Mike Antonucci at the San Jose Mercury News took your complaints to the Gap’s top brass and got some interesting responses. They even responded to our editorializing about the Gap’s general state of failure with some upbeat sentences touting their own profitability. Whoops! We guess we were wrong and everything is just fine. Wait, what about the three-year sales slump, the recent layoffs, and the fact that same-store sales (the most important indicator of the health of a retail operation) have fallen in 12 consecutive quarters. Teehee! Sorry, we were sooo mean!
Gap also responded to your accusations of boring clothes by admitting that their products “haven’t resonated with customers” and by reminding you that their classic white shirts were just on the cover of Vogue.
When asked about the inconsistent sizing and ill-fitting clothing that so many Consumerist readers complained about, Gap had this to say:
“The sizing and measurement of our clothing remains the same, although thanks to new fabrications, the fits and silhouettes of our clothing have changed. For instance, like many apparel brands today, we use stretch fabrications in cotton and denim because many customers want a fit that’s closer to the body. For this fall, Old Navy’s new denim line offers three new fits, and Gap is in the process of reducing the number of styles in our stores to make it easier for our customers.”
Did that answer the question? What was the question again?
Oh yeah, the question was, “Why do you hate the Gap?” Check out the Mercury News for the rest of the response. It’s good stuff.
Antonucci: Gap answers critics on consumer blog [San Jose Mercury News]
Slumping Gap Cuts 1,500 Jobs [Forbes]
(Photo:Vogue)
More From Consumerist
-
Haggling For People Who Are Terrified To Haggle
-
Why Won't PayPal Accept My Secure Account Number?
-
IKEA’s Website Hates Me And I Don’t Know Why
-
Boston Market Worker Fired For Telling Exec On ‘Undercover Boss’ That He Hates Customers
-
Domino’s Has A Very Limited Notion Of What “All Your Favorite Toppings” Means
@Lin-Z: Banana Republic’s standard items can be pretty expensive, but their basic tee shirts are outstanding. It might be a few bucks difference, but it’s absolutely worth it.
I’m one of the customers who wants a closer-to-body fit. I’m not a remotely heavy guy and ‘standard’ fit shirts look damn strange on me. I think that Gap might be reaching for a bit too high-caliber of customer on that one, though. I mean, Armani Exchange is a hell of a lot worse for being form fitting. Almost everything there is cut down. It’s the only place I’ve ever found a shirt in my size that was actually too tight.
In Saks’ windows: advertisements for 10022-SHOE, their new footwear floor. Local · Boutiques with clothing perfect for work wardrobes [NY Sun] · A slideshow from Pet Fashion Week [Metromix] National · Taschen has released a book on artist Jeff Koons [Highsnobiety] · The Gap…
Well, this isn’t in keeping with the title of “why you hate the gap”, but i personally love the gap. It is the only place where i can consistently find pants that fit. It is one of the only places where i find jeans that come in long, that are cut so they actually fit my body.
I know that the fact that they actually fit me, means that they might not fit other people, because i have a “weird” body style – not as curvy as many women are – but its nice to be able to find pants that fit. And i dont mind paying more if it means i dont have to order from the catalog, just to have to return them because they dont fit right, as the case is at many other stores.
I’m still waiting for the day that corperations of the world realize women come in more lengths than short, average, and tall – and start sizing womens pants like mens are sized.
@RonDMC: I can second the suggestion for Banana Republic’s undershirts; though they are pricey, the quality is good and the cotton is very soft and comfortable. They are cut on the snug side, so if you prefer a looser fit, size up. Personally I have found that the closer fit works better under dress shirts.
As for men’s jeans, I prefer mine plain, with a consistent color and finish from top to bottom, in a cut that is not snug. Within the past year I have had good luck with Penney’s Arizona jeans, and more recently with a basic Nautica Jeans style that was on sale at Macy’s, but who knows if they’ll still have them if I go looking again?
Do you remember back in the late 80s and 90s when the Gap sold cute
clothes? And not just hanging out wear, but dressy stuff I wore to work
in Midtown Manhattan. You could build a wardrobe around Gap basics.
They used to make great shoes! Not these crap Payless dogs they’re
passing off today. In those days I spent thousands a year at the Gap.
Since, oh, 1999, I’ve spent maybe a hundred bucks or so a year.
Everything is ugly! Expensive! It’s all for teenagers who apparently
wear nothing but jeans and hoodies.
Why did the Gap abandon us? I used to go in there and have to hold
myself back from spending too much. Today, if I got a $100 gift
certificate, I’d have a hard time spending it.
Nothing in what they said addresses the fact that I lost weight and went up a size in their clothes recently (sure, tell me your sizes haven’t changed, but when I am physically smaller and I don’t fit the size I was before…something is wrong somewhere). I guess if you assumed they’ve lowered the size to account for the “stretchy” fabric, but I actually know enough about sewing to say that excuse doesn’t work for me.
Nothing they say addresses the fact that their shirts for plus sizes fit like sacks. I may as well wear burlap. Gap and Old Navy’s ill-fitting shapeless squares they call shirts aren’t worth the prices they charge. I can get the same terrible fit from the same “stretch” cotton at Wal-Mart.
I don’t care how their jeans fit, I’d never pay their prices for jeans. I care how their shirts fit, and they don’t.
I’m with Girlcat. There is a Gap directly beneath my office, so I go in about once a month to kill time during lunch. For a long time, where wasn’t even anything I wanted to turn on. You’d see a potentially cute shirt, but for some reason it would have unnecessary ruffles or weirdly placed pockets or a weirdly cut neckline — there was just NOTHING that appealed. Then in the past year or so, they’ve finally gotten back to basics; yeah, some of it is boring, but sometimes you just need those black slacks. However, EVERYTHING is cut badly, the sizing is all over the place (ensuring I’ll never mess with their Web site, what a crap shoot) and the quality is too low for the price. (Whereas with Banana Republic, you pay more but I feel like the clothes are well-made, the sizing is better, it’s not nearly as dull and the handbags are honestly pretty awesome. Old Navy = cheap crap, but you go there for the couple of things that you just need to be cheap.) It’s really disappointing, because you need a place to buy great basics. The Gap got out of that business a long time ago; wish someone else would get in it.
I will gladly pay a certain range for a certain level of quality. Recently, the Gap seems to have lost all concept of the value relationship between price and quality. They tried to cut costs by using materials of lesser quality but retained/jacked up prices. No thanks!
I also found it was annoying that Gap execs didn’t bother to address any of the criticisms posed by Consumerist users. I didn’t buy much from Gap, but now they’ve lost my regular under-shirt purchases.
re: Banana Republic – Thanks for the tips… I have held their t-shirts in my hands several times but simply couldn’t bring myself to spend $20 for one undershirt, especially admist all the claims that BR’s quality has been on the decline.
I hadn’t even thought to check Nordstrom’s. Great idea. I’d even be willing to pay the $20 for one undershirt if it would last the same 5+ years my Gap shirts used to.
Do they want customers’ opinions, or not?
Again, I don’t really shop at GAP, but the last time I went in (in desperate need of some basics), none of the pants I tried on fit. Why? Because apparently no one informed GAP that some women have a difference between their waists and their hips. I mean, if you’re going to make “classic” (or at least basic) clothes, cut for the women who’ll be wearing them! Also, their shirts often look stiff and uncomfortable, as if they were made out of that icky stiff cotton/stretch blend. (It’s OUT, folks. Bring in some cotton voile, lawn, or SOMETHING.)
BTW, stretch doesn’t compensate for ill-fitting clothes. I like form-fitting, but not skin-tight, and I like them to fit well without the stretch, too.
I know I am really going to love paying 29.50 for Old Navy’s three new fits of jeans when none of them fit me and the quality is even poorer than wal-mart quality. I also really detest the SMELL of these stores, have you ever been into Old Navy, the whole thing just smells like those dyes they use on clothing. I am a smaller plus size and for 10$ more I can go into Avenue and buy the latest pants that actually fit (or better yet I can wait a few weeks for Avenue to drop the price) and do not smell like god knows what when I bring them home. The 40$ regular-priced Avenue pants sound cheap compared to the 70$ jeans most of you are finding. They also have jeans for 19.99 almost all the time and they are nice jeans.
I am currently wearing some Izod jeans that I love and fit perfectly and look very nice, and they last FOREVER, I am talking like 2 years per pair and they only cost 15-20$ on sale at a reputable retailer. Anyone know where to get some more Izod Jeans aside from ebay? Macy’s doesn’t stock them anymore, and if they did they would be 90$ (which is ironically where I found my first pair of Izod’s for about 15$), thanks Macy’s…
The Gap where I grew up closed down a few years ago, which is bizarre, because I thought there was some state law that required every bad suburban mall to have a Gap, a Piercing Pagoda, and a Pretzel Time.
In any case, the black perfect t’s aside, the Gap is everything that everyone has complained about. I gave up that season they pushed that faded salmon color on everything. That and the whole (RED) thing. It’s one thing to be socially conscious: but it reeks of hypocrisy when your company is/was a sweatshop nightmare.
Esprit is the new Gap. Their pants fit well, their t-shirts are comfortable and really well-priced, and they have excellent office clothes.
Just sayin’.
Remember that year Sharon Stone wore a Gap tee shirt to the Oscars? I think the Gap is still trying to ride the coattails of that one.
my top 10 reasons why I dont like gap:
1. corporate corrupted practices
1.1 overpriced items
1.2 underpaid employees
1.2.1 they use contractors that use underage workers.
1.2.2 this contractors they overwork, abuse (sexually) and even kill people if they stand for justice
1.3 gap denies knowing of industry well known contractor practices
2. Gap is part of the company that owns oldnavy and banana republic. Not a lot of people know this why?
2.1 gap/oldnavy/BR act like competitors. unfair corporate market approach. They are NOT, they fake to be.
2.2 gap discriminate against its own employees. “you are not gap material” if you are not to the gap aesthetics. “have you applied to Old Navy?”. So internally there is a class (the way you look) attitude.
3. the No local aspect of Gap-vy-blic. They produce the large majority of their products overseas. this means no local.
3.1 no local material.
3.2 no local labor
3.3 Long transportation routes (will be back to this one in the future.)
3.4 this means no way to know where, how and who made my ” new ________ ” fill the blank. (accountability/stakeholder issue).
3.5 but… it says “made in canada”??. often the last step in the production process is to label and tag the product. 98% of the product could be done in other county by other contractor.
4. the environmental aspect of gap.
Oh boy here we go.
4.1 the materials often are produced in old very polluting industries all over the world. This means no pre recycled and no regulated materials.
4.2 waste.
4.2.1 the packaging often is unnecessary
4.2.2 the bags are plastic and not even recycled one.
4.2.3 the ads and banners used at the store produce lots of garbage. none is recycled and none comes from recycled products.
4.3 Long transportation routes. This simply means more pollution when is produced in Pakistan, and goes then to Ghana and finally to Pennsylvania, and if is not sold is sent to an outlet mall in WA.
5.Customer service. Bey bud, I am not as tall and thin as you but I get laid lots and I consider myself (lucky first) but not a fugly guy. So when I ask if you have it in a medium size and if it comes in orange, dont look at me as I dont know to dress. I still get laid, is not matter of what you wear, but how you carry yourself.
6.the brand factor. I have problems already buying things from you guys, as you can read. But on top, you make me wear your brand all over me?! even when I look for discrete clothing, is almost impossible to find a hat or sweatshirt with no brand.
7.The retail issue. you are paying few cents an hour to someone and then charge 2000 times the production cost? if and I mean IF i need something from gap, better to be from a outlet mall, buffalo exchange or even better, good will babe!
8.$25 dollars for a t shirt??????!!!!!!
9. use of big Hollywood’s stars. they perpetuate their sense of beauty, no normal people (cute or simply good looking/healthy looking people)
10. they are in malls. nightmare.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely live in Gap jeans – and the selection in the stores sucks. I haven’t bought a pair IN a store for the past two years – I have to order 10 pairs of them online and then return 8, to get 2 that fit.
It’s one thing to expand on a line that’s good and mades people come back again and again. It’s quite another to abandon your customer base and take off after some trendy teen dollar and throw classic styling, quality and workmanship to the wayside. Has anyone there ever heard the phrase “wardrobe staple”? Oh, my bad – it must not be sexy enough.
Even after we vote with our charge cards they STILL don’t get it – it’s we who are too silly to get their “new fabrications.” That explains why they’re reducing the amount of choices in the stores – they obviously think we’re too damn stupid to be able to make the simplest decision.
Too bad they forgot that other little phrase: “the customer is always right.”
I’ll say this about Banana Republic, their quality plummets as their prices rise. I bought a cashmere sweater back in 2000 and I still wear it every winter. I bought another one last year and not only was it thinner, razor thin, it pilled into an unwearable monster in less than a month.
Also, their only tailored or “slim fit” mens button up shirts are those tagged over $100. Anything less gets you a shopping bag with sleeves. Let’s see, poor quality, poor fit, big prices. Why bother?
The Gap itself, by dumbing down their line and cutting quality, is foolishly competing against Old Navy for customers. Old Navy scores the best marks from me as they change things up frequently and keep prices low. Not really my style of clothes, but at least you know what you’re getting for the money.
“Slim fit” at the Gap is still “fat fit” to me. I’m by no means skinny, actually quite athletic—but if I dare try on a basic large Gap t-shirt, it looks like an A-line dress. And that is why I hate the Gap.
@dysthymia:
25 bucks for a t-shirt is a bargain! You’re not from the Bay Area are you?
I’m still trying to figure out what “fabrications” means in this context. It seems they’re confusing “fabrics” with the word for “things we have made up.” …Come to think of it, that makes sense now!
“The sizing and measurement of our clothing remains the same, although thanks to new [things we have made up, like that a size 6 is now a size 8], the fits and silhouettes of our clothing have changed.” Right on!!
@RonDMC: I’ll third the BR undershirts. My only complaint is that they don’t come in a tall version. For a very long time, I only wore BR boxers. They were the only ones to figure out to make the boxer flap 2″ wide to prevent turtle-ing. That, and either I gained 20 lbs or they cut the boxers down. So, I stopped buying them.
Old Navy took all of the Gap’s core customers. I used to shop at the Gap all the time. Until Old Navy. Now it’s Old Navy or Banana Republic.
Seriously, though, take a look at Jockey on their website. They’re putting out some good stuff right now. They’ve shifted focus to more quality instead of cheap, blue banana hammocks.
I buy jeans from the Gap outlet store every few years. Seems like the jeans they liquidate are the styles that fit my ass the best. Also got a couple of nice jackets for cooler weather on clearance.
Otherwise, everything in that store looks like the same stuff every time I go in… bland.