Since 1969, this company has stood for equality. Starting with our co-founders, Doris and Don Fisher, who invested an equal stake when they opened the first Gap store, our commitment to gender equality is built into the very foundation of our company. With women making up over seventy percent of Gap Inc. employees globally and roughly 80 percent of garment workers worldwide, women have been vital to our success.
One way we live out this commitment globally is through our P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement) program, which was created in 2007 to invest in the women who make our clothes, their daughters and their communities. We’re proud to share this education and life skills training program has now reached over 200,000 women and girls in 16 countries! Women who complete the program report an increased level of confidence, as captured in third-party evaluation conducted by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).
Change comes from speaking up, and even one voice can inspire others to do so as well. That’s why our brands continue to share stories from P.A.C.E. participants, highlighting how one confident voice has the power to raise the voices of a whole community. And, this year for International Women’s Day, Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta and Old Navy are also helping to raise funds to support one of our primary nonprofit partners, CARE, through select product offerings and up to $135,000 in donations.
Check out below what each brand is offering to celebrate the women behind our clothes!
GAP
Gap has selected four women who today are raising their voices for other women, and put their inspiring words on our Forever Favorite tees, available globally. The tees were made in a factory that runs P.A.C.E. and a donation to CARE will be made in support of the program. The women we are celebrating through their inspiring messages are Noorjahan Akbar (@noorjahan.akbar), a writer, women’s rights advocate and founder of @freewomenwriters which raises women’s voices in Afganistan, Paola Mathe (@findingpaola), a Haitian immigrant and founder of headwrap company Fanm Djanm, and Tammy Tibbetts (@tammytibbetts) and Christen Brandt (@cjbrandt), the founders of @Shesthefirst, a non-profit dedicated to ensuring young girls around the world receive a full education.
OLD NAVY
Old Navy is offering a limited-edition collection of tees in-stores and on www.oldnavy.com with inspiring designs that read HERO, I’m With Mama, and wise, hopeful, mighty, authentic, kind, as well as a donation to CARE in honor of the amazing women who make our clothes.
BANANA REPUBLIC
Banana Republic is proud to introduce its first Equality Collection capsule, a limited-edition capsule of t-shirts and accessories with a portion of proceeds going to support the advancement of women and girls around the world. The Equality Collection styles incorporate messages of empowerment and authenticity, and range in price from $18.00 (accessories) to $34.50 (t-shirts), available in U.S. only. A donation of $5 from the sale of each item in this collection up to a maximum of $80,000 will be made to CARE from the on-sale date until April 25, 2019.
ATHLETA
Athleta is making a donation to CARE in support of P.A.C.E. to help open up new possibilities for the women in our factories to take charge of their lives.
INTERMIX
Intermix celebrates the many multi-faceted women we’re proud to call our designer partners, by launching an exclusive capsule collection featuring the works of 11 female designers. A portion of the proceeds from the capsule and a donation will go towards Vital Voices, a nonprofit that empowers women to lead change in their communities and around the world.