Fashion

[Chrystaltree2]

The Gap is on life support; it's terminal, it's only a matter of time.  They just failed to keep up with the times and they stuck with their "vision" despite the fact that they weren't attracting younger customers.  The way people shop and dress has changed over the decades.  Gap did not "get it".    I'm 51 and I shopped at the Gap when I was in college and in my 20's.  My girls are in their 20's now and I don't think either has stepped foot in a Gap since I bought Baby Gap outfits for them. If they sold my size (16, 18) in their stores; I'd probably shop there.  I do occasionally shop Gap.com.   That was another mistake the Gap made; as designers and retailers embraced the very lucrative plus size market; the Gap never did.  I remember back when they made a big, big deal of selling up to size 20 on their website....but....horrors.....not in their stores.  Change is the only constant in life.  I don't think too many people will miss them when they lock the door for the very last time.    

[Chrystaltree2]

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@terrier3 wrote:

I'm 61 and I still shop at the Gap. Their clothes are much better quality than Old Navy.

I have sweatshirts and hoodies from there that are at least 20 years old and still look like new.

Maybe that's their problem - their clothes are TOO well made for the price!

You just summed up all the things that are contributing to their failure....lol  When someone says those things about a store...it is not a good thing.  It's the death knell.  You made me think about Old Navy and the Gap near me; they are next door to me at a local mall.  The Gap is a gorgeous store but there are never many shoppers in it.  Old Navy is smaller, a little more cluttered looking and jam packed every time I go to the mall.  Because, if someone wants a new hoodie, they  sure don't want one that will last 15 or 20 years.  They don't want to pay Gap prices for a sweatshirt or a pair of khakis when they are going to buy new ones next year.   

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[songbird]

Evan the Gap owned store Banana Republic is struggling.  Not as badly as the Gap, but it's been having problems. The one in our mall is almost deserted.  I had stopped shopping there a few years ago.  I don't know really why.  I had decided to do most of my cloathing shopping at department strores.  I don't regret it.

[terrier3]

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@chrystaltree wrote:

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@terrier3 wrote:

I'm 61 and I still shop at the Gap. Their clothes are much better quality than Old Navy.

I have sweatshirts and hoodies from there that are at least 20 years old and still look like new.

Maybe that's their problem - their clothes are TOO well made for the price!

You just summed up all the things that are contributing to their failure....lol  When someone says those things about a store...it is not a good thing.  It's the death knell.  You made me think about Old Navy and the Gap near me; they are next door to me at a local mall.  The Gap is a gorgeous store but there are never many shoppers in it.  Old Navy is smaller, a little more cluttered looking and jam packed every time I go to the mall.  Because, if someone wants a new hoodie, they  sure don't want one that will last 15 or 20 years.  They don't want to pay Gap prices for a sweatshirt or a pair of khakis when they are going to buy new ones next year.   

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I get my son khakis and polo shirt at the Gap. They last too long too!!!! He's worn some for 10 years and they still look fine.

[TY]

We have a Gap store and an H&M store in the same mall and I think it's the same in Canada -- I think that the Gap store will be one of the stores that will be closing this year (The Gap will be closing about a quarter of their stores in North America). I've never bought a pair of jeans from The Gap, they are too low rise and the waist is too big. The last item I bought from this store was after Christmas, it was a nice wool blend red plaid moto jacket on clearance for $50 CDN. I bought it in a size XL. I seldom go into this store unless I want to look at sales merchandise.

H&M...lets get real here, unless you are a size 12 or smaller there won't be anything you can buy for yourself in H&M stores in Canada. They size small and the biggest size is a 14 in Canada as they don't bring in larger sizes. The only clothes I've bought from here are ponchos or caftans (summer swimsuit coverups that look pretty enough to wear with jeans).

Clothing retailers in Canada are getting hit by a lot of factors including the diminishing CDN dollar as they pay their overseas suppliers and manufacturers in U.S. dollars. I expect that there will be more retailers closing shop soon.

[cef001]

I was a manager for Gap Kids many years ago. The biggest problem for the Gap was they changed their "identity". They were known for denim, khakis, button downs. They had a few different Presidents change hands in a short amount of time and they all took a different direction as far as what was bought for the stores. Most recently they had a new President that was going to take Gap back to its glory days of basics. Unfortunately I believe, it was a little too late. I bought my sons all Gap Kids clothes years ago, they were the best dressed kids. The other problem I believed Gap had was they did markdowns too often. Customers knew that if they wait 2 weeks everything would be marked down. I hope somehow they can find who they were years back. Like the mooto goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And that is exactly what they did, they tried too hard to fix something that wasn't broke.