Gap

---

With more than 3,800 stories in the United States, Europe, and Japan, Gap is a specialty retailer that sells clothing, accessories, and personal-care products for men, women, and children. Gap, Inc. sells products using three brand names and stores: Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. Based in San Francisco, Gap, Inc. was founded in 1969 by Dan and Doris Fisher. Gap went public in 1976, offering 1.2 million shares of stock to investors. In 1983, the firm purchased Banana Republic and hired Millard Drexler (1944–) as president of its Gap division. He became president of Gap, Inc. in 1987 and CEO in 1995. By 2001, the firm employed more than 166,000 people worldwide and had revenues in excess of $13 billion.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Gap, Inc. underwent expansion that established it as a significant brand name in U.S. retailing. GapKids opened its first store in 1983, and Gap Outlet (originally called Gap Warehouse) opened in 1993. Its Old Navy Brand debuted in 1994 and achieved $1 billion in annual sales within four years. The firm made a commitment to online retailing when it opened its online store in 1997, followed by Web sites for GapKids and babyGap in 1998, Banana Republic in 1999, and Old Navy in 2000.

In general, the Banana Republic stores try to convey a more sophisticated image for an upscale customer, whereas Gap stores appeal to a broader midrange of customers. The Old Navy chain is designed to appeal to younger customers by emphasizing "fun, fashion, and value" through a store experience that delivers "energy and excitement." Although Gap, along with other retail-store chains, has been criticized for blandness and uniformity in its selling environments, the firm maintains that it tailors its stores "to appeal to unique markets" by developing multiple formats and designs.

In the 1990s, Gap was one of several large retailers that came under fire by labor and human-rights organizations for selling apparel made abroad under sweatshop conditions (long hours for low wages in uncomfortable surroundings). It responded by developing a Code of Vendor Conduct that required its vendors (sellers of goods; in this case, the clothing manufacturers that sell to Gap) to abide by higher standards when dealing with its labor force. While acknowledging that some of its suppliers have factories in emerging nations that are just being to industrialize, Gap maintains that some of these jobs can offer a "coveted alternative to subsistence farming, or no work at all." The firm claims that it monitors working conditions with its network of Vendor Compliance Officers working with labor and religious organizations, and that it tries to make a positive impact "one vendor at a time, one worker at a time, one day at a time."

—Edward Moran

For More Information

Gap Inc.http://www.gap.com (accessed March 13, 2002).

Nevaer, Louis E. V. Into—and Out of—the Gap: A Cautionary Account of an American Retailer. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 2001.