Don Fisher Dies

[thatsrightimirish]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Donald G. Fisher, who founded clothing retailer Gap Inc., has died at age 81 after a long battle with cancer
The company said Fisher died at his home in San Francisco on Sunday morning.

After struggling to find jeans that fit, Fisher and his wife opened their first store in 1969 in San Francisco, selling jeans and music under a name based on the idea of "The Generation Gap." The simple style that became the namesake brand's trademark resonated with shoppers and took off quickly.

A former real estate developer with no previous retailing experience, Fisher initially anticipated maybe "as many as 10" stores. But Gap grew to be one of the nation's largest specialty retailers with more than 3,000 stores in over 25 countries.

Gap Inc. now also operates the Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta brands. It became a publicly traded company in 1976 and reported sales of $14.5 billion in its 2008 fiscal year."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/27/financial/f134154D88.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0SLP239Jn


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/27/financial/f134154D88.DTL&tsp=1

[BumRushDaShow]

1. The store has become a cultural icon.

Didn't realize the origin of the name...

R.I.P.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. sweatshop labor kingpin

no tears

[bettyellen]

3. they do more factory audits than anyone in the apparel business, and electronics, home furnishings

just as dirty and no one says shit about it. Not a peeep about other product categories. why is that?

[truthisfreedom]

6. I'm always embarrassed by the amount of hatred in this forum.

It sets me on edge.

[Psephos]

14. You speak for me as well. n/t

[dr_aswan]

9. he did more good than bad

The chief object of Mr. Fisher's philanthropy was education. He was for years a financial supporter of Edison Schools, a for-profit company that contracted with local districts to run their schools. In 2000, he shifted his focus to the nonprofit Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, which then consisted of two charter schools.

KIPP now runs 82 charter schools nationwide, mostly in low-income, minority areas. The program has longer class days and school years than conventional schools and says 85 percent of the graduates of its middle schools attend college. President Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan, has praised KIPP.

The Fishers gave the program its initial $15 million seed money and have donated more than $60 million over the years, said KIPP spokesman Steve Mancini. He said Mr. Fisher visited more than 50 of the schools and "was very passionate about meeting the students and learning what colleges they wanted to go to."

Mancini said the Fishers also contributed about $40 million to Teach for America, which recruits about 7,500 college graduates a year as instructors in needy schools.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/27/BAR419TK7H.DTL#ixzz0SSPDe3Qm

[Vidar]

4. Oh well.

[Javaman]

5. I thought GAP and Banana Republic were filing for bankruptcy.

:shrug:

[bettyellen]

7. hell no, they own Old Navy and so are doing fine...maybe you're thinking of Macy;s?

[dr_aswan]

8. They are sitting on over 2 billion in cash.....

they are riding out the storm apparently sitting on a stack of cash...

[DeadEyeDyck]

10. RIP n/t

[newscott]

11. First time I went into a Gap they didn't have clothes that fit my size.

I've never been back.

[Trajan]

12. The clothes didnt fit on me ...

The bill didn't fit my wallet ....

[newscott]

13. I don't know aobut the bill

But I remember that all the pants were small sizes and only ran up to size 38 waist. Too small for me.