Found a cool new blog called The Origin of Brands Blog by Laura Ries.

In this post Laura touches on a few interesting points about The Gap. From the way that company started, to where it ended up today, and where it might be wise to look to in the future instead.

Back in 1969, The Gap was started by Donald Fisher and his wife. The Fishers opened their first store near what is now San Francisco State University. (The name referred to the generation gap.) The Gap catered to teenagers and sold mainly Levi’s jeans. A classic example of a focused brand (The Gap) using a great name (Levi’s) to lead a movement and in the process create a new category.

What do teenagers want most in life? Not to be like their parents. Parents wear pants and teenagers wear jeans. The store that supplied the uniform of choice (Levi’s jeans and t-shirts) to teenagers throughout the 70’s and 80’s was The Gap.

What happened next? You know what happened next. They expanded.

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The current problems at The Gap are due primarily to the watering down of the brand. When a brand tries to appeal to everybody, it suffers. And in a fickle business like fashion, you can easily miscalculate the next trend, which is exactly what happened in the past few years to The Gap.

You might want to check the actual post in full since it’s hard to summarize all the good points. That is, if you care about history of brands and marketing and that kind of stuff.