(no subject)
So this might come as a shock to you, but I like the Gap again!
Again, you say? Well, in high school I rather liked the Gap because they came out with boot cut jeans for men which was nice because then I could stop wearing girls` pants. I eventually liked the Gap so much that after graduating high school, I took a job there. I only worked there a short time, but the boring work, nasty customers, ridiculous workplace politics, and what I eventually understood as plain clothes led me to hate the place. I never shopped there for some seven or eight years.
I always knew that the Gap was good for casual and work basics but for most of that period, basics were the last thing I wanted since I was more interested in damaged street fashion. But when my mind eventually turned towards work clothes, I was reading on The Sartorialist blog that the Gap recently got a new head designer and I was like `oh good, they certainly need him.` One day I had some extra time so I went to a nearby Gap store and looked around.
The stuff was still on the plain side, but slightly more upscale than I remembered. Trends come and go, of course, but the Gap`s greatest strength will always be their discount philosophy (and their best trick is moving everything around every couple of weeks so it always looks new). I would know since I worked there, but the Gap discounts everything at a furious pace. A new item sells for full price for maybe three weeks, it`s discounted 20% for a week or two, then 40-50% for another week or two, and then it goes even lower if somehow it doesn`t sell by then. If you keep a wary eye (or if your timing is just lucky), you can get some nice things for almost nothing. How can they discount things at such a rate? My guess is that it`s overpriced to begin with.
Anyway, I saw a pair of chinos discounted to about $20, and that`s nothing special, but for once the fit was wonderful! The fabric is decent enough that it doesn`t look cheap, but the fit is great and the legs are thin as pencils. Five or ten years ago, I would never have expected the Gap to have such a drastic cut, but this must be the work of the new designer that they needed so badly. Anyways, that kept me coming back and I`ve gotten a number of items from there since then.
Another change that I`ve seen in the Gap recently is the quality and price of some items. Before the overall quality was pretty blah throughout, but recently the move to slightly more upscale items means maybe 80% of the items are blah while 20% are actually kind of nice. The price goes up as well, with some items reaching almost $200. 5-10 years ago, only leather items ever got that high. Last year I got a couple of tailored jackets from that upper 20% and I look forward to wearing them for some years, but of course I didn`t pay full price for them because I watched them like a hawk and snapped them up when they hit less than $50.
(One important thing about being able to discern if something cheap is (or at least looks like) high-quality stuff is to know what *real* (and usually expensive) high-quality stuff looks and feels like. You can find this out by examining whatever high-quality items you have on hand or examining items still in the store. Look at how fine the stiching is or feel the weight of the fabric. The best of course would be to just buy only expensive stuff and be assured of a high level of quality, but not all of us can do that so having a good eye is valuable.)
One thing that hasn`t changed, sadly, is the inverse proportion of the staffs` knowledge of fitting and personal style to haughty self-importance because, watch out, they work at the Gap. I was looking at a navy blue, linen-blend tailored jacket when a `sales assistant` came over. Here`s our conversation:
SA: Would you like to try it on?
Me: Yeah, you got a Small?
SA: Are you sure? You`re pretty tall.
Me: (There are still people around that choose sizes by height?) I know my size.
(We move to the fitting room, I try it on and of course it fits because I know my size, but the sleeves are too long. I move to the tri-mirror setup thing.)
SA: Wow, the fit is perfect!
Me: It`s good, but the sleeves are too long.
SA: Shall I bring you a smaller size?
Me: (what, didn`t she just say the fit was perfect?) No, I can get it altered.
(Here I swing my arms in front of me to test the width of the shoulders and see if I have enough freedom. I have enough.)
SA: Is there enough freedom? Shall I bring you a larger size?
(Here I am astounded at her offering a larger size right after offering a smaller size for something that obviously fits and I wonder if she has the memory of a goldfish.)
Me: No, thank you. I`ll take it.
*sigh* I get discouraged sometimes that even in Japan guys don`t know their size, but at least I know that the blame partly lies with brainless `sales assistants` like the one I survived here. So if you shop at the Gap today, there are three things to be careful about: being aware of the discount schedule, knowing how to discern the level of quality of what you`re getting, and ignoring everything the staff says. If you`re smart, you can get a *lot* out of the Gap for not that much bucks.
Again, you say? Well, in high school I rather liked the Gap because they came out with boot cut jeans for men which was nice because then I could stop wearing girls` pants. I eventually liked the Gap so much that after graduating high school, I took a job there. I only worked there a short time, but the boring work, nasty customers, ridiculous workplace politics, and what I eventually understood as plain clothes led me to hate the place. I never shopped there for some seven or eight years.
I always knew that the Gap was good for casual and work basics but for most of that period, basics were the last thing I wanted since I was more interested in damaged street fashion. But when my mind eventually turned towards work clothes, I was reading on The Sartorialist blog that the Gap recently got a new head designer and I was like `oh good, they certainly need him.` One day I had some extra time so I went to a nearby Gap store and looked around.
The stuff was still on the plain side, but slightly more upscale than I remembered. Trends come and go, of course, but the Gap`s greatest strength will always be their discount philosophy (and their best trick is moving everything around every couple of weeks so it always looks new). I would know since I worked there, but the Gap discounts everything at a furious pace. A new item sells for full price for maybe three weeks, it`s discounted 20% for a week or two, then 40-50% for another week or two, and then it goes even lower if somehow it doesn`t sell by then. If you keep a wary eye (or if your timing is just lucky), you can get some nice things for almost nothing. How can they discount things at such a rate? My guess is that it`s overpriced to begin with.
Anyway, I saw a pair of chinos discounted to about $20, and that`s nothing special, but for once the fit was wonderful! The fabric is decent enough that it doesn`t look cheap, but the fit is great and the legs are thin as pencils. Five or ten years ago, I would never have expected the Gap to have such a drastic cut, but this must be the work of the new designer that they needed so badly. Anyways, that kept me coming back and I`ve gotten a number of items from there since then.
Another change that I`ve seen in the Gap recently is the quality and price of some items. Before the overall quality was pretty blah throughout, but recently the move to slightly more upscale items means maybe 80% of the items are blah while 20% are actually kind of nice. The price goes up as well, with some items reaching almost $200. 5-10 years ago, only leather items ever got that high. Last year I got a couple of tailored jackets from that upper 20% and I look forward to wearing them for some years, but of course I didn`t pay full price for them because I watched them like a hawk and snapped them up when they hit less than $50.
(One important thing about being able to discern if something cheap is (or at least looks like) high-quality stuff is to know what *real* (and usually expensive) high-quality stuff looks and feels like. You can find this out by examining whatever high-quality items you have on hand or examining items still in the store. Look at how fine the stiching is or feel the weight of the fabric. The best of course would be to just buy only expensive stuff and be assured of a high level of quality, but not all of us can do that so having a good eye is valuable.)
One thing that hasn`t changed, sadly, is the inverse proportion of the staffs` knowledge of fitting and personal style to haughty self-importance because, watch out, they work at the Gap. I was looking at a navy blue, linen-blend tailored jacket when a `sales assistant` came over. Here`s our conversation:
SA: Would you like to try it on?
Me: Yeah, you got a Small?
SA: Are you sure? You`re pretty tall.
Me: (There are still people around that choose sizes by height?) I know my size.
(We move to the fitting room, I try it on and of course it fits because I know my size, but the sleeves are too long. I move to the tri-mirror setup thing.)
SA: Wow, the fit is perfect!
Me: It`s good, but the sleeves are too long.
SA: Shall I bring you a smaller size?
Me: (what, didn`t she just say the fit was perfect?) No, I can get it altered.
(Here I swing my arms in front of me to test the width of the shoulders and see if I have enough freedom. I have enough.)
SA: Is there enough freedom? Shall I bring you a larger size?
(Here I am astounded at her offering a larger size right after offering a smaller size for something that obviously fits and I wonder if she has the memory of a goldfish.)
Me: No, thank you. I`ll take it.
*sigh* I get discouraged sometimes that even in Japan guys don`t know their size, but at least I know that the blame partly lies with brainless `sales assistants` like the one I survived here. So if you shop at the Gap today, there are three things to be careful about: being aware of the discount schedule, knowing how to discern the level of quality of what you`re getting, and ignoring everything the staff says. If you`re smart, you can get a *lot* out of the Gap for not that much bucks.