Gap, Inc. New understanding of gender marginalization sparks new calls for bold brand reinvention

The need: Gap Inc.’s business was largely organized into apparel for males and females. As gender expression became more fluid, the company’s commitment to being “Inclusive by Design,” illuminated the need to evolve the business – product, marketing and experience – to meet the needs of customers across the spectrum. All the major brands in the portfolio--Athleta, Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy--got behind the push to learn more about the experiences of gender non-conforming individuals and parents whose children are gender non-conforming.

The approach: Using blended ethnography, we asked each research participant to find a live-in friend or family member to join our team to help with the on-the-ground research. Through their photos, video interviews, written responses, and our own on-site visits, IX opened up a connection from today’s “Inclusive by Design” mindset to the birth of the company in 1969--the very year of the Stonewall uprising--in which black transgender women stood up to claim their equitable place in popular culture. Our own video team presented a 20-minute documentary film embedded among other video clips, overarching themes, specific anecdotes, and general recommendations in one tidy deliverable.

The result: This was the “most human centered emotionally focused presentation I’ve ever seen at Gap Inc,” reported one VP. All brands are currently working to activate recommendations. The immediate reaction to this work also seems to have sparked a deeper commitment from the organization to understand intersectionally marginalized communities everywhere.