CEO Mark Breitbard on How Gap Brand Sustains Momentum

What must Gap do to maintain its momentum?

The Gap brand is on a two-year run of positive comparable sales, stoked by a string of splashy, attention-grabbing marketing campaigns and collaborations, and encouraged by a store modernization program that is still in its early stages.

Going forward, two category launches will be key. Fragrance and accessories will be introduced in the fall of 2026 with the aid of some high-powered talent recruited last September. Reed Krakoff of Coach and Tiffany fame and currently with John Hardy and L Catterton, and John Demsey, the former Estée Lauder Cos. executive, have become Gap Inc. executive directors of accessories and beauty, respectively, essentially hired as advisers for strategic guidance. In addition, Deb Redmond, formerly with Nordstrom, became Gap Inc. general manager of beauty, and Michele Parsons, formerly with Kate Spade and Coach, became Gap Inc. general manager of accessories.

Gap is also counting on Gap Studio, designed by Gap Inc. executive vice president and creative director Zac Posen. Gap Studio is a more tailored and elevated collection — think trenchcoats, blazers and innovative, detailed versions of Gap classics.

And the store fleet will continue to be fine tuned. Nine locations were remodeled over the past year, including the stores on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood, Chestnut Street in San Francisco and Covent Garden in London. Elements of the redesign have been incorporated into more than 40 Gap stores, but many more locations need upgrades.

Entering the Flatiron store, up front is a phalanx of outfitted mannequins suspended from the ceiling. Large monitors project the current Summer Fridays collaboration. There’s a large denim shop in the rear; several oversized, round tables displaying knit hoodies and pants; a wide central checkout, and adorning the walls on the lower level are celebrity portraits from Gap ad campaigns past and present, including Parker Posey, Kiefer Sutherland, Lauren Hutton, Willie Nelson, among others. The store is easier to shop and Gap has made it simpler to compare fits and installed noticeably more impactful visual merchandising to encourage outfitting. Categories are clearly delineated, like with the separate hoodies and sweats area.

“It’s been three years of playing offense,” Mark Breitbard, president and chief executive officer of Gap Inc.’s namesake division, told WWD in an exclusive interview. “We want the stores to look better. We like the team, the fleet and the product. We just have to operate with more consistency, with big product ideas, buzzy collabs and marketing that’s storytelling – and that’s what we’re delivering.”

He said garment quality has been improved “particularly in destination categories like denim, sweats and Ts, but denim and sweats have been two big category movers for us.”

Decades ago, Gap was dominant in denim. The brand now seems to be recapturing lost market share, which Breitbard attributed to novelty, newness, response to trends, storytelling and affordable prices. Gap jeans, typically priced around $80 to $90 and often discounted, he said are comparable to other jeans brands priced $150.

“We were very early with loose, barrel and horseshoe fits. We had a low rise pretty early in the cycle in fall ’25 so we will continue to innovate on denim and bottoms.”

Breitbard maintained that Gap is winning back customers, and has become relevant again, even cool. “We’re seeing much progress on improving the relevance of Gap through social media. Our ‘Better in Denim’ campaign smashed almost every record, with more than 8 billion impressions and 500 million views across platforms. We had 15 million Instagram views in 24 hours. We see the numbers. We are bringing a younger consumer back to the brand, and we’re still able to hold onto the current consumer. Those things tell us we’re on to something.”

According to Breitbard, roughly 25 percent of new customers come from Gen Z and that the customers shopping the collaborations skew younger, under 40. On average, 20 percent of those buying a collaboration product at launch add another Gap item to their cart .

Gap got to where it is today through some heavy lifting.

From 2020 to 2023, 350 stores were closed leaving about 470 standing. All the international markets got sold off or became joint ventures. And 25 percent of the stock keeping units were cut, leaving room to “invest in quality,” Breitbard said. There were some misfires, including the Yeezy collaboration with Kanye West. It was a 10-year deal that lasted two years due to a contract dispute and West’s antisemitic remarks.

But by 2023, things started to click. It was the first year to show a return to positive comps. There were collaborations with The Brooklyn Circus and LoveShackFancy. CashSoft, a proprietary yarn with the feel of cashmere but not the price of it, was introduced.

In 2024, Gap launched two successful campaigns, “Linen Moves” with South African pop star Tyla alongside British electronic music group Jungle, and “Get Loose,” which starred pop artist Troye Sivan and featured baggy jeans. Dance has been a big component in the marketing.

“Years 2023 and 2024 set us up for 2025 which has been just an epic year,” said Breitbard, which he attributed to “focused product campaigns, buzzy collabs, and great relevance building.”

Gap brand’s third-quarter net sales of $951 million were up 6 percent from a year earlier. Comparable sales rose 7 percent — the eighth consecutive quarter of positive comps. In 2024, Gap brand generated $3.3 billion in sales, which was flat versus 2023, though comparable sales rose 4 percent.

Some people have suggested that Gap has easy comparisons and is coming off a low base. “They would be incorrect,” Breitbard said. “We’re running comps on top of comps now. There’s no easy comparison anymore. Now it’s just about pure momentum.”

And Breitbard said there’s more to come.

“We have great ideas in 2026 to continue this momentum,” he said. “We’re in the zone right now — big product ideas, great storytelling, buzzy collaborations, in a way that’s driving relevance. For me, it’s just about a continuation of that.”

Gap’s beauty launch next year starts with fragrance. “We’re working on an actual launch,” which should happen around midyear. With accessories, “We haven’t called out a time, but that will be in the back half” of 2026.

Asked if Gap will get deeper into the beauty business beyond fragrance, Breitbard said: “We’re still sort of paving the path. Fragrance is first. We have history there.” Old Navy, another Gap Inc. division along with Gap, Athleta and Banana Republic, is expected to be quicker in rolling out beauty.

With modernizing stores, “This year was about experimenting, but we want to have more stores that you’ll see with the new store design and new details. And then, of course, product campaigns including denim and sweats and ‘collabs’ continue.”

After years of slumping sales and customers turning away, Breitbard was asked if Gap brand has finally been turned around, but it’s an expression he prefers not to use.

“Well, it’s a new day for Gap brand — 2025 has been a year of relevance, and quite frankly, it’s been a fairly epic ride. I just look at consistent results in growth and share. And we’ve got eight quarters of it. It’s our third year of positive comps. So we’re really delivering. We’ve been driving really solid comps and taking market share. So I don’t ever want to call it like, ‘We’re here,’ because our work is never done, and it feels still like early innings, but we’re developing a consistency, a strong track record with the consumer, and by all accounts, relevance is improving. We’ve got a really strong playbook with big ideas and brand relevance and storytelling we’re sticking with.”

Asked if Gap brand make a profit, Breitbard replied, “Absolutely. Gap brand is a critical part of the Gap Inc. story, in brand relevance, in driving comps, in profitability — in every regard.”