The US-based apparel retailer, GAP Inc. has been reducing its store numbers from last few years and it is planning to close more of its underperforming Gap and Banana Republic stores.

The company currently have around 2,000 Gap and Banana Republic stores globally and is likely to close around 10 per cent of them.

Both Gap and Banana Republic brands have been struggling to cope with the declining sales in the recent years but are lagging behind from the so-called fast fashion retailers such as Zara, Forever 21 and H&M.

On the other hand, the retailer has announced that it will open around 270 Old Navy and Athleta stores in the next three years to capitalize on the brands’ growing sales.

“We’re now shifting our focus to growth. We will leverage our iconic brands and significant scale to deliver growth by shifting to where our customers are shopping,” GAP Inc. CEO Art Peck said.

GAP Inc. has expressed hope that Old Navy which generates about 50 per cent of the company sales will reach 10 billion US Dollar mark in the next few years. Athleta is also expected to tap the 1 billion US Dollar sales figure soon.

– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel