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View information about Gap. You can view the history of the Gap brand and their impact on branding.
Gap
- Gap
- Clothing Retailer
- August 21, 1969
The story of Gap, Inc.:
It's the biggest specialty retailer with more than 2400 stores in the United States and it has an international reach, with stores in Europe, Asia and North America.
It was founded in 1969 by husband and wife, Don and Doris Fisher.
They did it, in part, because they were having a hard time finding jeans that fit. They opened their first store in San Francisco…
…with $63,000 and their target customers were late teens. The company name came from the phrase "generation gap."
By 1973, they had over 25 outlets, including an East Coast expansion into New Jersey. In 1974, they introduced private label clothing lines to get better control of its supply chain. But by the 1990's, Gap tried going upscale and suffered through a nearly two-and-a-half-year slump in sales.
Gap's logo hasn't changed much. They used…
...from 1969 to 1986 and…
…from then until now, except for one week in 2010 when this…
…was adopted on October 4th and ditched on October 11th.
Gap also has four other main divisions, including…
The company's ads are well known, both in print…
…and on TV…
The company went public in 1976 but Don and Doris Fisher were still deeply involved in it.
Not only do they own a lot of Gap's stock, but Doris and their son Robert sat on the Board of Directors.
Gap has assets of close to eight billion dollars and employs 137,00 people. In 2003, the company paid a twenty-million-dollar settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that alleged sweat shop conditions for workers in Saipan, in the Western Pacific Ocean, but Gap did not admit liability.
Gap's World Headquarters remains in San Francisco…
…where it all began.