Donald G. Fisher, who launched the Gap clothing chain 40 years ago and helped build it into one of the world’s leading apparel retailers, died Sunday of cancer at his home in San Francisco, the company said. He was 81.
Starting with a single store in San Francisco, Fisher and his wife, Doris, built the Gap into a brand name recognized around the world.
Gap jeans, khakis and T-shirts became a uniform for a generation of Americans.
A former real estate developer, Fisher switched to retailing at age 41 after he tried to return a pair of ill-fitting jeans to a local department store. Finding the store messy and its selection limited, Fisher decided he could do better.
With $63,000 in capital, the Fishers came up with a concept for a store that would feature a broad selection of Levi’s, neatly arranged by size in wall cubicles.
The Fishers opened their first store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco on Aug. 21, 1969. The name “The Gap” was suggested by Doris Fisher as a reference to the “generation gap” that was widening in America during the late 1960s.
The company expanded throughout the 1970s and ’80s. It added offshoot brands such as BabyGap, GapKids, Banana Republic and Old Navy. Fisher retired as chairman in 2004, and the company’s sales peaked that year at $16.27 billion.
