Another brand is expanding in Canada! Athleta will be opening five new stores across the country this year.
According to Retail Insider, the Gap Inc. owned activewear brand will open locations at CF Chinook Centre (Calgary), CF Sherway Gardens (Etobicoke), West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton), 1035 Robson Street (Vancouver), and the fifth being the recent spot in Mapleview Centre (Burlington).
Even up until last year, Canadians weren’t able to even shop the brand online. Now, the e-commerce site is available as well as a few physical stores.
The Mapleview Centre Athleta is the third operating location in Canada right now, alongside one in Vancouver and one in Yorkdale, so by the end of 2022, there will be a total of seven.
It was first reported last year that Athleta has major expansion plans across North America, so it makes sense to see it making moves.
The best part is that Athleta prides itself on being size-inclusive and offering products created with sustainable materials.
It’s in fact a certified B Corporation, meaning it’s not only committed to reducing its environmental impact but also to using fair labour practices.
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Gap’s sustainable apparel brand Athleta will be entering Canada later this year. This will be the very first time that the activewear label for women and girls will expand outside of the USA.
The Gap-owned brand prides itself in creating products that are inclusive in sizing and made with sustainable materials.
As a certified B Corporation, Athleta is not only committed to reducing its environmental impact but also to use fair labour practices — two of their factories are even Fair Trade Certified™.
The first two Athleta store openings will be in Toronto at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Vancouver at the Park Royal Shopping Centre. These stores should be up and running by the fall of this year.
Plus, a Canadian e-commerce site for Athleta will be available too!
Mary Beth Laughton, the President and CEO of Athleta, said in a release, “International expansion is a key component of our growth strategy to reach two billion dollars in net sales by 2023, and we are very proud to introduce Athleta to customers in Canada.”
The expansion doesn’t stop there.
Athleta plans to open between 20 to 30 stores all across North America annually, which will operate alongside the 200 stores already in the United States.
The athletic chain will likely give fan favourite lululemon a run for its money and we’re interested to see how well it does in the Canadian market. So, be sure to stay tuned on StyleDemocracy for more news on store openings!
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The unexpected and anticipated collab with Yeezy and Gap is finally set to launch. The first half of the collection will be coming in 2021.
Kanye West first announced the multi-million dollar, 10-year deal with Gap in the middle of last year.
The affordable clothing line features a variety of colourful pieces, which is a different direction than the usual neutral toned Yeezy brand.
@ YZY GAP fitting pic.twitter.com/XHUJOY66dk
— ye (@kanyewest) July 17, 2020
In a behind-the-scenes video of the Yeezy x Gap collab fitting that Kanye posted, you can spot vibrant orange and yellow pieces, tie-dye patterns, and pastel hues.
This collection drop will follow the 228 store closures of Gap Inc. brands in 2020. Plus, the company also plans on closing another 100 Gap and Athleta stores across the globe in 2021.
On the other hand, around 40 new Old Navy stores and 30 new Athleta stores will be opening, as those are the Gap’s high-growth brands that makeup over 60% of their portfolio. The Gap Inc. stock has also gone up more than 102.8% in the last year.
With that being said, the good news is that it doesn’t seem as though Gap Inc. is in financial trouble, even with all of the closures.
There is no set release date that has been announced to the public yet, but we can expect to get our hands on the collection shortly!
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It’s looking like 2019 is not the year for retail because another heavy hitter has announced major closures.
Gap has just announced they’re closing 230 of their stores in the U.S and Canada
These new closures will be mostly in the U.S but some Canadian stores will be closed as well. Now it’s not every Gap store that’ll be shutting its doors forever. The closing locations will be the ones worldwide that are underperforming so there is hope for your beloved neighbourhood Gap store.
“We’re confident these closures will play an important role in revitalizing the brand,” the Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck said, USA Today reports.
Among this breaking retail news, this major shift has resulted in Old Navy becoming its own company. In case you’re unaware, Old Navy and Gap are sister companies. Robert Fisher, Gap Inc.’s Board Chairman said in a statement, “it’s clear that Old Navy’s business model and customers have increasingly diverged from our specialty brands over time, and each company now requires a different strategy to thrive moving forward.”
Here’s hoping someone can do the retail math to figure out what’s been happening these last few months because if this keeps up, where the heck are we going to shop?
Featured Image: Flickr
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Gap Inc. is struggling with its flagship company, as it continues the fight to stay on top. According to Retail Dive, the brand told analysts that it will soon be shuttering hundreds of its global Gap stores.
Right now, the company is seeing 20% of sales and growing online, and 30% in its most profitable outlet stores, while the remaining flagship stores are bringing down profits.
Instagram/@gap
Wells Fargo analysts told Retail Dive that this is “a positive step in the right direction” but that “Gap brand still has some very heavy lifting to do around rectifying their product issues.”
It seems shutting down stores won’t be a solution to their problem, but a response to the core issue, which is the product they have currently, isn’t doing as well as they’d hoped.
Gap has always struggled with producing a captivated and loyal audience, by extension worthy of a higher price point. In the end it’s actually the merchandise that’s to blame for their decline.
GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders said, “The repetitive dullness of a range that changes little from year to year has certainly reduced customer visits to stores, and it, along with high discounting, has likely damaged the profitability of those stores. So now Gap is having to shrink its business.”
For now, Old Navy, 0wned by Gap Inc., seems to be holding up strong and is continuing to expand stores.
Sauders said in a note emailed to Retail Dive: “The strength of Old Navy’s brand is evidenced by the fact that all categories and channels have benefited from growth. As well as driving more sales through existing stores, Old Navy has also benefited from an accelerated pace of opening which will see around 70 new shops added by the end of this fiscal year. ”
Overall, issues with the Gap brand remain but Old Navy continues to flourish.
Instagram/@gap
Featured Image: Twitter/@CoresightNews