The Gap, Inc.[1] is a worldwide clothing and accessories retailer, whose subsidiaries include the former Forth & Towne and Piperlime, as well as Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, Janie & Jack, Hill City, and Intermix. It is the largest specialty retailer chain in the United States.
Don Fisher (1928–2009), The Gap’s founder, lived his entire life in San Francisco. He was raised in Sea Cliff and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in business administration. After graduation he started his own business renovating hotels. He was friends Walter Haas, Jr., President of Levi Strauss[2]. When Fisher bought a hotel in Sacramento, he leased retail space to Levi’s and introduced the concept of the “Wall of Levi’s” which contained every style in every size – a concept that had heretofore not been offered in department stores. Fisher worked with the advertising department at Levi’s before ultimately deciding to open his own store that he named “The Gap”, conceptualized by Fisher’s wife Doris in recognition of the “generation gap” that was a prevalent cultural topic at the time. Don and Doris opened the first Gap store at 1950 Ocean Avenue in August 1969, selling men’s Levi jeans and music tapes (to lure in the younger demographic). A second Gap opened in San Jose a year later and included women’s jeans. By 1972 there were 25 stores. By 2008 there were 3,727 stores across the nation.
In 1974 The Gap launched its own brand. A decade later, it introduced the now iconic pocket tee. In 1990 models in Gap-brand white denim jeans were featured on the cover of Vogue.
Don Fisher stepped down as Chairman of the Board of The Gap, Inc. in 2004, naming his son Robert as his successor. Don died five years later from cancer, the day after the San Francisco Chronicle[3] announced his partnership with the City’s Museum of Modern Art[4] to house his extensive contemporary Western Art collection. Fisher’s net worth at the time of his death was reported to be 3.3 billion. The family still owns much of the company’s stock, with Doris and Robert still on the Board.
[1] Visit them at www.gap.com
[2] Levi Strauss: see story coming September 26th
[3] San Francisco Chronicle: see story coming January 16th
[4] SFMOMA: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4406
