Dôen, the Los Angeles fashion and lifestyle brand loved by Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Kylie Jenner, among others, is getting its biggest hit ever with its new 51-piece Gap collaboration, which will be available Friday in more than 150 stores in 14 countries and online at becomes the focus. Gap.com.
The marriage of two California-born companies brings Dôen’s romantic spirit to the American retailer’s classic offering of floral suits, denim, khakis, eyelet dresses, casual wear and accessories, all priced from $19.95 to $158. The collection features common styles and prints for matching moments in child, toddler and baby sizes.
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“Combining our feminine nostalgia with minimal 90s nostalgia is an exciting design proposition and was fun to work on,” said Katherine Kleveland, who founded Dôen as a digital-first vintage-inspired contemporary women’s brand with her sister Margaret in 2016. ruffled blouses and dresses are sold through a collective of tasteful women with social media access.
Female empowerment and motherhood are brand cornerstones for Dôen, who has since presented a lifestyle with 10 collections a year (the most recent shot in Positano); brat’s clothes; casual wear; accessories and linens. Headquartered in Van Nuys, the business has 115 employees, five stores and wholesale sales through Net-a-porter and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Sisterhood continues its Gap x Dôen campaign featuring model Lily Aldridge and her sister, model and singer Ruby Aldridge. Shot by Dan Martensen, the photography and accompanying feel-good video celebrate Dôen’s family values with a playful portrait of Gap and its friendly marketing approach.
“As Gap, we are on a journey to increase cultural interest and connect with talent that embodies originality. “Through our collaborations, we connect with partners who can reinvent our icons and bring the brand to life in new and relevant ways,” Mark Breitbard, Gap’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement to WWD. “They are a great partner and I’m excited to showcase another example of our creative and marketing transformation.”
“Our goal is to reach a broad age demographic and price demographic,” Margaret Kleveland said of the appeal of making the Dôen x Gap collection, which is 40 to 50 percent cheaper than its parent lines. Additionally, designers who started their careers at LA brand Joie have a real affinity for Gap.
“We are Gap Baby and Baby customers, and the women on our team are customers too, and we have found that our friends in the fashion world are Gap vintage collectors…so combining our existing customers and a whole new audience…is a good opportunity,” she said.
The collection reinterprets many of Dôen’s biggest hits and pushes the envelope on Gap’s classic designs with on-trend wide-leg pleated khaki trousers; A white eyelet sundress with Dôen’s signature smocked bodice; floral patterned bias cut dress and slip skirt; Examples include a short-sleeved blouse with a ruffle collar and an oversized denim jacket with feminine flowing sleeves.
There are also striped button-down shirts inspired by their mother Faith Kleveland’s Gap Originals styles from the 1980s; pointelle knit tanks, sweaters and socks; mary jane shoes; logo t-shirts; baseball caps and canvas bags.
“We have successful white perforated shorts and tops in our own collection. The Gap dress combines some of our best-selling designs in print with this fabrication, and I think it’s going to be very impressive,” said Margaret Kleveland.
To market the collaboration, the two brands are taking a collaborative approach, including leveraging Dôen’s gifting strategy to its community of celebrities and influencers. “User-generated content creation has been a big part of what sets Dôen apart in celebrating clothing on different bodies. “So we’re doing this in a much bigger way with Gap,” said Katherine Kleveland, adding that digital marketing and store setups will also take place at Gap at The Grove in Los Angeles and beyond.
The sisters began working on the collection about a year ago, before Richard Dickson was announced as CEO and president of the $16 billion San Francisco-based company and Zac Posen was appointed creative director.
Dickson’s prescription for turning Gap Inc. around — giving each brand a stronger identity, tapping into music and pop culture to drive relevance and fashion, and working to champion original, on-trend products — appears to be gaining momentum as Gap rebounds . Black in the fourth quarter.
The Klevelands left the door open to a continued collaboration with the retailer: “When they made their last purchase, they said it would be their largest collaboration structured this way to date. The number of doors has almost doubled our initial estimate,” said Margaret Kleveland. “We received so much good feedback throughout the work process and they were so excited about the presentation that… let’s just say it improved.”
The Gap collection is a turning point for Dôen, who is not yet 10 years old and is starting to look more broadly for expansion, including internationally. The brand held a pop-up at boutique Merci during Paris Fashion Week and recently launched a collaboration with French sandal brand K. Jacques.
Inside the Gap x Dôen Campaign with Lily and Ruby Aldridge
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This is also a personal gain.
“My middle child is really excited,” Katherine Kleveland said of 10-year-old Shep. “She asked if she could be the first to get the sweatshirt, which felt so sweet. Because women will show up in Los Angeles wearing our dresses, but it’s not about their little world. “The kids’ T-shirts are organic Gap t-shirts and their underwear is organic Gap panties, so they’re like, ‘Mom’s finally doing something that concerns us.'”
Launch Gallery: Inside the Gap x Dôen Campaign with Lily and Ruby Aldridge
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