Gap Eliminating About 500 Corporate Jobs

Gap Inc. is cutting about 500 corporate jobs as the apparel retailer struggles with declining sales. The job cuts, which include open positions, will be primarily at Gap’s offices in San Francisco, New York and Asia, and hit various departments, a representative for the retailer confirmed Tuesday. The moves were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. This comes on the heels of last week's announcement that Kanye West, who goes by Ye, was ending his company Yeezy’s partnership with Gap after the rapper accused the retailer of breaching terms of their agreement. Ye said Gap failed to distribute Yeezy products at its stores by the second half of 2021 and did not create dedicated Yeezy Gap stores as promised.

Total Retail's Take: Like many other specialty apparel retailers with roots in brick-and-mortar retail, Gap Inc. has been challenged to evolve its business to meet the shifting demands of consumers. In addition, Gap Inc. has seen product assortment issues at its Old Navy banner eat into margins and drive up costs, had to deal with a void in leadership (CEO Sonia Syngal abruptly stepped down in July), and plan for the loss of its successful partnership with Kanye West. This is before factoring in challenging macroeconomic conditions and supply chain disruptions. Add all of those conditions up and it's not surprising that Gap Inc. is looking to cut costs through workforce reductions. How can the retailer recover, particularly with the pivotal Q4 holiday season approaching, will be the next question that needs to be answered.