portfolio of brands.

Reed Krakoff, of Coach and Tiffany fame and currently with John Hardy and L Catterton, and John Demsey, the former Estee Lauder executive, have become Gap Inc. executive directors of accessories and beauty, respectfully, essentially hired as advisers for strategic guidance and for their decades of experience building businesses.

In addition, Deb Redmond, formerly with Nordstrom, has been named Gap Inc. general manager of beauty, and Michele Parsons, formerly with Kate Spade and Coach (where she worked with Krakoff) has been named Gap Inc. general manager of accessories. Both positions are new, and geared “to advance the strategy, product development, customer experience, and go-to-market execution of beauty and accessories across the company’s portfolio of brands,” Gap Inc. said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Gap Inc. operates the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta brands. Redmond and Parsons will report to Eric Chan, Gap Inc.’s chief business and strategy officer.

To grow its share of the $100 billion U.S. beauty and personal care market, Gap Inc. will launch beauty first with Old Navy this fall in 150 stores. Many of those stores will set up beauty shop-in-shops with trained beauty associates. The Gap brand will launch beauty in 2026.

Similarly, Gap Inc. will apply “a deliberate, phased approach” to expanding its accessories assortment.

In some ways, the Krakoff and Demsey appointments mirror the hiring of designer Zac Posen, who in February 2024 became Gap Inc.’s executive vice president and creative director and Old Navy’s chief creative officer. Posen continues with his non-Gap activities, including creating his designer collection. Last week for Starbucks, which sponsored the Council of Fashion Designers of America kickoff dinner for New York Fashion Week, he designed a Starbucks-inspired “Siren” dress, which was worn by Nicole Kidman’s daughter, Sunday Rose.

While advising Gap Inc., Krakoff and Demsey will continue in their non-Gap roles and activities. Redmond and Parsons, however, are in full-time Gap management positions.

Accessories and beauty have been relatively under-developed in some areas at Gap Inc., but it’s where the company sees significant opportunity for growth and a path to help sustain recent momentum. Further developing accessories and beauty should bring greater volume to the $15.1 billion retail conglomerate, and a better balance to the assortment. The San Francisco-based specialty retailer has produced six consecutive quarters of positive comps, and the three largest brands all posted positive comps for the second quarter of 2025. Part of the improved performance is due to better product acceptance, and tying in with pop culture and celebrities to regain relevance.

Gap Inc. has recently orchestrated successful campaigns at Old Navy with Lindsay Lohan and Disney, and at the Gap brand with the Katseye girl group and Troye Sivan. Denim at Gap and Old Navy has been a standout category, as has active at Old Navy.

“Building on the renewed strength of our iconic brands, we are setting the stage for Gap Inc. to accelerate long-term value creation and connect with our customers in meaningful and culturally relevant ways,” Richard Dickson, president and chief executive officer of Gap Inc., said in a statement Wednesday. “I couldn’t be more excited about the journey ahead and the exceptional talent who will help guide the way.” Credit Dickson for seeking additional help in the brand building agenda and for being openminded to listening to new voices.

Old Navy, known for its flip-flops, has already began accelerating its accessories offering with an expanded and reimagined handbag collection launched two weeks ago. “This is definitely something early on when I got here…that I really wanted to put at the forefront, and something that our customers told us we needed,” Posen told WWD. “For me, when looking to elevate Old Navy style for our customers, an accessory is an incredibly accessible way to attain a style. It doesn’t require fit. It can be a keepsake. It can be a pass-me-down. It can elevate the everyday outfit, and just give it that elevated zhuzh.”

With the four executives now coming into the picture at Gap Inc., Posen’s role changes. “While Zac won’t be leading the design or development of the beauty or accessories categories, he will be working in collaboration with the teams. His role as creative director of Gap Inc. remains focused on providing overall creative direction and guidance across our portfolio of brands,” a Gap spokesperson indicated, in response to a query about Posen’s role.

While working with Gap Inc., Krakoff, a prominent figure in the luxury sector for over three decades, continues as creative chairman and shareholder of John Hardy, and as a strategic adviser to L Catterton, a large LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy consumer-focused private equity firm that is also the majority stakeholder in John Hardy. Krakoff joined John Hardy in September 2022. He oversees the creative and artistic direction of the business. Krakoff is a minority equity stakeholder in John Hardy.

One of the fashion world’s leading accessories designers for decades, Krakoff served as chief artistic officer at Tiffany & Co. from 2017 to 2021, and from 1996 to 2013, as president and executive creative director of Coach, where he was instrumental in transforming the brand into a global $5 billion fashion powerhouse. Krakoff was named Accessory Designer of the Year three times by the CFDA. Since joining John Hardy he has helped reinvigorate the brand, which is seeing strong momentum.

While Krakoff once did a successful collaboration with Kohl’s, his work with the Gap Inc. portfolio of brands will be the first time he has created collections for such a wider, more mass audience.

Redmond brings more than two decades of experience at Nordstrom, where she was most recently senior vice president and division merchandise manager for beauty. She is credited for consistently exceeding sales targets and spearheading initiatives such as developing prestige beauty at the Nordstrom Rack offprice division and as well as playing a key role in the reimagining of Nordstrom’s beauty floor at the Manhattan flagship on 57th Street. Earlier at Nordstrom, Redmond served as manager of the Seattle-based retailer’s department stores in the Houston Galleria and International Plaza mall in Tampa.

Parsons most recently led her own advisory practice, helping retailers drive growth through product and customer-centric strategies. From 2020 to 2024, she served as chief merchandising and commercial officer at Kate Spade New York. Before that, she was senior vice president and chief merchandising at Club Monaco. She also spent two years at FullBeauty Brands, and seven years at Coach, including serving as senior vice president of global merchandising and vice president of retail merchandising in North America. Her other stints were at New York & Company, Liz Claiborne, Tommy Hilfiger and J.Crew.

Demsey, a former executive group president of Estée Lauder Cos., led some of the company’s leading brands, including Clinique, Mac, Smashbox, and Tom Ford Beauty. He also is an adviser to L Catterton.