Gap: A Retail Empire Brought About by an Ill-Fitting Jeans
Gap was founded by Don and his wife in San Francisco in 1969. Its origin was simple: Don couldn't find well-fitting Levi's jeans, so he decided to open his own store to sell jeans and vinyl records. The brand name "Gap" directly pointed to the generation gap between young people and their parents, accurately targeting the youth culture.
The early business was challenging: The first store sold 4 tons of jeans that were unsold, forcing a loss-making clearance sale. In 1970, they discontinued the vinyl records and focused on casual clothing, rapidly expanding and going public in 1976. The golden age of the 1980s-1990s: They mainly featured simple basic styles (white T-shirts, khaki pants, jeans), and used famous figures like Hemingway and Picasso in their advertisements, establishing the benchmark of American casual wear. In 1998, at the Oscars, Sharon Stone wore a $39 Gap white shirt with a haute couture dress, subverting the red carpet rules, and the brand's popularity soared.
Curiosity: In the 1990s, Gap promoted the "Casual Friday" trend, allowing khaki pants and Polo shirts to enter the offices of Wall Street, changing the American workplace dress code. After 2000, they expanded too rapidly and their designs became outdated, being surpassed by Zara and H&M. They temporarily closed and contracted. In recent years, they have returned to simple comfort and sustainable fabrics, regaining the favor of middle-class families and remaining the synonym for American basic styles.