Donald Fisher, who cofounded Gap Inc with his wife Doris forty years ago, died on Sunday after a battle with cancer, the clothing retailer said.
He was 81.
The company that the Fishers began as a little denim store in San Francisco now operates more than 3,100 stores in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Japan and Ireland, and it has been credited with inventing the specialty retail category.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
The Fishers opened their first store in San Francisco in 1969, and named it The Gap in reference to the generational differences between baby boomers and their parents.
When it first opened, the Gap mainly sold Levi’s jeans, tapes and records, and it flourished in 1970s as consumers snapped up its denim.
In 1983, the Gap hired Millard Drexler as president, and he successfully overhauled the retailer’s image from a seller of Levi’s and other denim brands to one of the most popular private-label apparel brands in US history.
But in the past decade the retailer has stumbled, hurt by aggressive expansion plans, rising competition and fashion mis-steps. Gap has been working in recent years to overhaul its operations, which now include Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta.
Most recently, the Gap chain launched a major denim campaign, offering jeans with better fits and higher-end styling in hopes of bringing back once-loyal customers who gravitated to more fashionable rivals.
In 1995, Fisher stepped down as Gap’s chief executive officer and in 2004 he stepped down as chairman of the board. He continued to serve as chairman emeritus until his death.
Fisher also served on the boards of trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This past week the museum announced plans to permanently house the Fisher Collection, one of the world’s leading private collections of contemporary art, upon completion of its expansion.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
RSS