The gap is channeling a modern-day, Scandinavian minimalist aesthetic in its new menswear logo. Launched in October, Hill City promises to offer a mixture of stylish, high-performance wear for guys. With a mean rate factor that sits at around $80, the apparel stages from water-repellant chinos for $128 to insulated puffer jackets for $168. It is unlike something customers have visible from the corporation earlier than.
This emblem appears to flawlessly encapsulate the intentions of Gap and its newly fashioned organization, currently referred to as NewCo, which incorporates its better-priced, greater sustainability-targeted brands: Gap, Banana Republic, Intermix, Athleta, and, maximum recently, Hill City.
Meanwhile, its lower-price logo, Old Navy, is going out on its own to appeal to a special set of clients.
Hill City is an extra minimalist and cutting-edge look from Gap
Noah Palmer, formerly head of men’s merchandising at Old Navy and currently the head of Hill City, informed Business Insider that the new logo’s unique selling point lies in its ability to provide excessive-performance clothing that looks accurate, in the spirit of its tagline: “Men’s garments that get you thru all of the sports of your day while not having to exchange clothes.”
“There are a group of manufacturers which are doing game or high-performance definitely properly, but, as a patron, I don’t think they look very cool,” he said. “The fabric is truly techy, slinky, and noisy.”
Outdoorsy manufacturers have experienced a growth in the latest years, and today, you are as probably to see North Face’s excessive iciness jackets or a Patagonia fleece gracing the streets of New York City as you are to discover them at the backs of an explorer at the side of a mountain.
A spokesperson for Patagonia these days advised Business Insider that income has quadrupled in the past 10 years. However, it wouldn’t divulge genuine figures because it’s a personal organization. According to The Guardian, the enterprise had an expected $800 million in sales in 2016, which became twice as good as in 2010.
Similarly, The North Face, which’s owned through VF Corp., figure business enterprise of Lee, Wrangler, and Vans has visible growth in recent years because it has transitioned from being seen an in simple terms realistic logo to one which makes a fashion announcement.
As reported in its most recent earnings consequences, The North Face’s US sales grew by 15% for the sector and using eight% for the first 9 months of 2018 on a regular-forex basis.
Palmer stated that Hill City is bridging the gap among these high-performance brands, which have been visible as greater stylish in current years with extra lifestyle-focused clothing.
He said that greater lifestyle-centered competition is missing a number of the technical factors inside the garb that Hill City gives. Take its chinos, for example, which look fashionable enough to be worn for paintings but are absolutely water-repellant, or its bomber jackets that have lightweight and breathable insulation that promises to adjust body temperature whatever the climate.
But Hill City is getting into the market at a time whilst athleisure powerhouse Lululemon is doubling down on its menswear imparting. Recently, the organization introduced robust fourth-quarter and complete-year income results that sent its share rate hovering and showed that it’s miles on course to grow its newly fashioned menswear class right into a $1 billion commercial enterprise using 2020.
“Men’s is considered one of our largest and maximum thrilling regions of future growth,” Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald informed investors in March.
Palmer doesn’t seem to be too fazed by using this.
“There is a rising tide when you consider menswear, and absolutely everyone has a bit little bit of a one-of-a-kind vintage factor on it,” he said.
“From the beginning, we’ve seen our position in the market is pulling the ones opposite ends in the spectrum [lifestyle and performance wear] closer together.”
Read extra: Nike, Lululemon, and Gap need to coins in on a main trend of men being concerned extra about their look
While Gap does not expose the financials of its smaller brands, group CEO Art Peck stated in a latest profits name that comments for Hill City have been fine to date and that the enterprise has been able to take advantage of the thousands and thousands of customers that come to Gap’s primary e-commerce platform to deliver new eyes to the brand.
Menswear is the new womenswear
Palmer is possibly most excited by using a shift in the direction of guys normally spending extra on clothes.
“Men are being concerned increasingly more about what they wear and what it says approximately them. They are willing to spend more of their disposable earnings on apparel,” he said.
Business intelligence firm Gartner L2 anticipated that in just two years, a revenue increase of guys’ clothing would surpass that of ladies’ clothing. This record is sponsored up with the aid of Euromonitor International, which expected that men’s traces would outperform girls over the following six years.
“Fashion has constantly been about women,” Lizzy Bowring, catwalk director at fashion-forecasting organization WSGN, recently told Business Insider. “But guys are ultimately having their time.”
