stop charging so much for the same shit you sell at old navy for 50% of the price.

Seriously you couldnt catch me dead at the gap simply because Old Navy has the same stuff for cheaper, and MUCH better deals on the stuff going out of season.

I hate the gap because they charge like $50 for a sweatshirt that costs 1/4 that at old navy, and is the same exact thing. Meanwhile Banana Republic is charging the same $50 for a sweater that's like 10x sexier.
I hate the gap because it closed itself.

As a new plus-size model (my ass is spreading like butter on hot toast the longer I work in an office setting) I have to say Old Navy carries a wider variety of sizes and styles in stock, in addition to being reasonably priced.

What they said.
You browse at The Gap but you buy at Old Navy.

Yeah, seriously -- the brand's just fine; they just need to stop costing so much.

Oh, also, the whole sweatshop thing. Did they ever get around to fixing that?

This is where I buy most of my clothes: Jeans, work shirts, nice shirts, I buy them on sale at JC Penny's/Macy's & sometimes Lord & Taylor. I buy band shirts/sweatshirts online. I buy sweaters/jackets at Burlington Coat Factory.

Other than the band shirts, everything I buy is on sale.

Old Navy/Gap seem to have boring clothes, costing more than the more interesting things I find elswhere. I'd rather have a clearance designer shirt from Lord & Taylor, than an overpriced plain t-shirt from The Gap.

It seems to me to be a combination of allowing Old Navy to sell extremely similar items for much less and also offering a selection that pales in comparison to that same store. Though I have to say, I've been enjoying my Old Navy options less and less these past couple of years, and the quality has seemed to decline dramatically. Perhaps that's why Old Navy isn't doing that well either.

The Gap lost their demographic a while ago and has never caught up again. Baby boomers find little to like (or in larger sizes that are flattering) there anymore. The prices are high for teens and young adults without the cachet of the Abercrombie or AE or BR label/logo. For the last few seasons, they have featured a lot of boring colors. Tans, washed-out stuff, browns, blah. Plus, I can get a simlar polo shirt for a fraction of the price (for my sons) at Old Navy.

I remember about five years ago, LL Bean realized it had tried to go too upscale, too fast, and was losing its traditional customer base. It brought back some of its much-loved basics and restored more reasonable prices on many items. That's when I started ordering from them again. There may be a lesson in the Beans experience for The Gap.

I don't hate The Gap, I just can't find anything I like there anymore. (Okay, for the past six years or so.)

You can try on 6 different pairs of the same jeans in the same size, length and cut and all 6 pairs will fit differently - that kind of piss-poor quality control is why I stopped shopping at the Gap. The marketing onslaught for skinny jeans when maybe .01% of the female population actually look good in them sealed the deal. (I stopped shopping at Old Navy as well when it became clear that ultra-ultra-ultra low-rise was their starting point). I guess I'm at the age where I realize that shelling out $50 for crappy fitting clothes makes less financial sense than shelling out $80 for clothes that fit well and will stand the test of time.

I will, however, drive from Connecticut to the Palisades Center in New York to go to the Forth & Towne store - those clothes fit beautifully, they're priced reasonably, and the salespeople actually know how to help you.

I don't hate the Gap either, but why pay twice as much for a pair of plain jeans when you can get them for half the price at Old Navy? There is little difference in the quality. The Gap just doesn't offer enough variety to make shopping there compelling.

I hate them because they are a poster child for gross overconsumption. The only reason to shop there is to be able to brag to someone else that I got this at the Gap! Same shit for half the price at Target. Plus I do most of my cloths shopping twice a year at Costco. Name brand CK, Polo, Ralph Lauren etc. and the most expensive items are still under $30.00 there.

I don't go there because I have scuffed/torn/generally messed up jeans and shirts at home that have been paid for some time ago. Also, I know some comedian said it before but, which side do I go on again? is that a blouse or a shirt?
That and the prices are terrible for actually cheap crap.

Their prices are too expensive for crappy materials and workmanship (not to mention the styles are looking real farty). I remember when they were cool - now not many of us want their overpriced frumpy looking clothes.

Aww, I'm going to be that jerk that defends the Gap. Because Old Navy's jeans have never fit me right and Gap Jeans always do. Because Old Navy's tops hardly last three washings, and I have Gap shirts from 2001 that are still cute and wearable.

I'm probably the last person on earth who still shops there. The markups don't bother me because I stick to the sale rack 90% of the time. Old Navy has great designs but the clothing is disposable and never seems to fit me right.

What is Chris O'Donnell doing lately? He was the apple of my eye circa 1996.

Too expensive, too pretentious, the place isn't even friendly....nothing there I want to buy....no celebrity could ever entice me to spend $$$ there.

I've found that the jeans I've bought there in the past went threadbare before Levi's of a similar age would have been broken in. Also bought the only shirts I've ever managed to wear out the elbow of, while working a desk job.

Last time I went into a Gap store there seemed to be about twenty employees there.

None of whom seemed to want to help me, despite my polite requests.

And what everyone else said about overpriced clothes that don't fit right.

I stopped buying their khakis/chinos about 2000, since I discovered no-iron microfiber. I always hated ironing my Gap chinos when I had my first job out of school. As soon as Kohl's had Haggar no-iron pants, I dropped those old, wrinkled, twisted (have you ever laid a Gap shirt or pants on a table before folding? The seams are all over the place) pants into the Salvation Army collection box.
My shopping list:
Shirts: Brooks Brothers (always bought when on sale), Nordstroms
Pants: Kohl's Haggar "Cool 18s" or sometimes Dockers no-iron
Shoes: Aldo

The Gap used to have cute tops, skirts, sweaters etc. that were more classic styles. Now their styles seem to be aiming for more trendy, cutting-edge fashion but with mediocre quality. High fashion and poor quality don't go together in my opinion. But people love H&M so what do I know.

Low-quality fabrics, unflattering cuts, boring clothes. Also, they still make flare jeans (I'm not talking boot-cut, which are fine, but like bad retro flare). Too many whiskers and such on them as well.

The whole sweatshop thing bothered me when it broke a few years ago, and aside from getting $5-10 shirts and pants from the sales rack, the stuff is far overpriced.

I have a hard time shopping there without a guilty conscience.

Chris O'Donnell would make me shop at The Gap again, only if he divorced his wife, and came with the pair of pants I buy.

the fit at everything at the gap is RIDICULOUS! the "small" clothing has larger measurements than a "large" at clothing companies that are doing well, like american apparel. everything at the gap is short, wide, and has a "belly pouch" sewn in (ie, extra fabric so that giant bellies can hang loose). the only clothing that is fitted somewhat well with a range of sizes and fits is the women's pants.

the gap actually has some nice designs if they could modify their fit to be somewhat attractive.

In addition to what everyone else has mentioned, I frequently dislike the Gap for two other reasons:

One, their white shirts are WAY WAY WAY too thin. If I'm buying an Oxford shirt for work, I don't want my bra to be visible through it, & if I'm buying a white tank with a built-in bra, then I definitely don't want it to be see-through (if you get my drift). And Gap shirts always are.

Two, their sizes are smaller than Old Navy's. I've gone to ON & Gap in the same day, one after another, & I'm always a bigger pants size at the Gap. That's dumb. If you're going to be charging twice as much, the least you could do is make me think I've *lost* weight in the walk over from your more reasonably-priced cousin, not gained it.

To be fair, though, I do love some stuff from them, & I got a $50 gift card from there for Xmas so I'll be shopping there soon.

Used to be able to walk in, grab my size & cut in jeans, and walk out. Then the sizes and cuts started going all shifty-aroundy from poor quality control.

Now they just can't really even be bothered to carry jeans for women with hips, so I can't really be bothered to shop somewhere that's mostly interested in dressing pre-teens or anorexic models.

Plus -- Old Navy's cheaper and has more sizes. And is less pretentious.

I'd rather spend $10-20 more and shop at places like Nordstrom Rack, Filenes Basement, even Macys, Carson Pirie Scott, Lord and Taylor etc. etc. then spend my money at GAP or even Old Navy for that matter. The styles there are so repetative, and seem to be getting boring (The project RED stuff is cool though). Old Navy clothes are ok, and will last you a month or two (i'm being generous with that time frame).

Gap is Whack. The End.

Dickies Dickies Dickies Dickies

I am "loyal" to the Gap to only for one reason: GapKids.

I am a small woman who does not wear women's clothing if I can at all help it (oh, do not eeeeven show me anything in a flare leg) and GapKids is one of the only widely available and online-order-able clothing lines that makes boys' clothing that fits me AND does not look like I raided my little brother's closet. Yes, I have to choose carefully, but they have served me well with button-ups I can wear to my office job.

Adult Gap has really gone to hell, but I'll be sad to lose my reliable source of dyke wear.

The Gap used to carry clothes I could wear to work -- cute, nicely cut, not revealing shirts/skirts/pants. Now they've gone trendy and it's mostly short skirts, ripped jeans and thin tops. Their quality has gone downhill and their prices have gone up. Even their t-shirts (which I used to only by there) have gone crappy; Old Navy t-shirts are now actually better quality (and cheaper).

Why shop at The Gap when I can get the same quality (and better work clothes styles) at Old Navy? Or when I can go some place like Macy's or Nordstrom's and pay the same amount for better quality?

On a related note, I had to laugh a few months back when they raised the prices on their skirts ~$10 and had them "on sale" for the old price.

It seems to me like the sizes at the Gap aren't consistant. 5 different XL t-shirts can vary pretty wildly in fit. They also seem to have about half the inventory and choices that they had several years back.

Now if Old Navy would stop putting their name/logo on EVERY damn t-shirt and sweatshirt I'd shop there again. They've all driven me to JCPenney or any store that doesn't print its name on the clothing as part of the design.

I hate the Gap because they know who Kyra Sedgwick, Kate Mara and Chris O'Donnell are and I do not.

and it smells in there

I got tired of their jeans wearing out after a few months.

This should be the consumerist mantra. Lowered Quality = Lowered Sales.

Though, I haven't shopped there in over a year, so I feel like those people that say "Toyota is better quality" even though JD Power now says differently.

Skinny Pants, *THE* thing the Gap advertised last season, look good on 0.02% of the world's population. (Most of them are malnurished.)

Also: the (RED) campaign, but only because of it's association with Bono.

I love the Gap's clothes. I hate the Gap's prices.
We all know that the third-world value of those clothes are like $7 -- why charge $79.99 for a fucking sweater?

Call me East Coast Literati, but I hate the Gap & Old Navy because they sell poorly constructed ill fitting clothes that will fall apart within a few months or so.

Seriously: buy less clothing but buy GOOD clothing. Stop being freaked out by $75-$100 jeans and realize they make you look better=you are more confident and they last longer and it all evens out.

Unless you are shopping for a growing child there is no reason to ever go into either of those stores unless you are picknig up accessories like gloves/hats etc.

I think the GAP has just lost its way. The GAP started as a place for everyone to shop-it was the place to bridge the generation gap. It offered basic, good quality clothes that most anyone could and would wear at reasonable prices.

Now they don't seem to know who they are, half of the clothes are too young and too trendy and the other half are really boring and frumpy. And all of them are far too expensive relative to the quality and what you find at other stores.

I also think there are just too many GAP stores - there is absolutely nothing special about going into a GAP, it's about as special as a neighborhood gas station.

To me, everything they sell in the GAP looks like something I might have worn or considered cute back in 1992. I gave up on that kind of clothes a while ago, but kept going for basics (v-neck sweaters, cotton tees, etc) until those got all wacky too.

I do like GAPBody - their sweats and robes are fantastic. Of course, none of their bras come even vaguely close to fitting me, and the stores always reek of GAP perfume stuff. So I order the sweats over the internet and view the stores largely as vestiges of the 90s.

Child labor and sweatshops taking advantage of NAFTA are the reason I started to hate them, despite the fact that everything from GAP I owned before then had fallen apart within three weeks of me unwrapping my christmas presents.

Hey Max...EVERY Major clothing line sold in the US, and I mean every one takes advantages of the cheap overseas labor market that you bemoan (save AA). There are actually few to any "GAP" factories in Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India where the clothing is produced. Hundreds of brands are made in the same plants with the same materials and generally the same workmanship. Gap lost its way when it stopped listening to their customers and didn't pay nearly enough attention to what the 10-12 year olds began wearing when they graduated from Old Navy. Old Navy and BR have grown their sales while The Gap is killing their overall growth.

The quality difference between Gap and Old Navy is vast to say the least. I would actually argue that The Gap has pretty well made clothing. My gripe is how boring and utilitarian it all is. I might actually buy a sweatshirt if it didn't have a GAP logo scrawled across the front as well.

As for someone complaining about 5 pairs of the same jeans all fitting different, that's just inherent with the fabric. I used to work for an Original Levis store and that was something we were trained on. Denim is a strange fabric and takes on a life of it's own a lot of times. That's why I don't buy jeans online.

Anyway, no, Kyra Sedgwick is not going to influence me to shop at GAP more often.

I buy there because you can get pants in a 33x36 online whereas very few other stores offer this size. It's expensive and annoying, however.

I don't shop at the Gap but I do shop at Old Navy. Their blouses are to die for and they have bigger sizes for my bosoms.

Did they ever get around to fixing that sweatshop problem?

Hello.

My name is Inigo Montoya. The GAP killed my father.

Prepare to die.

(Stop saying that!)

Same story as everyone else. I used to love the Gap. Then their quality died, their prices went up, and they stopped carrying reliable basic styles with a few interesting seasonal trends and started being much too trendy and impractical for me. I used to buy jeans there, and now I'll spend the same money, but somewhere else. I used to buy T-shirts there, but they stopped carrying the same style consistently from season to season, so I went to Old Navy for that. Plus, Old Navy's are cheap enough to be basically disposable, and my white tees stain badly under the arms.

The Gap's problem, I think, aside from a noticeable decline in quality, is that its core audience grew older and its target audience shops elsewhere--somewhere their parents don't. The Gap didn't adapt well to either group, and the company didn't roll out enough Forth & Towne locations. I'd love to try the place, but with no online shopping and no store within 300 miles, they didn't even give me a chance.

I don't really like the Gap or Old Navy because their jeans disintegrate way too quickly. I like a good bargain, just like any one else, but their stuff just isn't that high quality and their styles don't fit my tastes anymore either.

Old Navy is great for disposable clothing--the quality is not what you'd get at other stores, but neither is the price. It wears out before you get tired of it. They have neat pajama bottoms.

Gap has some nicer stuff--e.g., I found a nice pair of brown suede gloves there, and a button-down shirt I liked enough to buy.

Banana Republic has higher construction and materials quality. You pay a little more for it, but if you need something altered (and it's not on sale), the alterations are free. Loves it.

Of course this is a thread about hating the Gap, so grains of salt are required, but it would seem that their clothes don't fit anyone. We have people saying they're not large enough, and now I'm going to second the too-large opinion. I used to shop there because they had pants that fit my small size well. Now, too big. I do better at stores like The Body Shop that have a large-and-messy selection aimed at a younger audience - lower quality, but I can find something that fits and is cheap enough to replace.

I haven't shopped at The Gap for years but I gotta say that I have 2 heavy cotton sweaters (one bright red, one dark black) that I bought in 1990 (!) and have worn and washed a bunch and they are still brightly colored, warm as toast (whatever that means), collars and wrists not stretched out - in fact they still look like new! That said - I wouldn't shop there again preferring "Hello Kitty" black tees from Japan in EPCOT (whatever THAT means!).