Banana Republic and Athleta launch on gap.co.uk while 20 Gap concessions open in NEXT

Banana Republic and Athleta have now been added to gap.co.uk to enable UK shoppers to access the three Gap Inc house brands under one digital roof. In addition, 20 Gap concessions have been opened in NEXT stores across the country. 

The gap.co.uk website sits on NEXT's Total retail platform and was launched as part of NEXT's joint venture with Gap Inc, established in 2021, to run the US giant's stores and websites in the UK. The Banana Republic and Athleta brands had previously been available in the UK via next.co.uk.

Banana Republic is Gap Inc's premium brand offering offering 'attainable luxury' and American classic styles with a modern twist. The brand had previously run eight stores, including a flagship on Regent Street, in the UK but these were closed in 2016. Its dedicated UK website was closed in early 2022 and the brand returned to the UK via the Next site a year ago.

Athleta meanwhile is a performance and lifestyle brand, which was first made available in the UK via next.co.uk in March of this year. If offers performance and lifestyle outfitting for women’s active lives and has exclusive collaborations with world-renowned athletes and influencers like gymnast Simone Biles and musician Alicia Keys.

"I'm so excited that we've added these customer-favourite brands to gap.co.uk. Banana Republic and Athleta enable us to show increased product choice to our UK customers. Both of these brands offer unique perspectives that will delight our already loyal customer base, while introducing new audiences to gap.co.uk," said Jon Jeffery the managing director of the Gap Inc-NEXT joint venture.

In the same week NEXT has introduced Gap concessions to 20 Next stores in the UK and Ireland offering a small edit of Gap logo classics. The concessions are located in stores including Cardiff Queen Street, Cheltenham High Street, Edinburgh Fort, Leicester High Cross, London Kew Retail Park, Newcastle Eldon Square, Belfast Donegall Place and Dundrum Dublin among others.

Since the JV was established NEXT has opened a number of Gap shop-in-shops in its stores including London Oxford Street, Manchester Arndale and Trafford, Glasgow and Thurrock. Earlier this year the first 'Gap Lite' concession was opened in Westfield White City.