Gap Branding: Lessons in Mastering Brand Partnerships

When you think of Gap branding a series of words may come to mind: classic, denim and…old?

Due to Gap being a long standing brand, developing in the constantly changing space of fashion can cause brands to do one of two things: set trends or fall behind.

As both new trends emerge, so do brands that help to fill in those gaps (no pun intended). The fashion industry has become increasingly accessible for designers as well as consumers due to social media and other avenues. 

At the start of the fashion industry it was mainly the designers and brands dictating all of the trends but with social media merging the worlds of consumers and brands, customers now have more of a say than ever.

Because of this, many brands find themselves having to cater to their respective audiences even more than ever and if they fail to do so, they will see a quick decline in sales since there are so many clothing brands for people to pick from. 

Gap is a brand with a long history and an even longer standing in the fashion industry. What does it take to stand the test of time?

Getting to Know Gap

Gap is a clothing brand that has been around for the past 55 years. Founders Don & Doris Fisher opened their first Gap store back in 1969. In a matter of years the brand rapidly grew, starting out as a small store to the now widely recognizable brand that it is today. 

Even though Gap’s presence has gone on to grow and change, the foundation of the brand has not. 

Gap branding still prides itself on being a company that creates essential pieces for both the everyday consumer as well as those who vow to be more environmentally conscious when making their fashion purchases.

With their blend of sustainability and quality key pieces, the brand has been able to establish itself amongst retailers early on. 

As we know, the fashion industry is constantly changing, even more so now that a lot of the space is meant to cater to online consumers as well. Like many other OG brands, Gap has had to find different ways to be able to pivot its image to the current consumer.

Having already solidified such a strong brand image, attempting the typical rebrand wasn’t the right fit for them, as shown by the customer outrage of their logo change back in 2010. 

Learning from this mistake, the brand has discovered a way to evolve without butchering their brand through the usage of partnerships.

What is a Brand Partnership? 

A brand partnership is a marketing technique that is also referred to as co-branding.

A brand partnership is a collaboration between two or more companies to create or promote products or services. There are different types of brand partnerships, each kind providing various benefits that are dependent on what your company is trying to achieve from the partnership. Types of brand partnerships include:

• Affiliation partnerships 
• Loyalty partnerships
• Content partnerships
• Distribution partnerships
  
  
• Sponsorship partnerships~occurs by sponsoring a product through an event, celebrity, media outlet or seal of approval 
• Charity partnerships
• Product placement partnerships
  
  
• Licensing partnerships~when a company allows other businesses to produce goods using its brands, such as logos or intellectual properties. 
• Influencer partnerships 
  
  

• Joint product partnerships~when 2 companies collaborate to create a new product, they form a joint product partnership 

The types of brand partnerships that we’ll be primarily focusing on in this article are joint product partnerships, sponsorship partnerships and licensing partnerships. In late summer/Fall of 2024 Gap branding has utilized these 3 types of brand partnerships to assist in reshaping their image. 

Gap’s 2024 Brand Partnerships

Brand partnerships can be used by companies for a variety of reasons from product launches, special events or limited collections.

While why a brand chooses to participate in a partnership may differ, the ultimate goal of a lot of these deals is to increase the brand’s image and to create buzz. 

Many fashion brands tend to follow the seasonal trend cycle with the intent of launching a new collection, items or campaigns around each season change.

Gap followed suit in wanting to launch something new for consumers this Fall season, only doing this time using this opportunity to partner with some different brands.

Most of Gap’s past collaborations have been with brands whose image hasn’t differed too far from their own classic, mature and timeless line such as Dapper Dan and Dôen. 

This new series of collaborations takes the previous Gap branding of being a more mature, older brand and adds a more colorful twist on what adult wear can look like.

The recent Fall collaboration with companies and figures such as Disney, Cult Gaia and Troye Sivan, breathed a new life into gap branding to align their image with a more young adult audience such as customers in their early 20’s.

All the collaborations seem to be aiming at the young, cool and even edgier fashion crowd. 

Troye Sivan X Gap Partnership

The catalyst to this launch occurred this past August, Gap debuted the start of its fall campaign with the commercial titled “Get Loose” starring Pop artist, Troye Sivan.

The commercial also features viral song “Funny Thing” by Thundercat, the song has been popular for a while but especially blew up on Tiktok due to several previous dance trends.

The commercial itself involves Sivan and multiple dancers decked out head to toe in Gap’s signature pieces of denim, crispy tanks and t-shirts as well as button downs as they all break out in dance.

The commercial is fun, light and very classic Gap as they did commercials similar to this style in the past. 

The campaign was a promotion for its denim with the tagline of “Free yourself from expectations. And dance outside the lines. Big jeans, for big moves — for everyone”.

With Sivan’s recent rise in fame this past summer due to his “Sweat” tour with Charli XCX that took over many people’s TikTok due to the brat summer trend, he was a perfect choice to bring in for Gap’s new target audience.

This commercial is an example of a sponsorship brand partnership due to the usage of Troye Sivan’s stamp of approval to promote these jeans. 

Gap X Disney Partnership

The next collaboration Gap launched was with Disney on September 21 of this year. Gap and Disney have had a long standing relationship and have collaborated in the past so they decided to bring it back.

The house of mouse is known by everyone and beloved by many of various different age groups. 

This collection provided items with a college-like feel and design, featuring pieces such as sweatshirts, hoodies and baseball caps with Disney icon Mickey Mouse on them.

This campaign launch is a perfect example of a licensing partnership, due to Gap getting the chance to use Disney’s likeness.

With this collab having a more family friendly approach while also appealing to the magic of the Disney brand, this created the opportunity to showcase a more playful side to the gap branding that we don’t typically get to see. 

Newest Fall Collaboration: Cult Gaia X Gap

Gap’s most recent brand partnership was with LA based brand, Cult Gaia. This collaboration has to be one of Gap’s most highly anticipated ones due to the popularity of the Cult Gaia brand as well as the image that they have. Cult Gaia is widely known as a stylish, edgy brand. 

This collection was released on October 8, 2024 launching a series of fall staples such as a suede trench coat, sweaters, denim and a Gaia twist on the Gap sweatshirt.

This collaboration helps reimagine Gap’s staple items into an edgier, more chic look catered for the fashion girlies of the world. 

Collaborating with Cult Gaia allowed Gap to tap into a different consumer base that may not have previously considered Gap as a shopping option for them before. Gap was truly able to benefit from Cult Gaia’s strong image to draw in a younger, more fashion conscious consumer to their brand.  

3 Tips to Master Brand Partnerships

With each of these brand partnerships, Gap has provided us with 3 big takeaways on how to create effective and authentic brand partnerships. 

Tip #1: Know Your Brand & Its Goals

Being knowledgeable about your brand is the key to being able to create a brand partnership that is truly representative of your brand.

With this in mind, you can then ask yourself about what your brand's goals are for this partnership. Is it to promote a product launch? Or maybe it's for an event? Whatever it is, always choose partnerships with both your brand images and your goals in mind. 

Tip #2: Keep your Target Audience in Mind

When creating your brand partnerships you have to consider who you are trying to get to engage with this partnership.

For some, your target audience may be very similar to your base audience or it could even expand a little. Keep the demographic in mind because this will help guide you in picking which brands, influencers or other companies to collaborate with. 

Tip #3: Pick a Brand That Matches Your Energy

Like any relationship, you wanna make sure that you both are vibing. Carry this same standard when choosing brand partnerships! Just like how you wouldn’t date someone that you’re not compatible with, don't partner with brands that don’t mesh with yours.

The perfect partnership is the secret to making an authentic campaign that will also have the chance to grow naturally. 

Conclusion

Finding the perfect partnership can take time but when you do, the pay off is so worth it. When going into brand partnerships, keep those 3 tips in mind to make the process smoother for you.

You can also take a page from Gap’s book and use partnerships as a way to not just promote your products but to also elevate your brand image and reputation. We hope this article helps you find the perfect partner for you and your brand!

Happy hunting ladies!

✍️ Written by Kendall Perminter