The American clothing company Gap fired its CEO, Sonia Syngal, who took office two and a half years ago. Syngal has failed to revive the brand, which comes from years of declining sales and various attempts to regain the success it had in the 1990s, with several changes of CEOs. Specifically, Syngal is held responsible for some of the company’s poor choices during the pandemic, as well as the problems of the Old Navy chain, which is controlled by Gap and accounts for more than half of its total revenue (prior to Gap, Syngal had been for 4 years at the helm of Old Navy).
From the beginning of his tenure, Syngal had tried to cut costs and raise new capital to stabilize the company, but Gap was nevertheless affected by the crisis linked to the pandemic, which began shortly after his appointment. Syngal will be replaced temporarily by the company’s president, Bob Martin, pending a new CEO. Since the beginning of the year, the shares of Gap (which also owns the Banana Republic and Athleta brands) have lost more than half of their value, more than 70 percent when considering the last 12 months.
Gap is among the companies that have failed to adequately manage the supply chain after the various changes due to the pandemic, and that have found themselves with excess stocks of unsold clothing: it closed the first three months of the year with 34 percent more inventory than in the same period last year. According to some analysts, Syngal’s decision to increase the women’s sizes of Old Navy to make the brand more inclusive, which did not have the desired effects, also contributed to this. Another much criticized choice of Syngal had been to start a collaboration with rapper Kanye West to design a new line of sweatshirts, which would not lead to particular increases in sales.
– Read also: The story of Gap
–
