Gap (clothing retailer)
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| Gap, Inc. | |
 |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: GPS) |
|---|---|
| Founded | San Francisco, California, 1969 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Key people | Founded by Donald Fisher and Doris Fisher Robert Fisher, Acting President & CEO Byron H. Pollitt, Jr., EVP & CFO Marka Hansen, President, Gap |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Apparel |
| Revenue |  $16 billion USD (2005) |
| Employees | 152,000 (all Gap) |
Gap, Incorporated (NYSE: GPS) is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California and founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris Fisher. The Fishers opened their first shop because they had been frustrated with the lack of decent customer service and fashionable styles at other retailers. The name was derived from the growing differences between children and adults — namely "the generation gap" — which reached its peak with the hippie movement. Some of the original mottos of the company were "Levi's for Guys and Gals", and "Fall Into The Gap". Around 1982, Gap began focusing on its own private label, and by 1991 – 1992 the company had stopped carrying Levi's and other brands altogether.[1] As of October 2006, Gap Inc. had approximately 150,000 employees and operated 3,131 stores worldwide in the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and United Kingdom.
Donald Fisher retired as Chairman of the Board in 2004 and was replaced by his son, Robert Fisher. The Fisher family collectively owns 37% of the company stock.[2] The CEO of Gap, Paul Pressler, who previously ran the Disney theme parks has resigned on January 22, 2007. Robert Fisher stepped in as the interim CEO while retaining his position as Chairman of the Board.
Banana Republic, formerly a catalog retailer selling safari themed clothing, was purchased by the company in 1983, and eventually was rebranded as an upscale clothing retailer. Old Navy was launched in 1994, as a value chain with a specialty flair. Forth & Towne, the company's fourth traditional retail concept, was launched on August 24, 2005, in the Palisades Center in West Nyack, New York, featuring apparel targeted toward women 35 and older.[3] On February 26, 2007, after an 18-month trial period, Forth & Towne was discontinued, and the 19 stores will be closed. Gap Inc. is expected to take a $40 million pre-tax expenses associated with the closing.[4] A fifth brand, the online footwear retailer Piperlime, was created in 2006. [5] On March 5, 2007 Gap Inc, hired Egon Zehnder International to coordinate the search for a new chief executive offficer to replace Paul Pressler. No deadline was given for the search. In 2004, Gap sold all of its German operations to the Swedish H&M, its main competitor in Europe
In some Major League Baseball parks, a Gap ad appears on outfield wall panels between left/right-center fields and centerfield, which is commonly termed "the gap".
Contents |
[edit] Gap brands
- Gap
- Gap Outlet
- GapKids
- babyGap
- GapBody
- GapMaternity
- Love (Gap Accessories)
- Old Navy
- Old Navy Outlet
- Banana Republic
- Banana Republic Factory Store
- Forth & Towne (Will be discontinued by June 2007)
- Piperlime
- Brands (discontinued)
- Hemisphere (discontinued)
- Foxtails (discontinued)
- Fashion Pioneers (discontinued)
- Pants %Off (discontinued)
- Pottery Barn (sold to Williams-Sonoma)
- SuperGap (discontinued)
- Tags (discontinued)
- You & You (discontinued)
[edit] Store count
- Gap
- United States 1,199
- United Kingdom 134
- Japan 118
- Canada 94
- France 33
- Singapore 3
- Ireland 1
- Kuwait 1
- Banana Republic
- U.S. 495
- Canada 26
- Japan 1
- Kuwait 1
- Old Navy
- U.S. 949
- Canada 63
- Forth & Towne
- U.S. 19
- Total 3,134
[edit] Control over the word 'Gap'
As the company controls the "Gap" trademark, there have been conflicts with others over what constitutes acceptable use of the common English word "Gap" in other products and locations. As a result, the company threatened litigation against Bootleg Gap, a golf course in Kimberley, British Columbia, named after an opening in the nearby Bootleg Mountain. After three years of expensive negotiations, and without the funds to defend itself in court, the golf course agreed to remove the word "Gap" from its restaurant and nine holes. It also renamed its whole clothing line "Bootleg Golf." The legal costs from the negotiations delayed landscaping and cart paving projects for the golf course.[6]
[edit] Labour practices - GAP Report
Letscleanupfashion [2] issued a report to check progress within the fashion industry to see what progress has been made.
Long associated with sweatshops in the public mind, Gap’s supply chain compliance operation is now one of the most advanced we have seen. Its answers demonstrate the significant steps it has taken to resolve the systematic abuses of workers’ rights that are found throughout all garment supply chains. Despite this it still has a way to go to ensure these steps reach through their whole supply chain, and that workers in its supply chain can be assured of their rights. It scored highest of all the retailers surveyed.
Wages Grade 3: Can offer concrete examples of steps to develop and implement a living wage methodology in supplier base, but only in a few pilot projects.
FoA Grade 4: Sophisticated and serious engagement with FoA and CB, beginning to move beyond pilot programmes, but still not systematic across supplier base.
M&V Grade 3: Can offer concrete examples of steps to involve local stakeholders in oversight of implementation, monitoring and verification (M&V), but only in a few pilot projects.
Gap has actively participated in the Joint Initiative on Corporate Accountability and Workers rights and are independently assess by the Social Accountability International (SAI) and Verite. All violations of workers' rights to freely associate are identified and investigated. GAP encourages factories to be SA8000 certified which is based on auditable standards set by International Labour Organisation conventions.
However, the company has continued to draw negative attention for its labor practices. In May 2006, it was discovered that employees (including children) of Western, a company that makes clothes for Gap in Jordan, had been working 109 hours per week and had gone six months without being paid. Some employees also claimed that they had been raped by managers.[7]
[edit] Product Red support
Gap is taking part in the Product Red campaign. As a result, Gap released in spring 2006 a special RED collection, including a t-shirt manufactured in Lesotho from African cotton. The expanded Gap Product Red collection was released October 13, 2006. A percentage of the profits will go to the Global Fund. Gap is also continuing on with Gap Product Red items in the New Year, especially in the lead up to Valentine's Day, using words like Desi(RED). The global fund has now raised $25 million.
Other launch partners include American Express, Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.), Converse, Emporio Armani and Motorola.
[edit] Celebrities in Gap ad campaigns
Gap is well known for featuring celebrities in its print and television advertisements. They have featured over 300 celebrities of various stature in their campaigns.
[edit] Management reshuffle
On January 23, 2007, Gap announced that it was replacing CEO Paul Pressler with Robert Fisher, chairman of the board and son of the company's founders, and who would lead Gap on an interim basis as it searched for a new CEO. The board's search committee would be led by Adrian Bellamy, chairman of The Body Shop International and include founder Donald Fisher. The company said it would "focus its efforts on recruiting a chief executive officer who has deep retailing and merchandising experience ideally in apparel, understands the creative process and can effectively execute strategies in large, complex environments while maintaining strong financial discipline." Robert Fisher stressed his personal ties and 30-year professional history in operating roles at the company and as a board member. He started with the company in 1980 as a store manager and worked his way up the company's merchandising ranks and senior executive leadership positions, including president of Banana Republic and the Gap units. He had joined the board in 1990.[8]
On February 2, 2007, CEO Bob Fisher announced that Marka Hansen, a 20-year veteran of the company who headed the Banana Republic unit, was chosen to lead the The Gap unit, replacing Cynthia Harriss, who had been hired by former CEO Pressler in 2004. Hansen had held a variety of positions with the company, mostly in merchandising. Jack Calhoun, an executive vice president for marketing and merchandising became interim president of the Banana Republic unit.[9]
[edit] Board of directors
- Howard P. Behar
- Adrian D. P. Bellamy (1995)
- Domenico De Sole
- Donald G. Fisher (1969)
- Doris F. Fisher (1969)
- Robert J. Fisher (1990), Chairman (2004)
- Penelope L. Hughes
- Bob L. Martin
- Jorge P. Montoya
- James M. Schneider
- Mayo A. Shattuck III
- Kneeland C. Youngblood
[edit] References
- ^ http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~villas/gap.pdf
- ^ "Gap Explores Alternatives, Including Possible Sale: CNBC's Faber", CNBC.com, 8 Jan 2007.
- ^ More Information
- ^ "Gap Inc. Announces it will close Forth & Towne Store concept" (press release), Gap Inc., 26 Feb 2007.
- ^ "Gap hires Egon Zehnder to find new CEO" (reprint), Associated Press, 5 Mar 2007.
- ^ The Gap Boots Bootleg!.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "CEO Pressler's out at Gap Inc." MarketWatch
- ^ "Gap flagship brand to be run by company veteran" MarketWatch
