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First Congregational
United Church of Christ
S hop T a lk
How do some trendy clothing
when it comes to queers? Check
f simple, comfortable jeans and
khakis fill one side of your closet and
T-shirts are crammed into the other,
there is a very good chance you are a
customer of Gap Inc.
For many, Gap is a first stop for
clothes, but it does not stand alone. The
smaller Abercrombie & Fitch Co. chain
is part of Gap’s competition in both
men’s and women’s clothing, as is The
Limited— a company whose namesake
store sells only women’s clothing while
men’s apparel is sold under other
names. In fact, there is more to both
Gap and The Limited than many know; a
variety of other chains hide behind their names.
But how well do these three companies do
on gay and lesbian issues? Avoid letting anyone
else pull the wool or the “100 percent preshrunk
cotton” over your eyes— get the truth
I
1126 SW PARK AVENUE
228-7219
Mozart’s Requiem
Sunday, April 9, 10:25 a.m.
with orchestra and soloists
Palm Sunday
and gay men
and lesbians are represented there.
eslie Wexner opened The Limited’s first
store in 1963 at Columbus, Ohio’s Kings-
dale Center.
The company now has more than 5,600
stores and 13 retail businesses. In addition to
Limited stores, the company operates Express,
Lemer New York, Lane Bryant, Henri Bendel,
Structure, Limited Too and Galyan’s Trading
Company.
The Limited also owns more than 80 percent
of Intimate Brands, the company that operates
roughly 2,000 Victoria’s Secret and Bath &
Body Works shops. Wexner is the chief execu
tive officer of both companies.
Sales at The Limited, like at Gap, exceed $9
billion per year. Intimate Brands sales reach
almost $4 billion per year.
Despite repeated calls over several weeks,
Limited representatives never provided full
answers to questions for this article. One
important detail is known, however— domes
tic partner benefits are offered.
L
T
he unique name is more than a century
old, but the company is brand new. Now
focusing on casual clothing, the Abercrombie
Republic clothes in a recent issue of Out & Fitch of old focused on sporting goods.
The current chain, much smaller than Gap
or The Limited, is the result of the 1998 spinoff
n 1969 the first Gap store opened on Ocean
by The Limited of its 84 percent stake in the
Avenue in San Francisco.
company. The chain targets college students
Founders Don and Doris Fisher, who still
with its 180 or so stores. Its yearly sales barely
own about a quarter of the company, offered the
exceed the $800 million mark.
store’s customers jeans and records. The chain
While the company has a nondiscrimination
now operates 2,400 stores under several names
policy that includes sexual orientation, domes
in the United States, Canada, France, Germany,
tic partner benefits are not offered. But that
Japan and the United Kingdom.
could change.
It is no surprise that Gap also runs chains
“We’re only a year old as an independent
with names like GapKids and BabyGap, hut
some may he surprised that Banana Republic • company,” says spokesman Lonnie Fogel.
Abercrombie & Fitch has no gay and lesbian
and Old Navy Clothing Co. are also part of
employee group, but it does include a discussion
Gap. (The company is also testing a delivery
of
gay and lesbian issues in its diversity training.
concept and an intimate apparel shop.) Togeth
And the company has done some marketing
er, the chains snag more than $9 billion in sales
to
gay
men and lesbians through ads in Out
per year.
magazine.
The company has offered domestic partner
If one were to judge merely by the shirtless,
benefits since July 1995, says spokeswoman
all-American male models— linked arm-in-arm
Debbie Gardner.
and
smiling invitingly toward the camera— in
‘‘The reason we thought it was important is
the company’s ads, one might mistakenly
that we felt until that point our gay and lesbian
assume
its marketing is exclusively geared
employees had not been able to participate fully
toward gay men.
in our benefits program because it limited the
“The brand has quite a cachet in the gay
definition of dependent,” she says.
community,” Fogel concedes.
The company includes sexual orientation in
its nondiscrimination policy and discusses gay
■ GlP PLASTER writes far dozens o f gay and lesbian
and lesbian issues in its diversity training.
newspapers
and magazines. He also maintains a list
While there is no official gay and lesbian
o f queer publications at w ww.gayscnbe.com . He
employee group, the company has “one diversi
lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his partner, David.
ty resource group for all issues, Gardner says,
I
April 16, 10:20 a.m.
Procession from the park and
dramatic retelling o f the Passion
Passover Seder
Thursday, April 20, 6 p.m.
Reservations required
Easter Sunday
April 23, 10:25 a.m.
with trumpets and special music
Rev. Patricia Ross preaching
An open and affirming church
in the liberal Christian tradition
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