The Gap to chop 1,800 jobs in corporate shakeup to save $300M

Apparel giant the Gap will slash 1,800 corporate headquarters and field management jobs as part of a cost-cutting reorganization, the retailer said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

The owner of Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta said the layoffs “will improve quality and speed of decision-making, as well as creat[e] a consistent organizational structure” across its retail brands.

The cuts will save the Gap up to $300 million, the company said.

“We are taking the necessary actions to reshape Gap Inc. for the future – simplifying and optimizing our operating model, elevating creativity, and driving better delivery in every dimension of the customer experience,” Martin said in a statement. 

The job cuts by the San Francisco-based company come on the heels of the elimination of more than 500 corporate positions last September amid a decline in sales and profits.

“We’ve let our operating costs increase at a faster rate than our sales, and in turn our profitability,” Gap’s executive chairman and interim chief executive Bob Martin wrote in a memo to employees at the time, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The company has some 95,000 employees worldwide and nearly 10% work at the company’s corporate offices.

Its struggles were exacerbated last year when Gap ended its two-year partnership with Kanye West – who has legally changed his name to Ye –  shortly before the rapper’s anti-Semitic rants.

Gap’s shares were up less than 1% to $9.42 on Thursday.