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It’s almost here. Get ready. Gapshoe will soon be a reality. The Gap Inc. (Public, NYSE:GPS) has yet to specify when exactly the launch of piperlime will take place. I did mention earlier that October would be the month.

Now I know the exact day!

October 16th is the day. 2006 is the year. Get ready. This will be big. After all, this is the 5th brand by Gap Inc. And the only brand that will be online only.

I spotted the launch date in this press release (The Gap, Inc.’s new site piperlime.com (launching Oct. 16)) My guess is that this parcel of info was not intended for public consumption. Oops

My camcorder arrives before the 16th. No doubt, as promised earlier, I will be reporting alive, alert & awake from my….location.

The launch of gapshoe is soon. Gapshoe also goes by the name piperlime. In addition to hiring their competition, Piperlime has turned to stylist for the skinny, Rachel Zoe.

What is going the mind of The Gap Inc.(Public, NYSE:GPS)? Perhaps they are on the Rachel Zoe diet and have thus been deprived of food for weeks; hence their current state of awful decision making. Rachel Zoe is a respected amongst the celeb community. The rest of the world has either never heard of Rachel Zoe, or has read about her in a negative light.

These are two recent articles about Rachel Zoe; the Sydney Morning Herald wants to know if Rachel Zoe has an eating disorder. (Aussies are so damn polite.) And the Times Online: Fashion’s No 1 stylist, or just a great big zero?

BTW, Gap shareholders are about to make eight-cents. Rock on!

Just one that I know of. This is a wise move on Piperlime’s side. Remember, they will be going head to head foot to foot with Zappos.com. So, a former Zappos.com employee is always good to have on your staff.

Her role at Piperlime is the same at Zappos.com: Assistant Buyer of Footwear. (At Piperlime.com, she will be in charge of juniors footwear.)

Her myspace account has since been deleted. Google cache saves the day

First, to my peeps at Gap Inc: I wish you all a Shana Tova! May the coming year breathe new life into your brand. May Piperlime be a roaring success. And may your stores attract a desired demographic.

This week, Gap issued a press release regarding the forthcoming book release of ‘INDIVIDUALS: PORTRAITS FROM THE GAP COLLECTION‘. This is a nice initiative, after all it involves 1) myspace 2) fighting aids in Africa & 3) Sharon Stone.

However, Gap failed to check the facts before issuing this press release. Additionally, the tone of the PR reads like a solemn poem: Know who you are and be it. Celebrate your uniqueness with passion and conviction. Please, if you want the media to pick up on this story, so that you can gain free exposure for this project, don’t address the media as if you are a copy writer for a Neiman Marcus Spring catalogue.

The press release states that the paperback edition of the book, which will be available at Amazon.com, Borders & Barnes & Noble will retail for $35. Come on guys. Just check with these stores before signing off on the PR.

Amazon.com is selling it for $23.10 & Barnes & Noble for $28. Borders is the only store that might be selling it for $35. And Overstock.com will have it for $21. 95.

Petra, Russel & Carmen, at the Individual Launch

My gut feeling is that this is a positive development. They must be doing some serious work on the site.

 Firefox

Jagshemash. Piperlime.com, the shoe site emanating from Gap Inc., plans to go fully live within the next few weeks. The company needs an exciting launch idea. They need something or someone to generate buzz. I hope they realize that the average shopper is not familiar with Rachel Zoe.

So, who should they turn to? What should they do? I have just the right person. His name is Borat. His Wiki entry does not do him justice. Borat is a fictional character created by Sacha Baron Cohen.

Many people have fallen in love with this crazy persona. The fact that Borat does not really exist, would make his piperlime endorsement even more sensational. Look, a fake person sure beats a dead one.

Anyways, the Borat film will hit theaters in November. It has already caused a whole lot of stirring in the press. If Borat were to land an endorsement deal with piperlime (Gap Inc.), this will surely put this new company on the map. PLUS it would demonstrate how in-touch Gap truly is with their target audience. Dzienkuje.

That is the soup question of the day. First, we would like encourage the piperlime.com employees to keep up the good work. Yes, it’s not easy launching a new brand. But consider the bright side, at least your shoe company doesn’t have to deal with this.

Someone asked me which brands will piperlime sell? We will shed some light based on what we know…

1. The other day I covered that piperlime will be selling female shoes from Anyi Lu.
2. Today I discovered that Piperlime will also be selling children’s shoes from UMI. Although piperlime is proudly displayed on the UMI Shoes homepage, there is no piperlime mention under UMI Shops. Why? Because piperlime.com is not yet live!
3. In the press release announcing piperlime, Gap Inc. had this to say “The new business is expected to go online in time for the 2006 holiday season with a broad assortment of footwear offerings from designer to casual brands.
4. And finally, according to a Piperlime employee, piperlime will 1) be selling all sorts of brands. PLUS, she says that piperlime.com will go live in October!

If the title of this post gave you the jitters, then I can call it a day. Not. I am just a few blog entries away from hitting the big 200!

In general, the feedback I have seen from piperlime employees is positive. Good job. More on this at a later date.

Another thing. Microsoft is playing catch-up with Google in search technology. I noticed something positive, pertaining to piplerlime, that has left me impressed.

If you make a Google Image search for the term “piperlime“, there are no results. However, Windows Live Image search for “piplerlime” will yield 4 image results. Two from the piplerime.com site. The other two are from my piplerlime bloggings.

This is an encouraging sign for Windows Live Search. At least in my humble opinion…

Good afternoon. Let’s recap the basics. Piperlime.com is the new shoe site soon to be launched by The Gap Inc. (Public, NYSE:GPS). I was hoping for an immediately post-Labor Day arrival, but we will just have to remain patient.

Anyi Lu is a shoe designer. She has crafted “the power shoe for the fashion forward woman.”

Her foot-creations will be sold through piperlime.com.

While the Piperlime site has not yet emerged from the fetus, Anyi Lu’s-shoes are available for viewing here.

Earlier this we reviewed what the French are saying about piperlime.com. Today, we, me and my laptop, would like to inform you that the Germans are also aware of the new shoe site being hatched by The Gap Inc. (Public, NYSE:GPS)

As is common amongst Germans, the piperlime blog mention is direct and to the point. (Schnell Und Direct). Not like us Americans who enjoy to elongate a matter for no reason at all! The blogger simply states the facts and links readers to the press released issued by Gap.

At this point in time, I’d like to give a shout-out to my peeps at Gap Inc. who read my blog. Keep up the good work! Just to give y’all a heads-up on your future semi-competitors; DSW is launching their new rewards program. It kicks off on September 5th. A letter was mailed to all their customers on August 1st.

For now, DSW is still holding on tightly to their theory about not NOT selling shoes online.

There is much more to say about piperlime.com. But I will keep you waiting!