Old Navy, an American leading fashion retailer, has fallen behind on current fashion trends due to its quest to reduce freight costs and improve delivery times by relying more on air freight.
Delays have caused the typical 12-week pipeline for core categories to be extended, which has significantly limited the brand’s responsive abilities.
Excess inventory was exacerbated further by lower-than-expected demand for the retailer’s size-inclusive line.
Old Navy will reduce its inclusive size selection and has already cancelled a significant portion of extended sizes for Q3.
The retailer expects to improve its inventory assortment in the fall and in time for the holiday season as it is leaning on technology to make operations more efficient and speed up the production process for the long term.
“We have updated the marketing mix across channels to better reflect extended sizing as a percent of the total business,” said Sonia Syngal, CEO, Gap Inc.
“While we’re clearly disappointed in the near-term headwinds and transitory factors impacting our business in the short-term, we are confident in our strategy for the long term,” she further added.
