Can Zac Posen supply Hole Inc. a brand new artistic imaginative and prescient that may get it out of its droop?
It’s unclear. However the firm is entrusting its manufacturers to the 43-year-old designer. As we speak, Posen was named the brand new govt vice chairman and inventive director of Hole Inc., which owns Outdated Navy, Athleta, Banana Republic, and its namesake model, Hole. He can even function the chief artistic officer of Outdated Navy, taking a extra energetic position in designing the model’s collections.
It’s the most recent transfer in what seems to be Hole Inc.’s broader transformation technique. Final July, the corporate introduced on Richard Dickson to be its new CEO. He’s the branding mastermind who spent a lot of his profession at Mattel, the place he helped revitalized the Barbie franchise, culminating with the blockbuster success of the Barbie film.
Dickson is clearly expert as a brand-builder, however his experience to this point hasn’t been within the vogue business. It was essential for him to have a artistic director with a monitor file of success within the vogue world.
Posen isn’t the primary particular person to come back to thoughts on this regard. His eponymous model, which he launched in 2002 when he was in his twenties, shuttered in 2019. The next yr, the “Zac Posen” identify and IP had been bought to the licensing agency Centric Manufacturers. In 2014, Posen was appointed the artistic director for womenswear at Brooks Brothers and served in that position till the corporate filed for chapter in 2020.
Nonetheless, Posen has maintained a foothold within the tradition. He turned a reality-TV star between 2012 and 2018 as a choose on Challenge Runway. This allowed him to develop a social media viewers, with 2.2 million followers on Instagram. And he was a fancy dress designer for the TV present, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.
In some ways, Posen is a really conventional alternative for a artistic director. He was skilled as a designer at Parsons and Central Saint Martins. He commonly designs crimson carpet robes for celebrities. And he’s already partnered with giant firms, together with David’s Bridal and Delta Airways.
Hole Inc. for its half, has tried extra groundbreaking partnerships with designers within the latest previous that haven’t been profitable. In June 2020, the Hole model introduced it had signed a 10-year cope with Kanye West and his Yeezy label. It was meant to be an experiment in elevating Hole’s aesthetic, drawing from West’s experience as a streetwear designer. However the partnership collapsed in September 2022, after West did not ship designs on time.
In January 2020, Hole had additionally beforehand introduced a partnership with Telfar Clemens, a Liberian-American designer whose fast-growing label is understood for its gender-bending aesthetic. However throughout the pandemic, Hole pulled out of the settlement and reportedly failed to pay Clemens in a well timed method for the work he had already carried out.
We’ll have to attend and see what Posen’s aesthetic imaginative and prescient can be for the Hole Inc. portfolio. Banana Republic just lately went via a rebranding that has been typically effectively acquired, however Hole and Outdated Navy have been in determined want of revitalization for years. It’s now going to be on Posen’s shoulders to make these legacy manufacturers inspiring once more.
