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NARR:
Earlier this year, the company lost its C-E-O and the head designer for its namesake chain. Along with Old Navy stores, it's the Gap stores that have been dragging the company down.
From the streets of Manhattan's Upper East Side to your local mall, the Gap is about as ubiquitous as retail gets.
Giant posters of celebrity models Penelope Cruz and Mary J Blige dominate the storefront here on Fifth Avenue.
But beneath the larger than life celebrity posters … mannequins wear the Gap's latest line of clothes… it's those clothes that Reneta Espinosa says are the cause of the Gap's recent troubles.
And Espinosa should know… she's the Managing Editor of Fashion Wire Daily.
ACT:
They're going for the rumpled, frumpy. It just looks like something everybody has in their wardrobe. It's not giving me a lot of compelling reasons why someone would need more.
NARR:
On a rainy day on Fifth Avenue, Espinosa wore a fitted black wool coat and sported a stylish bob with thick bangs. She is the picture of the Manhattan fashionista. And while she admits that she used to work at the Gap once upon a time, she says the clothes just don't do it for her anymore.
ACT:
If someone picked me up on a date wearing this, I probably wouldn't
go out with them again. It's a little boring for me.
NARR:
The Gap has tried to spice up its clothes… but the new designs alienated some Gap shoppers and confused others, according to 26 year old Alicia Mayer.
ACT:
I don't think they know who their consumer base is. I think one year, they're geared towards 30 year olds. Then two years ago, it was ultra low rise. I would never wear that.
NARR:
According to 30 year old shopper Nathan Ray, the problem with the Gap isn't the clothes… it's the competition. He and a friend say they don't shop there anymore.
ACT:
I used to. But I think a lot of people used to. Before there were other choices.
NARR:
Fashion Wire Daily Editor Renata Espinosa says the real problem with the Gap is that they haven't been able to keep up with the times. The chain has lost customers to places like the clothing chains Zara and H and M… European brands know for their chic fashion sense.
ACT:
They've done a lot with partnering with runway designers like Karl
Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney. I think that's one of the things the
Gap hasn't picked up on is people's want for high fashion or fashion that comes from the runway.
NARR:
But there are some things that the Gap still does better than Zara and H and M, says 30 year old shopper Emma Johnson.
ACT:
Neither of them make pants for big butted girls. So I always stick to the dresses and the tops and I go to Banana and Gap because they make fuller bottom pants.
NARR:
In a Thursday conference call announcing company earnings, Gap executives called 2007 a transition year. At the Gap stores, they admitted that consumers have a point .. that the brand's focus is too broad. But they also plan to move ahead with what they called riskier designs. There was more bad news at Gap Incorporated earlier this week. The company announced it will close its Forth and Towne brand which had catered to women older than 35. All of the brand's 19 stores are be closed by June.
SOC: Lily Jamali, Columbia Radio News.