Is it just my clouded memory, or does this seem to happen every few years? The Gap goes along strong, then they try selling trendy clothes and sales drop, then they go back to basics, then they get stronger, then they screw up again, then they go back to basics?
I swear I’ve heard this 3 or 4 times in the last 20 years or so. From USA Today:
Remember The Gap when it was the epitome of hip and trendy, purveyor of the new uniform — basic jeans and T-shirts — for a generation that rejected “dress up” clothes for work and play? Its T-shirts were so cool that actress Sharon Stone wore one on the red carpet at the 1996 Oscars.
That was then. This is now.
“The Gap doesn’t seem hip any longer. They simply market one color or one style,” says shopper Pam Schmidt of Chandler, Ariz. “They’re too preppy and sterile.”
After suffering declining sales since 2004 and a depressing 8% drop in sales during the five-week holiday season this year, Gap Inc. dumped CEO Paul Pressler on Monday after five years.
