Independent retail investigationsIssue 01
Gap celebrated a cleaner balance sheet. Behind the victory were brutal markdowns, falling sales, workers absorbing the disruption, and no public unit-by-unit account of where the unwanted merchandise — and the cost of it — actually went.
Gap blamed empty shelves when product arrived too late. Months later it was drowning in inventory customers no longer wanted, forcing a cleanup that landed hardest on the workers and partners least responsible for the mistake. The pipeline failed in both directions.
Companies delayed broad price increases to protect demand. The bill moved inward instead — into margins, into supplier negotiations, and into a supply chain forced to reorganize under pressure while the workers inside it absorbed the shock quietly.
Executives talked about bringing production closer to home, about resilience and fairness in the supply chain. The sourcing value moved from China to South Asia instead, leaving factory workers across two continents to live with a promise that was never really kept.