Gap Looks to Its Old Friend Levi’s as It Tries to Become Cool Again

Gap Inc. has gone full circle. The San Francisco-based retailer’s iconic namesake brand began selling Levi Strauss & Co. jeans in the late Sixties, and although that ended after two decades, its chief executive officer is once again looking at the retailer’s neighbor in the California tech hub as it tries to regain its coolness. Speaking at Gap’s annual general meeting, Gap Inc. ceo Art Peck told shareholders that while it isn’t often that a global company builds up a competitor, he is hoping that the struggling chain can emulate the success of Levi’s recent comeback. “What I see in Levi’s is proof that a brand can be brought back to life and be relevant and that’s what I hope for Gap,” he said, adding that a brand’s heritage, relevance and history are its greatest assets. Peck was no doubt referring to Levi’s meteoric rise over the past few years, which culminated in a blockbuster return to the stock market in March, with its stock jump 32 percent to $22.41 for an $8.1 billion valuation. On Tuesday the shares were trading at $22.25. The company, also based in San Francisco, saw its sales peak in the mid-Nineties at just over $7 billion and then nosedive

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