Gap fashions are a flop

Nasty headline, huh? But it's not mine, it was on this Bloomberg article that ran in several papers.

Gap has apparently tried to copy H&M and Target, by getting some big fashion names to design for them. Unfortunately, nothing much happened.

Cynthia Sanner got to Gap Inc.'s New York store on Fifth Avenue two hours before it opened Friday to make certain she would get one of French designer Roland Mouret's dresses made exclusively for the clothing chain.

She needn't have bothered. She stood alone for an hour and 20 minutes before being joined in line by two other shoppers. "I was shocked," said the 35-year-old personal assistant from New York. "I thought it was going to be a mob scene."

Of course, that may be because Gap forgot to promote:

Unlike Stockholm-based H&M's treatment of its designs, Gap didn't display Mouret's name in stores or windows or even on the clothing. "It's missed execution," said Mark Montagna, a New York-based CL King & Associates analyst who rates Gap "underperform."

Oops.