The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008, Gap, Inc. has approximately 150,000 employees and operates 3,465 stores worldwide. Gap, Inc. remains the largest specialty apparel retailer in the U.S., though it has recently been surpassed by the Spanish-based Inditex Group as the world's largest apparel retailer.
Despite its publicly-traded status, the Fisher family remains deeply involved in Gap, Inc.'s business and collectively owns a significant portion of the company's stock.
Donald Fisher served as Chairman of the Board until 2004 and remained on the board until his death on September 27, 2009. His wife and their son, Robert J. Fisher, also serve on Gap's Board of directors. Robert Fisher succeeded his father as chair in 2004 and also took over as president and CEO on an interim basis following the resignation of Paul Pressler in 2007.
Glenn K. Murphy is the current CEO of the company. Previous Gap, Inc. CEOs include Millard Drexler and Paul Pressler.
Products
When Gap was founded in 1969, its targeted customers were younger generations (hence the name of the store, which refers to the generation gap of the time). Gap's hottest seller at the time was its "basic" look, which consisted of its signature blue jeans and white cotton t-shirts. Its founders realized that jeans were becoming popular among the younger generation of customers. Nevertheless, the company recognized that despite its popularity among the youth, there were not enough assortments of jeans in the clothing outlets. Capitalizing on this deficit was merely the next step in expanding. Gap's founders were sure that jeans could be sold through a chain of small stores devoted solely to that product. As this business idea became successful, Gap expanded its offerings and now Gap offers a range of clothing for men, women, and children. As Gap's business began to boom, it also began to expand and send its manufacturing jobs abroad. Gap, Inc. added two new entities to its company, Banana Republic and Old Navy.
