Lexi James Tawes

Advised CEO and Senior Leadership on Product & Brand Positioning while leading the Design, Sourcing and Merchandising teams at the sustainable lifestyle pioneer.

• Drove 53% DTC growth 2020 to 2021 – trend continuing in 2022.

• Created merchandising strategy to accelerate the brand’s growth – maximize productivity of best-selling items while introducing new products that can deliver future growth.

• Created more elevated and ownable brand aesthetic suitable for a dual gender lifestyle brand.

• Partnered with Founder and Creative Director to establish Brand Style Guide creating more cohesive customer facing branding and experiences.

• Re-established entire sustainable supply chain outside of China, increasing product creation flexibility and eliminated risk of singular country origin in highly volatile global climate.

• Launched Kids line to further the lifestyle and multigenerational opportunity at the brand.

• Created strong product creation team with reinvigorated existing employees and new talent

• Re-launched more elevated Women’s collection

• Launched Outerknown Active for Men & Women

• Launched Outerknown Kids

ACTING CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER & CO-CEO LUCKY BRAND

Provided executive and product leadership for $1.5B DTC, Wholesale and Licensing apparel company that drove EBITDA expansion of $20M in 2019.

Represented Lucky Brand business performance and strategies in all Board communication. Partnered with diverse investment team to align on direction of the company and subsequent financial guidance.

Created and communicated daily COVID-19 financial updates, demand forecasts and cash flow schedules to the board. In parallel, redirected 2020 back half priorities, strategies and business expectations with my senior Lucky Brand executives.

Responsible for guiding 130+ person Product Team consisting of Merchandising, Design, Creative Services & Inventory Management that is delivering merchandise growth strategies for Full and Off-Price business across store, digital, wholesale and licensing points of sale.

Established new Lucky Brand Vision, Mission and Product Filters that re-centered the brand back on Denim with a Los Angeles Urban/Bohemian aesthetic that pushed the versatility of the product past the weekend. Launched a new brand book and aligned the organization behind the new direction that ignited the denim business producing historical high average initial retails in and increased the penetration of business to the total by 7 points.

Drove DTC business to +7 months of positive comps from December – April through immediate strategic realignment of product priorities, promotional calendar, rigor in flow and inventory management. The brand has not had sequential comps since 2014

Grew the digital business by 27% by adding dedicated VP talent, distinct product strategies and new product photography focused on greater brand alignment and focus on conversion.

Partnered with the CFO to lead successful capital procurement and refinancing presentations that led to favorable agreements with Lantern Capital Partners & Restore Capital LLC.

Launched the Progress Every Day Platform representing the commitment to making more sustainable choices. The sourcing strategies, partnerships and vendors were revamped in conjunction with adopting more environmentally friendly choices at HQ earning Lucky Brand LA Green certification.

Led all functions in total brand reposition of $120M digitally native Piperlime, that took the brand from cash flow negative (-$12M annually) to positive in 18 months.

Established a new brand vision, aesthetic and branding that shifted Piperlime’s focus from price and discounting to a more elevated, differentiated value proposition rooted in contemporary product combined with the new medium of Instagram resulting in a 22% increase in AOV.

Modernized the site design and integrated new shoppable Instagram Olapic technology that allowed the consumer to buy directly from our social media increasing conversion by 37%.

Reworked entire product matrix that introduced 150+ new contemporary brands increasing profit margins by 17%

Introduced a more exclusive Piperlime Collection brand with 30 pieces that had an 87% sell through.

Created new influencer program that increased impressions by +5.6M as well as customer engagement and conversion +33%.

Reimagined the store design to a mirror an elevated closet producing a +16% increase in sales annually.

The digital advancements made at Piperlime were adopted by the portfolio of Gap Inc. brands.

Modernization of Piperlime was groundbreaking at Gap Inc. and digital best practices were adopted by the portfolio of other brands most notably the newly acquired Intermix.

Vetted, the newest online magazine and shopping zeitgeist - founded by Jamie Lewin. https://www.vettedmag.com/

Provided executive product leadership and digital P&L ownership for the $3B global Banana Republic Brand.

Re-architected Banana Republic’s Global product, supply chain & channel strategies to accelerate growth resulting in a $15M increase in sales and revenue in from 2015-2017.

Responsible for creating and aligning the global 130+ person omni channel product team behind a more differentiated vision for Banana Republic, focused on brand defining categories of suiting, pants and sweaters which allowed us to gain over 3 points of market share.

Shifted the supply chain to be more agile and demand driven, decreasing lead times and increasing sell through by 24% and average initial retails by 29%.

Introduced Better Banana sustainability platform incorporating more environmentally friendly manufacturing and raw materials. Committed to using only sustainable cotton by 2023.

Introduced 25 contemporary third party brands that drove 83% revenue growth, +436% digitally.

Launched the Global Brand Ambassador program with Olivia Palermo & Kevin Love who co-designed capsules that produced a 92% product sell through and over 7.6 billion impressions.

Drove the redesign of the e-commerce site elevating the product photography, video & use of UCG to drive a 16% conversion increase and drove the penetration of the digital business to 33%.

Prior digital experience was static, not branded, transactional and not emotional or elevated.  Under my team the site became more customer centric with ucg.  The site became dynamic with full bleed photography, fly out navigation with key fixed widgets for conversion and navigation.

OLD BANANA REPUBLIC HOME PAGE & DIGITAL AESTHETIC

NEW BANANA REPUBLIC HOMEPAGE

+ Full Bleed

+ Influencer Integrated

+ Dynamic & UCG Integrated 

+ Branded 

UPDATED PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

+ More Elevated

+ Increased Conversion

- Decreased Returns

+ More aspirational photography for retargeting and search

Advisor to very talented Founder and C Suite Lunya team on brand expansion, product strategy and organizational structure.

Co-Founder and continued advisor on all facets of launch BAACAL, an inclusive & sustainable DTC brand by Cynthia Vincent founded on the perfect combination of expert tailoring and high-end-style for all sizes of women.

Involved in creation of all elements of the branding, assortment and product for BAACAL.

Developed business strategy and funding pitch deck for the DTC business.

BAACAL was named #4 most influential inclusive brand in 2019 by Fortune Magazine.

As acting advisory board member provides ongoing consulting services and insights for brand positioning, consumer and marketplace insights, and product strategy

Created 1969 Gap Denim Sub Brand. 

Crafted own able platform of “accessible premium” – premium styling and construction for an incredible price.

Led extensive quantitative, qualitative and in market research to architect a denim assortment to compete and steal share from rival competitors – identifying premium fit, wash and differentiated details.

Partnered with marketing team to create “Born to Fit” showcasing the new denim platform & America’s Best Fitting Premium Jeans.

Business results exceeded all plans, achieving over $246M in retail, a 42% annual comp and a resulting market share gain that recaptured in 6 months half the denim market share that was given up prior to 2009. 

Responsible for creation and execution of exclusive capsule co designed by Olivia Palermo & Banana Republic.   Created a NYFW 5th Avenue Outdoor fashion show as well as a buy now & wear now event that was highly successful and received over 2.5B impressions.

Launched influencer program choosing a key male athlete to represent the men's business.  Kevin Love, professional basketball player selected as Global Men's Ambassador.  

Lifted sales 7-22% on marketed projects.  

Baseline of Men's business lifted 3% since inception. 

Created a new in store experience in the SOHO flagship completely curated by Olivia Palermo.  Included Olivia's favorite Banana Republic pieces as well as some of her favorite third party brands available to sell in one place.

Lauch party during NYFW generated 2.0B impressions.

Product leader responsible for the turnaround of the $3B Gap Brand in 2012, launching the 1969 Denim sub brand and transitioning the company from regional to global.

Responsible for leading the $2.6B Gap North American Merchandising team that delivered positive comps for 28 consecutive months. inclusive of the most profitable years in the Gap Brand history.

Delivered the most profitable business in Gap history in 2012 that beat revenue targets by $144M.

Developed Merchandising strategy focused on denim & knits that delivered the most profitable business in Gap history and beat revenue targets by $144M and grew bottoms business in 2012 by $42M – Women’s +$30M and Men’s + $12M

Created and launched 1969 Denim Sub Brand for 40th Anniversary of Gap built on the platform of “accessible premium” – premium construction, fit and styling for an incredible price. Business results exceeded all plans achieving over $246M in retail, a 42% comp in 2009.

Drove Gap Fit expansion strategy that grew the fit business 33% and $50M in retail annually.

Architected an organizational structure that moved from regional segmented buying teams to one global product creation team.

Head merchant of the team that introduced third party brands at Banana Republic.

Brought in 25 contemporary brands from Luxe Vintage product, Cosabella Intimates, Joie, AG Jeans & Elizabeth Cole to a co-designed capsule with Olivia Palermo + drove 83% revenue growth overall, +436% digitally. 

Led development and execution of the capsule collaboration with Kevin Love branded BR/K.Love-18. The line featured a smart mix of casual and formal styles grounded in must have styles Kevin chose himself such a leather biker jacket in brown and a sharp pinstripe suit. Rich Italian wools, cashmeres and textures in Kevin’s favorite fall colors and patterns made BR/K.Love-18 the best marriage of two brands. Launched in conjunction with the All Star Game in October 2018 the collection was a huge success.

Outfitted Kevin Love and some of the Cleveland Cavaliers for their visit with President Obama celebrating their 2016 NBA title.

Concepted & launched influencer program at Banana Republic.   Responsible for choosing Olivia Palermo, stylist and tastemaker was selected as the first Global Women's Ambassador.  

12-22% sales lifts on anything Olivia endorsed - many sold out.  Increased social and brand engagement since her on-boarding. 

Created Mens Athlete Influencer Style Council at Banana Republic - adding CJ McCollum, Didi Gregorious & Matt Ryan to the influencer strategy launched with Kevin Love. 

Increased men’s penetration by 3 points over a 6 month period of time & increased unaided awareness among male shoppers by 2%.

Capitalized on the boom in athleisure in 2013 with specially designed store level shop in shops of Gap Fit. This grew the Fit Business by 33% adding $50M in retail while increasing the fleet’s profitability per square foot.

Banana Republic Men's suiting grew marketshare by almost 2 points by Fall 2017. 

Architected Premium Black Magic premium pant line where business results exceeded all expectations, achieving over $65M in retail; +25% retail comp and a 2.2% market share increase in the first 6 months of launch. 

Sponsored athletes at the 2016 ESPY awards.  Dressed Kevin Love, Isiah Thomas, Harrison Barnes and CJ Mc Collum for the very influential awards ceremony.

Led merchandising team that launched Williams Sonoma Home. Responsible for E-Commerce and New Store assortments across all home categories.