'Barbie magic': How Mattel's former CEO is trying to revive retailer Gap

Richard Dixon became CEO of retailer Gap in 2023, and prior to that he headed Mattel for almost 20 years - with a short break. He brought the Barbie brand to the big screen, which brought the toy maker a "staggering financial result". Now he's trying to apply "Barbie magic" to revive Gap, owner of clothing brands once worn by Madonna and Cindy Crawford. Wall Street is optimistic.

The clothing manufacturer announced that Dixon would leave Mattel to take over Gap, owner of the Gap, Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta brands, in the summer of 2023. At the time, the Barbie movie, of which he was an executive producer, was in full swing in theaters. Gap, in its press release, named Dixon as one of the leading architects of Mattel's global transformation, which breathed new life into the Barbie, Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price brands and returned growth to the company.

This allowed many to say that he would try to recreate the magic of Barbie in Gap, wrote the New York Times (NYT). Dixon himself commented, "It's the same script. [...] The uniqueness is in the methodology and the realization."

When Dixon first joined Gap, it had more than $15 billion in revenue and was about three times larger than Mattel, but the apparel maker's capitalization was about $3.4 billion - about half of Mattel's market value, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote.

The company's revenues and comparable sales were falling. As the company cut jobs, closed stores and struggled to accelerate the development of new models, it lost ground to both global chains such as Zara and online retailers such as Shein.

Gap used to appoint CEOs with strong management skills, but this time it decided to change its strategy by choosing someone who could bring the brands back to relevance, WSJ wrote. The company had "lost the ability to understand who our customers are," Bob Martin, then Gap's interim CEO, told the publication. - Richard knows how to breathe life into brands.

He succeeded twice at Mattel. Dixon joined the company in 2000, and a few years after that, Ma's popularity began to decline, WSJ reported. Then Dixon decided to get rid of what he called a "brand mishmash": he unified the brands, the color of the dolls and reduced the number of licenses, which at one point numbered 1,000.

In 2010, Dixon left Mattel, and four years later returned to modernize Barbie dolls, whose sales were again falling. The company's internal research showed that Barbie was outdated and did not reflect the image and diversity of modern girls, Fast Company noted. A more in-depth analysis found that the Cook "does not reflect cultural relevance. She doesn't look like the world we live in," Dixon told the publication. He added more body types and ethnicities to the brand's lineup, the WSJ wrote.

What is the "magic of Barbie"? The head of Gap in an interview with the NYT describes it this way: the most important thing is to define what the brand's raison d'être is, its uniqueness. Gap was inclusive even before the word became commonplace. "We sold jeans for all races, all sizes, all genders. We bridged the generational gap of experiences through music. Music became the connection," he said.

Discon had the idea to revitalize the brand with the help of music. Thus came the advertising campaign with the British band Jungle and Grammy Award winner Tyla - the video quickly went viral on social networks and gained more than 2.4 million views on YouTube alone. Then came a collaboration with pop star Troye Sivan, and the company's video with pop group KATSEYE racked up 400 million views in just three days.

"They're kind of asking, 'Did you see that? Did you feel that?" That's when there's an emotional connection to the brand," Richard Discon told the NYT.

In April 2026, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) dedicated its traditional gala to Dixon's career and legacy of brand revitalization - from his work at Mattel to his role at Gap, where he is credited with "ushering in a new era of American style."

In the less than three years since Dixon took the helm at Gap, the company's capitalization has increased to $8.5 billion. For fiscal year 2025, which ended Jan. 31, the company reported net revenue growth of 2% to $15.4 billion, a figure that has increased for two years and comparable sales for eight consecutive quarters, Dixon commented on the results.

"In three years, we've gotten better. Now we are moving to the next stage - building up the growth rate," he told the NYT.

Wall Street shares his optimism: 16 analysts advise to buy the company's securities, five - to hold and none - to sell. The average target price is $30.86, implying a potential upside of almost 32% from the closing price on May 22.