Fabricant Named Bebe President

Bebe Stores Inc. announced on Aug. 4 that veteran fashion executive Emilia Fabricant will join the Brisbane, Calif.–based company as president.

The veteran fashion executive will direct the retailer’s Bebe division. She will take care of the division’s merchandising, design, e-commerce, production of its merchandise and planning for its stores. She will report to Bebe Chairman and Chief Executive Manny Mashouf.

Fabricant served in senior executive positions for high-profile fashion companies Barneys New York, Charlotte Russe and Cadeau Maternity, where she was chief executive officer. She was most recently and briefly the president of Philadelphia-based Destination Maternity Corp. The maternity retailer hired Fabricant in May, but an Aug. 4 announcement from the company said she resigned from her position to return to California.

In her new position, Fabricant will be taking over a company that hopes to reclaim its position as a leading store in the mall. Bebe announced its fiscal fourth-quarter sales for 2010 on July 8. Comparable-store sales decreased 3.4 percent for the 2010 fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a decrease of 29.6 percent in the 2009 fiscal fourth quarter.

Bebe owns and runs 292 stores that do business under the nameplates of Bebe, Bebe Sport and 2b bebe. On July 6, the retailer announced it would shutter or convert its 48 stores doing business under the moniker PH8.—Andrew Asch