On the Gap brand. I think you have all watched our story. You're all familiar with our brand. I think three years ago, if we said Gap brand was going to be one of the fastest-growing brands and trending brands on TikTok, I don't think anybody would have believed us. But here we are, and I think it's a testament to the execution of our playbook. Our team, in particular, has been relentless and focused, not only from a product perspective, which you've seen get enhanced, but as well in executing against that playbook with culturally relevant narratives. I think when you look at our product, the culturally relevant storytelling that we've been doing, and the drumbeat of that experiential moment that ultimately drives traffic, and drives interest, and drives conversation, which is incredibly important today when you look at consumers and how fast they migrate through storytelling.
We need to be at the speed of culture, and I think Gap has delivered that. This is our 11th consecutive quarter of growth. It's our second double-digit quarter, which we're incredibly proud of. We have some really great statistics as well from the products that we've been delivering and the categories that we've been focused on. A couple of years ago, even before we spoke to you, we were the number 10 denim brand in the country, which we thought that was pretty good as top 10. Today, we're now number 6. So that's a big climb when you're talking about those rankings. Other really strong facts as well, kids and baby. We were sixth last year. We're now the fourth largest kids and baby business. Our customer file is also growing. And in that file, we also see the who of that.
So we're attracting Generation Z, which is very exciting as well. So we have a new generation that's entering into Gap while we're preserving the existing appeal, and that's a careful balance. Love the one you're with and try and attract new customers. And I think the Gap case study is one that we could all take a look at as we do with our portfolio and recognize that that methodology is working really well. Really good other statistics. Traffic is increasing. AUR is increasing. The units are increasing. All of those metrics that really indicate health for the brand are happening. We've got more full-price selling, which is incredibly important. Again, if you remember going into a Gap several years ago, it was more about price than it was about product. Now, really, the product is telling the stories that we want to tell.
So we have healthier margins, which is really obviously helping the overall P&L. Hopefully, you see what we see. Gap is in the zeitgeist. It is part of the cultural conversation. And through that, we're attracting incredible partnerships. You see a lot of collaborations coming from Gap. There's something happening every couple of weeks. By the way, that's with great intent. But we've got super influencers, and great tastemakers, and all of the attractive ways that we're driving cultural relevance that drives revenue. We just launched GapBag, and we're very excited about that, which just has a great display at Rockefeller Center. I think it just came down as Fashion Week ends. We launched Gap Fragrances, which you've got a sampler piece there, which we're excited about.
But ultimately, I think when you look at how the playbook has been executed by Gap and our Gap team, it just shows the power that we have in our portfolio. It shows that we can do this. We're growing our share in those destination categories that we believe are important. We're growing our customer base, which lends well to the future proposition of the brand. We're expanding our distribution. We're expanding categories and ultimately on pace to execute that long-term growth model that we believe the brand has as potential going forward.
That's great to hear. Let's turn to Old Navy, which the brand had a little bit of a tougher summer. You mentioned that trends had improved into August. What gives you confidence that the brand is getting back on track? You also announced new leadership at Old Navy. Can you tell us a little bit more there? What changes can we expect, and what's the timeline for applying the playbook to the largest brand in the portfolio?
Yeah. Well, first off, it is important to take a step back and recognize that this was the first comp decline in 11 quarters. So we have actually been making progress on Old Navy, and we feel good about Old Navy in general. It is very clear, and we've been very transparent. We missed the seasonal categories. I think I wake up in the middle of the night saying that phrase, by the way, because it's just constantly something that we don't feel good about. But the good news about it is that we've diagnosed it. It is, to some extent, a bit transitory. The transitory drivers really is what we fell short of in the first half. Dresses just didn't appeal to our consumer for the most part. We had a very big assortment of everyday dresses, and the consumer really wanted occasion dresses.
It wasn't that we didn't have the right dresses, we just had too many of those dresses. In the context of the other categories, it was inventory mix issues. The product actually worked. We just didn't have enough of it work. The good news in that context is it was very clear. It was diagnosed. We've improved product and assortment mix as we move forward. The more that we move forward, by the way, by the day, seasonal categories get less and less important for us as we look at the back half. We've already seen the customer respond to our product offerings. Our marketing has been totally rewired. In the context of that, to create more sharper price points and more value orientation with, of course, the Old Navy narrative that keeps our brands really relevant.
Our denim category, active category, kids and baby, these are the areas of strength for our brand and the areas that you're going to see more and more marketing as the weeks go by, and ultimately become the important categories that drive the back half. I've been incredibly energized, by the way, on the Cardi B campaign. Don't worry, we have a little clip of it, so if you haven't seen it, which would surprise me if you haven't seen it, but if you haven't seen it, we have it. But it is an example of the rewire that we did last quarter, learning from what our marketing drove in the last quarter, which by the way, with Paris Hilton, drove incredible engagement, but didn't drive the traffic. So measuring what worked and what didn't work.
What didn't work in that campaign was we weren't as product specific as we needed to be and as price specific as we needed to be. We rewired the Cardi B campaign to do just that, and it's resonating. It's obviously got a greater focus on product and value. It still holds the tongue-in-cheek playful narrative that is Old Navy. But without me talking about it, why don't we just take a quick look at it?
Sounds great.
Some people spend a fortune chasing the perfect jean, o thers spend a lifetime looking for them, but w hen you find a fit this fierce at a price this good, keeping it a secret is criminal. It's Old Navy, baby.
Yeah. See? It's Old Navy, baby. You can't help but say it. What's been exciting is it's resonated really well. In fact, we moved from denim, which we started with, and we extended that into knits. If you haven't seen it, probably it's on our site, but we've done a lot of marketing around Cardi's cardigan. No brainer. It's done incredibly well. I think we sold over 500,000 units in a very short period of time. We know this flywheel can work. We're seeing it work in real-time, and we're excited about what the back half has for us. A lot of work to do, there's no doubt about it. Ultimately, we know how to do this, and we're seeing the indications of that success story.
We did also roll out our beauty line as well, both third party and our own line, which is rolling into stores. Fanatics, a great partnership. Sports, obviously on the forefront of all of our minds, as we've already just finished the US Open. Ultimately, sports and fashion are becoming a bit synonymous. We have a great partnership with Fanatics that we recently launched, and product is rolling out indoors. We've got a lot more announcements to come. A lot more heat around Old Navy. I will tell you, I'm proud of the progress Old Navy's made over the past several years. You did mention the transition of leadership. We have had a very smooth and continue to have a very smooth CEO transition. I often say, in these chapters, what got us here won't get us there.
We're at a really exciting juncture for Old Navy. The baton pass from Haio to Michael. Michael Francis joined us, if you recall, in early spring. Came in as a consultant for us, sort of swimming in the waters. He then took on the chief customer role, working side by side with Haio and really understanding the insights in the marketing organization, various other different parts. We just announced the transition plan for Michael Francis to become the CEO of Old Navy, effective on November 2nd. Ultimately, rocking and rolling, if you will, on a day-to-day basis. In fact, he had a real hand in the Cardi B work. I've worked very carefully with Michael over the last several months and feel really confident that he is the right guy at the right time.
For those of you that do not know enough about Michael, he has got incredible big box retail experience as the CMO of Target back in the day, where Target became Target. He then had a really exciting chapter with DreamWorks, which again leads well into our narrative around fashiontainment and brand storytelling and creating content that really connects with consumers. He then spent the last 10 years working with Doug McMillon at Walmart. So really great foundational background. As the number one specialty retailer in apparel, that type of experience is going to be incredibly important for us. We believe Michael is going to be the right talent for us to unlock the next chapter of the brand.
That is great. Let us turn to some of the accelerators that you talked about earlier in the portfolio. Last year at our conference, you announced your expansion into beauty and accessories. How are these initiatives progressing, and what is the timeline for scaling these businesses?
We did. The good news is we said it last year, and now it is in front of you. So that is already a lot of progress. As we shared, based on insights, we know these categories are important categories in our consumers' lives. They are also categories that we have been in before, so it is not foreign language to us. We have had a fragrance business. We have had an accessory business. We have had some bags, we have had some belts. We have been in this business, but we have not done it with real strategic intent. To the credit of the team, we really studied our consumer, we studied these categories.
We brought in experts from those industries, acknowledging we need experts to surround us to actually execute with excellence to the extent that the authenticity that we need to have to win in these categories is there with the talent and the interpretation of what is the Gap Fragrances, what is Gap Accessories? How do our brands translate to consumers with a meaningful, distinctive point of difference? Beauty, as you know, it is incredibly resilient. It is one of the biggest and fastest and most successful categories in the U.S. It is the highest actually growth category in our checkout lanes. As we study what works in our checkout lanes in Old Navy, beauty is the number one category. So offer more choice, offer more depth, offer more assortment, and ultimately we will win the consumer. Accessories as well. It is a key element in wardrobing.
Everybody has some form of bag today, and in that context, you are also complementing it to what you are wearing. There really is a natural wardrobing opportunity for us to extend our brands in a more relevant way in accessories. It is a natural extension of apparel. We have had some great success stories with pockets in our portfolio on accessories this year as well. We just, of course, launched the GapBag business. We recruited best-in-class industry talent in both categories that are really focused on the strategy. While it is early in our days, last year we told you we were launching.
Now you are experiencing the launch. That is in the build momentum phase, so not a lot of material impact in the short term, but as we get to that accelerate growth phase, we really do believe these will be really meaningful categories for us for long-term value. So pleased with the early progress.
Excellent.
Here are some pictures, actually. Also, the Gap Fragrances, which is a collection of fragrances. You see here, by the way, the number one fragrance is Dream right now, but you have got an opportunity to test and roll all of them. We have had really strong responses to them. Last month, of course, we rolled out the Old Navy Beauty Co. Here you see some of the flavors also, Splash, Vanilla, Crush, various other really tested well fragrances. But it is how our consumer shops. We see her check out out of our checkout lanes and select beauty. Now that she has more choice, we believe that there is real opportunity here. It also adds to the basket, which is a really exciting add additional purchase as she experiences our store. Oh, here is the best.
We set up an 18-foot Gap Five-Pocket Tote bag here in Fashion Week, which was a really exciting statement for us. It was the buzz of Rockefeller Center, and it was the buzz in Fashion Week. Reed Krakoff, who is leading our accessory business, really incredibly well-known and experienced accessory/brand creative director, really figured out how to express and create distinction for Gap accessories, which is an exciting part. It is not just a bag, it is very much a GapBag. These are iconic silhouettes. They are drawn from inspired iconic silhouettes and signature styles from Gap. We have got the Hoodie Tote, the Five-Pocket Tote. I encourage you to take a look at our site, look at our stores. You will see them.
Looking ahead, we have got some other new additions, product drops, great marketing that is going to solidify this category and gain momentum, by the way, across both categories. We believe while these categories are in the early stages, not only do they represent great incremental volume for us, but they are also margin enhancers. These are great margin categories for us. As we look to expand margins, we think that there is meaningful opportunity for incremental growth.
That is great. You are also building some new capabilities in fashiontainment. What is the opportunity that you are hoping to unlock here, and how should we be measuring the progress?
So last year, we announced beauty and accessories, and throughout the course of this year, we have been talking about fashiontainment. A lot of people ask me, "What do you mean by fashiontainment? What is fashiontainment?" The most simple way to say this is brands are stories, and we are the storytellers. I think you could see that come to life when you look at some of the work that we have done putting our brands in the center of culture and cultural conversation. When you look at the music videos that we have done, whether that is Malcolm Todd, "Dancing On My Own," or KATSEYE, which by the way, we are up against and continuing to perform. We have done incredible work with Young Miko, which was also another music video, literally a Gap production.
These are not ads. They are content, and they are creating virality, and they are creating conversation. It is a form of entertainment. How that starts to personify on multiple platforms with our portfolio is the work of the work and what is, if you will, fashiontainment. Fashion is entertainment. Being more deliberate about it is what this structure and what the talent that we have brought in will intend to do. In addition to that, entertainment is also a lot of what drives traffic to stores. In that context, following the entertainment calendar, that is not something that our industry or portfolio has necessarily done in the past. With our experience that we have in the entertainment community, Pam Kaufman, who joined us as our Chief Entertainment Officer from the entertainment community, we have got fantastic relationships in the community. Example of Disney.
We have an incredible DTC deal with Disney. We are their number 1 DTC licensee. We have expanded that business tremendously over the course of the last couple of years. There is a lot of tentacles in working with Disney that we are starting to magnify. There are other entertainment studios as well. Following the entertainment calendar, picking the right merchandising narratives will drive traffic and interest and volume to our stores. It is another form, if you will, of fashiontainment. Pam Kaufman, who leads the Fashiontainment organization. She is an expert in the space. She believes that our brands could extend into relevant categories, certainly beyond apparel. Ultimately, I think when you think about fashiontainment, watch the storytelling we do through our product and through our content, and we really do believe that it will be a growth enabler for our brands for the long term.
That is great. You just mentioned long-term enablement. Let us talk a little bit about how you view long-term value creation at Gap Inc. How should we be thinking about that opportunity at Gap based on all of your focus areas today?
What I hope that you all start to feel and see is the consistency in which we present and then deliver. In that context, through our phased transformation and through that narrative of fixing fundamentals to the beginning of building momentum to the opportunity that we all see in accelerating growth, I think that is the commitment that we made to each other at Gap Inc., and we are making to the investment community. We believe that at this stage, continuous improvement is a really foundational, important point to make. Doing what we do better every day. That means growing that apparel business, low single digit. In the context of what we have proven, which is financial and operational rigor, running that middle of the P&L with more discipline and driving that bottom line to continue to increase, that is the model.
When you layer on these accelerants like accessories, like beauty, like fashiontainment, like licensing, you can start to see the incrementality and what that could mean over time. As we get to that accelerate growth phase, that is where we really see the opportunity to unlock real value in this portfolio. I am also really confident in our people. The culture and the cultural progress that we have made over the last several years is energizing. Our people are energized. They are good at what they do. They want to win, which feels good when you are on a team that is striving for excellence. I believe that that, over the course of our progress, will generate strong shareholder returns, will create an employee base that is happy and excited to be part of a portfolio and team that matters more to consumers, that is part of the cultural conversation.
We are proud of the progress that we made, but we are more excited about the opportunities ahead.
Richard, we are about out of time. Any closing comments or thoughts that you would like to share with the audience?
I think it probably is a repeat. I think as you look at us, as you study us, and I know some of you have studied us for a long time, I think what you are starting to see is our portfolio has strength. These are truly iconic American brands that shape culture. We are revitalizing them in a way that is relevant for consumers today, yet not abandoning those who love us. That is a careful art. Again, we chose the language of perform while we transform. We would love to perform faster and better, but we are careful, we are curated, we are disciplined. We are delivering and doing what we say we are going to do. We do believe that we have got the right foundational strategy in place.
Our core business and continuous improvement, coupled with that financial and operational rigor that you see throughout our P&L, is really driving what we believe is a successful model. Strong cash flow, strong balance sheet, positions us really well as we move into this next chapter. We are very excited about the opportunities ahead. Obviously, the new categories are exciting, but we are really excited about the core. We are excited about what it can mean, the strength that we have in specific categories, as I have shared with you, some of these market share data and where we rank on Circana. We believe there is a lot more opportunity for growth, and ultimately, long-term value for our shareholders. I thank you, by the way, for all of the interest and the consideration and the questions that we get in our individual calls.
I hope you can appreciate the transparency with which we are working with, but ultimately, the excitement and energy that we have for the future.
Thank you so much for coming, Richard, today.
All right. Thanks, Brooke.
Thank you for all in the audience for tuning in.