The Gap's Fall clothing line has been put together with a different point of mind. Gift giving. What Gap hopes is that you will fall in love with their clothes and buy items for your friends for the holidays. Forget socks and gloves in your Christmas stocking, look for sweaters, jackets and skinny cargo pants.
The new strategy takes into account the buyer's personal relationship with the product in the store, so it's not just about designing clothes that would make good gifts for others. For Robinson, it's deeper than that.
Banana Republic is also combining a mix of dressing down and dressing up: The new style will see you team up and evening dress with a sweater.
So long as its all affordable the new style will sell, but make it out of reach and people will be more inclined to buy a few new accessories to dress up, or down, the wardrobe they already own. With recent shopping figures not meeting expectations, the recession is hardly going to change overnight and have shoppers spending money they can't repay.