No it doesn’t. This is just an urban myth. Gap first started life in 1969 and was known as The Gap, Inc. It was a single store founded by Donald G. Fisher and his wife, Doris near San Francisco State University, and the name was an allusion to the generation gap, which was hot news at the time.
Although he was 40 at the time of his inspiration, and so was older than the generation he was marketing for, Fisher, who was a successful real estate developer, noticed that blue jeans, made by Levi Strauss, were becoming increasingly popular amongst the disaffected youth of America.
His first store sold records and jeans; the idea was that the records would pull in the customers who would then buy the jeans. It was an idea that nearly bankrupted the Fishers because no-one noticed the jeans. Out of desperation, they advertised four tons of jeans at rock bottom prices; it was an immediate sell-out!
After this near disaster, there was no looking back; the target customers were the 14 to 25 age group who were delighted with being able to buy Levi jeans at low prices. The stores were small (to keep rental and other overheads down) and bright and attractive.
Two years after opening their first store, The Gap’s annual sales were $2.5 million. Depending on just one product has its risks and even though the Fishers had benefitted from the marketing that Levi had done for their product, they decided to produce their own label in 1973, as well as other national brands. By 1975, net sales were $100 million, and by 1980 were $307 million.
There have been some rocky times for Gap, even though these figures say otherwise but in 2002, Paul Pressler, an executive from Walt Disney Co. Was brought in to make some sweeping changes in order to bring the company back to the top of its game.
Although he was 40 at the time of his inspiration, and so was older than the generation he was marketing for, Fisher, who was a successful real estate developer, noticed that blue jeans, made by Levi Strauss, were becoming increasingly popular amongst the disaffected youth of America.
His first store sold records and jeans; the idea was that the records would pull in the customers who would then buy the jeans. It was an idea that nearly bankrupted the Fishers because no-one noticed the jeans. Out of desperation, they advertised four tons of jeans at rock bottom prices; it was an immediate sell-out!
After this near disaster, there was no looking back; the target customers were the 14 to 25 age group who were delighted with being able to buy Levi jeans at low prices. The stores were small (to keep rental and other overheads down) and bright and attractive.
Two years after opening their first store, The Gap’s annual sales were $2.5 million. Depending on just one product has its risks and even though the Fishers had benefitted from the marketing that Levi had done for their product, they decided to produce their own label in 1973, as well as other national brands. By 1975, net sales were $100 million, and by 1980 were $307 million.
There have been some rocky times for Gap, even though these figures say otherwise but in 2002, Paul Pressler, an executive from Walt Disney Co. Was brought in to make some sweeping changes in order to bring the company back to the top of its game.