Gap Inc.
February 4, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO – February 4, 2008 – Gap, with the help of influential fashion stylist Katie Grand, has partnered with British luxury handbag brand Mulberry to create a new version of Mulberry’s iconic Roxanne bag for the Gap (PRODUCT) RED™ collection. The bag was first released in the UK and Paris on December 1, 2007 to commemorate World AIDS Day, and was originally part of a collection curated by Katie, bringing together a diverse array of designers and creatives hailing from all corners of the fashion industry. The bag is now being launched in the US in time for Valentine’s Day. Incorporating Gap values of quality, desirability and accessibility, the Mulberry Roxanne bag has been reworked in sweatshirt jersey and will be available in both red and gray versions.
The limited edition bag will be sold beginning February 6th, 2008, exclusively at the Gap store located at 680 5th Avenue at 54th Street in NYC.
50 percent of profits from the sales of all Gap (PRODUCT) RED items goes to the Global Fund, to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, with a focus on providing antiretroviral drugs to women and children.
Katie Grand, the stylist and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed UK fashion magazine Pop, invited Mulberry, and other designers, to participate in a project teaming Gap (PRODUCT) RED with some of today’s most exciting designer brands and oversaw the creation of this new must-have product.
“Throughout my adult life I have seen the effects of AIDS at close hand,” says Katie, “So to be asked to curate this project with Gap and (RED) has been an honor and a privilege. It’s not very often you get the chance to take designers from fashion’s more exclusive areas and make them accessible to a wider audience through a high-street icon.”
Gap is one of the founding partners of (RED), a brand which raises money for the Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic companies to produce (PRODUCT) RED branded items. A percentage of each (PRODUCT) RED item sold goes to fight AIDS in Africa, where 4,400 people die every day from preventable AIDS, a preventable, treatable disease. So far, (RED) partners have contributed over $50 million to the Global Fund, with the money flowing to Global-Fund financed grants in Rwanda, Swaziland and Ghana.
About Gap Inc.
Gap Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Piperlime brand names. Fiscal 2006 sales were $15.9 billion. Gap Inc. operates more than 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Ireland and Japan. In addition, Gap Inc. is expanding its international presence with franchise agreements for Gap and Banana Republic in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. For more information, please visit gapinc.com.
About (RED) and (PRODUCT) RED
(RED)’s primary objective is to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds for the Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa. Companies whose products take on the (PRODUCT) RED mark contribute a significant percentage of the sales or portion of the profits from that product to the Global Fund to finance AIDS programs in Africa, with an emphasis on the health of women and children. Current partners are: American Express (U.K. only), Apple, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Motorola and Hallmark. MySpace.com is the first media sponsor in the United Kingdom and MTV Networks is the first media sponsor in the US.
Since its launch in the spring of 2006, (RED) has generated more than $50 million for the Global Fund. (RED) money is already at work in Swaziland, Rwanda and Ghana. For more information, visit www.joinred.com.
About The Global Fund
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a unique global public-private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing. The Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases. The Global Fund finances one fifth of all global efforts to stop AIDS and two thirds of global expenditure against tuberculosis and malaria.
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