oneparkavenuereality.com

Last week, I posted a YouTube clip addressed to Gap employees. The clip has since been taken down, by me, due to its shoddy quality and my rather shabby appearance.

In the clip, for the unfortunate who missed it, I mentioned that a Business Paper would be publishing an article on Piperlime. I did not lie.

On Friday, San Francisco Business Times writer, Sarah Duxbury, wrote an article about piperlime: Piperlime — the shoe fits, Gap wears it.

Most who you who visit the blog are familiar with the majority of the article. Here’s what’s new:

1) Piperlime will also be selling shoes from Taryn Rose & Mephisto.

2) Gap denies the site will launch on October 16th. Perhaps they are having delays. Who knows?

3) The site, as per Zappos, will be offering free shipping and free returns. (The domain ” werejustlikezappos.com” was the original site name, until piperlime saved the day

4) Alex Clark is the Gap spokesperson quoted. I think he might have been high while giving the following comment “”Now we’re able to dress our customers from head to toe, and that’s something they said they wanted.” Problem with this statement is that the Gap brand already sells shoes! Ooops

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. (Not sure who “they” is. But whatever.) Gap therefore should be feeling quite flattered. Either already. Or after someone from Gap Inc notices what has taken place.

Some basic background; Gap introduced the Skinny Black Pants. The ads featured Audrey Hepburn. Gap Inc has been ecstatic with the results of the concept/campaign. You can watch the commercial on YouTube.

Guess what Jcrew just introduced? None other than “the little black pants”. Screen shot below from Jcrew email below. Link to the page.

So many decisions. Do I want the black skinny pants, or the little skinny pants? Ms. Hepburn must be rolling in her grave.

Stay tuned for the next episode of “War of the Trousers”.

Gap will soon have a fifth brand. It’s about time they started a Gapincpedia! If only I had the time…

Anyways, here is the Toby Lenk entry on Wikipedia. Impressive that piperlime is mentioned.

Toby Lenk manages all the ecommerce business (and more) at Gap Inc. As an adult, Toby Lenk was CEO of eToys. As a child, his favorite toys were cowboy figurines and scuba G.I. Joe.

His entry could use some editing. If only I had the time….

Just some interesting Wiki gossip; there is (of course) an entry about Gap Inc. CEO Paul Pressler. However, his entry is clearly biased and harps on his Disney days.

A few days ago, Gap Inc reported their September sales. Link. These are the glamorous gleanings from the fiscal release:

1) Gap Product Red will hit stores in mid-October.

2) The Audrey Hepburn hype has been fruitful.

3) Overall, comparable stores sales decreased 3% versus last year. The previous year, sales decreased by 6%. So, essentially, this is good news. Sort of.

4) Banana Republic is the only brand with positive sales versus previous year.

So the question is; if comparable store sales are down by 3%, how are overall sales up by 4%?

The answer (at least partial) is that while physical stores sales are down, the online sales for Gap Inc. are up!

The audio and video are not in synch. Plus I am having a bad hair & face day year.

Hope you loves it!

A&F is making money. Their brand is hot. The naked models must be doing the trick. So Banana Republic is trying out the same tactic. Their homepage, bananarepublic.com, is littered with models in a state of nakedness. It’s a good thing BR is giving away $15K worth of clothing!

Why can’t Gap get their act together? Why do I need to point this stuff out? What do I mean? OK; on the Gap.com homepage, like I pointed out earlier, Piperlime.com is listed as a Gap Inc. brand. However, on the actual Gap Inc. brand page, their is not even a trace of piperlime.

Guys, how do you think this makes piperlime feel? Confused. Sad. Abandoned. Come on! Let’s keep it real and consistent!