Diversity & Inclusion

Veteran apparel retailer Tracy Gardner will join the Gap Inc. board, effective Nov. 11.

Gap has relied on Gardner on multiple occasions the past 25 years as an employee and advisor. Gardner worked at the company from 1991 to 1994 in various creative roles and from 1998 to 2004 in senior leadership positions, including head of Gap adult merchandising. This past year she served as an advisor to the Gap brand and functioned in a similar role in 2012.

Abercrombie & Fitch continues its efforts to polish its brand image.

The retailer announced that Jeanetta Darno has joined the company as VP of diversity and inclusion in a role that will include “enhancing the existing global diversity and inclusion best practices throughout the organization.”

Kansas City, Mo. -- Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation headquarter in Kansas City, Missouri, has named Stacey Paine as its new president.

Paine will replace Bill Lucas who is retiring at year-end after serving 20 years as the president of Crown Center, an 85-acre mixed-use community, privately financed by Hallmark Cards, Inc., that combines 2.2 million sq. ft. of office space, retail, hotels, residential and entertainment attractions within its boundaries.

Target on Monday officially opened the application process for its new startup accelerator program, created in partnership with Techstars and led by Target EIR (entrepreneur-in-residence) West Stringfellow. The retailer posted a Q&A with Stringfellow, who forged Target’s partnership with Techstars, on its Bullseye blog.

Here are highlights:

Start-ups looking to revolutionize retail have a significant new opportunity for support.

Walmart is one step closer to fulfilling its mission of donating $100 million toward increasing the economic mobility of entry-level workers. 

The retailer and its Walmart Foundation are donating nearly $1 million to Innovate+Educate to fund research and build recommendations that support the advancement of entry-level workers in retail and adjacent sectors.

Kroger has announced that it had added transgender health benefits to one of the company’s health insurance plans, according to Forbes. "Beginning January 1, 2016, medical procedures including surgery and drug therapy for gender reassignment will be covered up to a $100,000 lifetime maximum for eligible associates and their dependents,” the company wrote on their employee social network. (Forbes)

Washington, D.C. -- EDENS announced Huge, a full-service digital and design firm headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, with offices worldwide, will open a new office at Union Market in Washington, D.C. Union Market is a 45-acre district that is planned for over 7 million sq. ft. of space.

 Rite Aid on Tuesday announced that The Rite Aid Foundation is making a $25,000 donation to the Palmetto South Carolina Region chapter of the American Red Cross to help the victims, families and communities affected by last week’s severe flooding. 

Online fashion retailer ModCloth removed the “plus size” section from its site, opting to mix the items in with its regularly-sized items for a more “inclusive” shopping experience, Today.com reported. Company co-founder Susan Gregg Koger said, “as we think about a potentially permanent shop, we know we're not going to have a separate plus-size section.”