Fashion has always been informed and influenced by culture. But in recent years, culture has increasingly doubled as commerce, as more brands seek out ways to capitalize on the cachet of industries, from film to sport to food.
Brands have made ample investments in entertainment as of late, from LVMH’s launch of its 22 Montaigne Entertainment venture, which focuses on opportunities that take advantage of the intellectual property, archives and locations of LVMH brands, and Saint Laurent’s film production offshoot, to brands’ many tie-ups with sports teams, leagues and streaming platforms.
Now, Gap Inc. is taking things one step further. In a bid to formalize the relationship between fashion and entertainment — ‘fashiontainment’, as Gap calls it — the company has appointed Pam Kaufman as its first-ever chief entertainment officer. Alongside the appointment, Gap is opening an office in Los Angeles, in a bid to embed the company in America’s entertainment capital. (Even if much of Hollywood is fleeing to more affordable production locales.) The Sunset Boulevard space will be the locus of Gap’s pop culture-focused efforts, led by Kaufman, who will split her time between LA, New York and San Francisco.
Kaufman joins the company from Paramount, where she was president and CEO of international markets, global consumer products and experiences. At Gap, she will help to build and scale the retail group’s entertainment, content and licensing platform across music, television, film, sports, gaming, consumer products and cultural collaborations.
“Fashion no longer sits adjacent to other cultural industries; it is structurally intertwined with them,” says Rose Coffey, senior foresight analyst at strategic consultancy The Future Laboratory. “Film, music and food are not external reference points, but shared cultural systems through which meaning, identity and value are produced.”
Gap president and CEO Richard Dickson knows the power of the entertainment industry more than most operating in the fashion sphere. He joined Gap from Mattel in 2023, fresh off of Barbie’s stellar press tour. He also hired Zac Posen as EVP and creative director, who has dressed celebrities in Gap for their red carpet moments, from Da’Vine Joy Randolph at the Met Gala to Anne Hathaway at a Bulgari jewelry event in Rome.
Dickson believes that what consumers want is to buy into a story, and that marketing goes well beyond product. “Fashion is entertainment, and today’s customers aren’t just buying apparel, they’re buying into brands that tell compelling stories and drive cultural conversations,” he said in a statement.
Dickson thinks of fashion brands as entertainment companies, he told Vogue Business at the 2024 Executive Summit. This now holds truer than ever, says Annie Corser, senior trends editor for pop culture and media at trends intelligence business Stylus, who believes brands have evolved into broadcasters and entertainment providers. “Audiences do want more content made by brands, but this doesn’t mean ramping up the volume of quick-fire social media fodder — and it definitely doesn’t mean jumping on the AI slop train,” she explains. “Consumers and audiences expect considered moves leaning into cinematic storytelling, long-form written publishing and podcasting.”
In her new role, Kaufman will lean on Gap’s history and legacy to inform the cultural projects she develops. “Gap Inc.’s brands have shaped culture for generations, creating a legacy that is incredibly powerful,” Kaufman said in a statement. “What excites me most is the opportunity to build on that foundation, thoughtfully expanding how these brands connect with people through partnerships and experiences over time.”
Now, the most successful projects establish cross-channels of influence themselves, Corser says, which helps them to shape pop culture as well as respond to it. “It’s part of a pop culture maze that’s increasingly complex but where audiences feel right at home, switching happily between mediums, genres, discourse and aesthetics, cross-referencing with fluency. Demonstrating that level of agility is essential for fashion brands if they want to retain — and evolve — their cultural cachet.”
A common thread across cultural touchpoints Gap has deemed worthy investments, from The White Lotus to girl group Katseye, is the fandoms that these phenomena boast. This focus on fandoms that bubble up around entertainment entities will be key to Gap’s strategy moving forward.
“As we reinvigorate Gap Inc.’s house of iconic American brands to drive relevance and revenue, we recognize entertainment is a critical link to the consumer; one we can lean on to create fandoms, inspire movements and fuel sustained growth,” Dickson continued. “Through fashiontainment, we are unlocking that potential to take our brands to the next level, and Pam’s discipline, deep expertise, and proven track record in entertainment and licensing make her the perfect fit to help us bring it to life.”
Fandoms are becoming one of fashion’s most valuable currencies, Coffey says. “In an era where loyalty is fragile, fandom offers something deeper: identification, participation and advocacy,” she says. “Brands that cultivate fandom aren’t just selling objects, they’re offering a sense of belonging.” What brands must be wary of is how to connect with fandoms — rather than attempting to manufacture viral moments, Coffey cautions.
Fandoms are also more adaptive and fluid than most brands recognize, Corser adds. “They want the entertainment they love to move forward and be built on,” she says. “If done thoughtfully — and if brands can participate while demonstrating they truly understand what to cherish and develop — there are untold opportunities to turn consumers into fans.”
Analysts and strategists agree that there’s value in the chief entertainment officer role — if done right. While, at this stage it’s a nice-to-have rather than a necessity, as brands lean further into surrounding cultural spheres, companies would be wise to appoint a specific individual to lead these initiatives. A chief entertainment officer ought to ensure that brands’ ventures in the space are cohesive, tie into the brand’s own narrative, and engage authentically with existing fan bases. An individual in a leadership role is better positioned to cultivate continuity across these initiatives, rather than leaving these projects to the devices of more siloed departments.
The success — and necessity — of a role like chief entertainment officer lies in the framing, Coffey says. “The risk is that entertainment becomes equated with spectacle, when the real challenge for fashion brands today is coherence,” she says. That said, there’s value in having someone at a brand whose primary role is to cultivate and stay on top of these initiatives. “As brands increasingly operate across film, music, live experiences and digital platforms, there is a growing need for someone to oversee how these cultural outputs connect over time.”
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