Gap targets menswear and athleisure with its first new brand in a decade

Gap Inc broadens its brand portfolio for the first time in a decade. The American clothing retailer, fourth biggest apparel distributor worldwide by turnover, has launched Hill City, an activewear brand through which it hopes to capitalise on the athleisure wave.

The premium sportswar label is aimed to be a male version of Athelta, the women’s brand that Gap acquired in 2008 and offers yoga pants and sport bras, among other products. Hill City’s first collection will be available in October, initially only sold through its own ecommerce site, as well as in around fifty Athleta stores.

Until now, the American company had just attacked this market market segment with certain products traded in Gap and Old Navy stores. At the helm of Hill City the group has placed Noah Palmer, who explained that men’s activewear is the fastest-growing business category right now.

The first collection of Hill City will be launched in October through its own ecommerce site and fifty Athleta stores

“Hill City brings a new perspective to men’s apparel that is complementary to our iconic portfolio of brands and leverages the benefits of our uniquely scalable operating platform: from our supply chain, to e-commerce to customer relationships and data,” said Art Peck, president and chief executive officer at Gap Inc.

It’s been ten years since the company introduced a new brand to its portfolio. Gap initiated a diversification of the business in 1983 with the acquisition of Banana Republic and, in the nineties, it launched Gap Warehouse, which was renamed later as Old Navy.

Already in the new century, Gap launched Forth & Towne in 2005, a brand aimed at women over 35 years, which closed in a year and a half. A year later, the company acquired Piperlime, which went into liquidation in 2015. Two years before, in 2013, it bought multibrand retailer Intermix.