Juicy Couture Hires American Eagle’s Head Designer

If you love Juicy Couture’s velour track suits–no judging, we promise–but find $196 price tag a bit jarring, good news:

Liz Claiborne, the company that now owns Juicy Couture and kicked out founders Gela Nash-Taylor and Pamela Skaist-Levy about a year ago, has hired American Eagle’s chief design officer LeAnn Nealz to head up the brand, reports WWD.

It can be deduced that her role will not only be to update the brand’s image, but also to make it even more mass than it already is. Which hopefully means slightly lower prices.

Prior to American Eagle, Nealz worked at Gap, Banana Republic, Nine West, Theory, and ck Jeans. So her experience is in mass market retail. Much like Deborah Lloyd, who has successfully maintained the DNA of the Kate Spade brand (also owned by Liz Claiborne) while keeping the prices moderate and expanding its reach, Nealz’s job will be to freshen up the Juicy look, while making it easier for more people to buy more pieces.

Designer Erin Fetherston, who’s been working with the brand since the spring, will end her creative consultancy at the end of 2011.