Clarice designs classic American sportswear for everyone.
Clarice began her career at Gap, after winning a design internship while a student at Parsons. Under the guidance of Mickey Drexler, she was part of a design corps credited with revitalizing the brand. The turnaround was chronicled in a cover story in The New York Times Styles Section (”Hot Colors Blooming in the Dust of Khakis,” August 27, 2000). After starting out in Gap Body, she soon graduated to the $1.3 billion Women's Knits division. Some of her best known designs included the Color Blocked Patchwork Tee and the Favorite Tee collection, which is still sold today.
She went on to be Gap's lead designer of Women’s Sweaters, responsible for all aspects of concept, style and stitch development. This role required travel to Hong Kong and intensive communication with sourcing agents and vendors. Her sweater designs included the trailblazing Super Chunky Carcoat and Cozy Cabled Cardigans. Her reinvention of Gap's Crazy Stripe as a sweater and scarf was also a huge hit, and has resurfaced twice
Her creations for the Gap were featured in numerous editorial layouts as well as national print and TV campaigns, directed by the likes of Michel Gondry and featuring trendsetting celebrities such as Madonna, Scarlett Johansson, Erykah Badu, India Arie, Sheryl Crowe and Jennifer Garner.
In 2002, she joined Oshkosh, where she was part of a fledgling team that created and launched the Genuinekids brand, an interpretation of Oshkosh B’Gosh for the fashion savvy Target customer. She traveled monthly to Target HQ in Minneapolis and semi-annually to Europe, Asia and the West Coast for inspiration.
As Design Director of the Boys Division, she oversaw all aspects of design and development of Genuinekids and Genuinebaby Boys, growing the division from its inception in 2003 to an $87 million annual business. She was interrim director of GK Girls design multiple times over her 10 year tenure, and oversaw the launch of GK Core Denim for Boys and Girls, which generated more than $40 million annually. She also spearheaded brand extensions such as outerwear and accessories, which elevated the brand and added $10 million in sales annually. As well, she played a key role in shaping the GK brand image, overseeing the design of branding and marketing materials.
In October of 2012 Target internalized GK design and the New York team was disbanded. At that time, Clarice accepted an opportunity to consult for Minnie Rose, a women's contemporary brand best known for cashmere and cotton knitwear. During her tenure, Clarice introduced new categories such as wovens, cut & sew and accessories, and collaborated with the founder on styling the seasonal photo shoots and trade booth designs.
In 2015, Clarice joined the design team at maurices, the Minnesota-based women's apparel brand, as sweaters and knits lead. Under Clarice’s leadership, the sweater division increased its direct vendor penetration from 38-75% using co-creation development strategies to leverage unique vendor innovation skills. Once again she found herself traveling monthly to Minnesota.
In 2017, due to unexpected family necessity, Clarice relaunched her consulting business and began working part time to service the needs of multiple clients including Banana Republic, 525 America, Addyson Parker, Cracker Barrel, Juicy Couture, Fryes and, most recently, Amazon and Isaac Mizrahi, to name a few. For clients like NYC Alliance, her wide ranging expertise in sweaters, cut & sew, wovens and denim have made her a natural fit for their varied and ever evolving design needs.
During this period, Covid brought its own challenges, as well as some silver linings: Clarice learned to conceive, develop and produce high quality clothing whie barely touching it, as evidenced in the successful launch and multi season lifespan of TEREA, Amazon’s brand collab with Making The Cut winner Andrea Pitter-Campbell.
It continues to be a pure thrill for Clarice to find new ways to participate in the age-old art of making fashion. She is blessed to do what she loves and love what she does!
Education
Parsons the New School for Design, BFA, Fashion Design, 1998
Accolades
Parsons Designer of The Year, Finalist
Parsons Golden Thimble Award from Maryann Restivo
Gap, Inc. Scholarship Award and Internship, Women’s Division
Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Scholarship Award
Lord & Taylor Scholarship Award “American Dress Address,” 1st Place
The Wellman Group Apprenticeship, “Eco-Spun” runway collaboration with Amsale Aberra, featured at Seventh on Sixth
Skills
Team building and Management, Strategic Partnerships, Process Development
Product development: Concept, sketch, Spec/Fit, Raw Materials R&D
Adobe Suite, PDM, PLM, Microsoft Office
Contact
clarice.lappe@gmail.com