J.Crew Group has named Kathleen Van Nest Pierce, a former Dyson executive, president of its J.Crew brand, WWD has learned.
Pierce fills a long vacant slot at J.Crew. For years, Libby Wadle, who serves as chief executive officer of the J.Crew Group, has also been leading the J.Crew brand. The group includes J.Crew, Madewell, and J.Crew Factory.
Pierce officially starts at J.Crew on Aug. 4. “In this newly-created role, Pierce will lead the brand’s merchandising, design, marketing, and retail teams to accelerate business momentum and deliver sustainable long-term growth,” the company indicated in a statement. Pierce will report to Wadle.
Wadle was not available to comment on the decision to hire a president for J.Crew, considering that for several years the brand operated without one. However, a spokesperson said: “Hiring Kathleen provides J.Crew dedicated brand leadership while allowing Libby to focus even more fully on the broader portfolio, our overarching strategy, and how we continue positioning J.Crew, J.Crew Factory and Madewell for long-term growth.”
You May Also Like
Wadle has been CEO of the J.Crew Group since November 2020, but before that, from 2013 to 2017, she served as president of the J.Crew brand, which included oversight of Madewell at that time.
Others who have served as president of the J. Crew brand include Jenna Lyons from 2010 to 2017. Lyons also served as J. Crew’s executive creative director. Tracy Gardner served as J. Crew’s president of retail and direct channels for about six years, prior to Lyons taking the role.
Michael J. Nicholson serves as president and chief operating officer of the group.
Asked how the J.Crew brand is performing, the spokesperson said Wednesday the company is “pleased with our business performance” and that it “remains relentlessly focused on executing our brand strategy for long-term sustainable growth.”
Lately, J.Crew’s women’s “Soliel” linen pant and men’s linen shirts have been best-sellers. J.Crew’s iconi rollneck sweaters in both men’s and women’s have also been top sellers. The Camp Crew summer campaign “has been resulting in strong full price conversion across all channels,” the spokesperson said.
At last September’s WWD x FN x Beauty Inc Women in Power forum, Wadle said that J.Crew is at its best when it focuses on creativity and storytelling, and “just putting product first and really identifying other signature, iconic items and leaning into those things.”
At Madewell, since the departure of its president, Adrienne Lazarus, in September 2025, “day-to-day oversight is managed by the existing Madewell leadership team in place and Libby continues to build and drive the strategy,” the spokesperson told WWD. “There are currently no plans to hire a Madewell president.”
Pierce joins from Dyson, where she served as the global president for beauty, overseeing the global beauty brand’s commercial, strategy, and business operational functions. She is credited with tripling Dyson Beauty’s technology portfolio and cementing its position in the premium beauty device market during her four-year tenure there. She also expanded the brand into new categories, building “a full end-to-end formulations division from the ground up and bringing 27 products to market in just two years,” J.Crew indicated in a statement, Prior to Dyson Beauty, Pierce spent two decades at The Estée Lauder Companies, where she held senior roles.
“Kathleen is a one-of-a-kind consumer brand leader with a proven ability to deliver outstanding results, build resonant brands, and forge meaningful connections with customers,” Wadle said in a statement. “J.Crew has always stood for authenticity and designed around an American sensibility that has resonated with customers for generations. Kathleen’s rare combination of brand vision, operational excellence, and track record of driving global growth is exactly what this moment calls for.”
Kevin Ulrich, chairman of J.Crew Group, said in a statement, “Kathleen’s expertise in scaling global consumer brands makes her the ideal leader to build on J.Crew’s foundation and accelerate its growth. I am excited to have an executive of her caliber leading the J.Crew brand into its next chapter.”
“J.Crew is one of those rare brands that holds a genuine place in people’s lives — it’s beloved, it’s relevant, and it has extraordinary growth opportunities,” Pierce said in her statement. “I look forward to honoring J.Crew’s storied history and creating lasting connections for our customers, our people, and this iconic brand.”
J.Crew is known for its classic design and distinct point of view. As of July 2026, the company operated 114 J.Crew retail stores, 160 Madewell stores, and more than 395 J.Crew Factory outlets across the U.S., as well as the jcrew.com, jcrewfactory.com, and madewell.com websites. Volume is estimated at about $3 billion, up from $1.9 billion in 2019.
