Gap is on the prowl. For decades, the mall brand was content to be there when you needed a new pair of khakis, a logo hoodie, or a pair of jeans
with an aggressive wash. Now, the brand is making all kinds of new friends. It started in the summer of 2020, when Kanye West, now Ye, signed a 10-year deal with the brand, and started releasing round jackets and cropped hoodies. Then Ye introduced the brand to Balenciaga. Now, Gap is stacking up another collaboration, this time with legendary Harlem tailor Dapper Dan. Add it all up and you have a brand making a mad dash for a seat at the cool kids’ table.
There is still not much to say about Gap’s collaboration with Ye, at least publicly. In an earnings call with analysts late last week, executives didn’t share much in the way of details: how is it selling, who is buying it, when are we going to see the full (and very delayed) collection? Instead, Gap CEO Sonia Syngal only told analysts that the brand was “leaning into” the Yeezy Gap line “to further extend its reach and relevance around the globe.” There don’t necessarily need to be many highlights beyond that. The chief goal of these projects is something different: to extend Gap’s relevance around the world.
And so far, the plan seems to be working. Back in November, Syngal said that the Yeezy hoodie was the best-selling item Gap has ever sold online. Also, most importantly, more than 70% of those customers were newbies to Gap, she said, according to Bloomberg.The sales are great but the real benefit, Syngal noted, is “unlocking the power of a new [younger] audience.” Cultural relevance is the name of the game for Gap right now. “Together, [Gap and its collaborators] create culturally relevant moments and new instant classics,” Mary Alderete, global head of Gap marketing, said in an email.
