NEW YORK — Stacey Lavalle Fraser is rejoining Gap Inc. as senior vice president of women’s design for the Old Navy division.
Fraser spent four years as a designer for babyGap before leaving the firm to join Tommy Hilfiger USA. She spent seven years with Hilfiger in various design posts and was most recently senior vice president for the brand’s junior jeans group.
Fraser succeeds Patti Barker, who left the firm in February. She will eventually report to an executive vice president of design, but until that post is filled will report to Old Navy president Jenny Ming.
“Stacey’s creativity and leadership will further strengthen Old Navy’s design team as we continue delivering great fashion and value to our targeted customer segments,” said Ming in a statement.
Old Navy, Gap’s largest division with 2002 sales of $5.8 billion, also has been its fastest growing unit during the company’s recent comeback from a period of same-store sales declines and disappointing earnings. Comparable-store sales rose 13 percent at Old Navy last month, marking the fifth consecutive month of comp increases for the division. Comps rose 27 percent in January, 8 percent in February, 17 percent in March and 20 percent in April.
Last month, Tom Sands was promoted to executive vice president of stores and operations at Old Navy and, in April, Patti Johnson, formerly of Kohl’s Corp., became chief financial officer of the division.