Old Navy and its parent company Gap Inc. took a massive loss after Old Navy went all-in on the so-called “body positivity” movement, offering extremely large and small clothing items.
Instead of cashing in on the feminist movement and earning praise for its apparent progressivism, Old Navy was left with clothing in only the extremely large and small sizes — and unhappy customers. A lot of unhappy customers.
“Analysts expect the company to report net sales of $3.44 billion, down from the $3.99 billion it reported in the same period last year,” a report from The Wall Street Journal said of a Gap Inc. report, which “showed the company’s latest quarterly results on May 26.”
The bad numbers have already triggered a “management shake-up,” the report noted.
“Old Navy set out to make clothes shopping more inclusive for women of all body types,” the Journal said. “It ended up with too many extra-small and extra-large items and too few of the rest, a mismatch that frustrated customers and contributed to falling sales and a management shake-up.”
Back in August, Old Navy started offering their clothing in sizes 0 to 30, and XS to 4X. The petite and plus-size departments were gone, instead incorporated with the rest of the clothing, apparently to be more “inclusive.”
“This is the largest integrated launch in the brand’s history and an important growth driver for the business for years to come,” Gap Chief Executive Sonia Syngaltold championed the move at the time.
“Soon after, however, Old Navy’s sales started to nosedive,” the Journal reported. “Last month, Nancy Green, the chain’s president and chief executive, stepped down after less than two years running the brand. Gap warned that sales for the spring quarter would fall short of expectations in part due to troubles at Old Navy.”
The Journal spoke to numerous customers who were frustrated with the sizing change, explaining that they were now unable to buy clothes that fit.
“I have to look through a lot of sizes and then my size isn’t available,” one woman said.
“They mostly just have larger sizes and sell out of the small sizes,” another female shopper. “It is super-frustrating.”
Old Navy is certainly not the only company to try to ride the woke wave and fail.
The Daily Wire noted last month that Netflix reported the streaming service “lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 while bracing for 2 million lost subscribers in the second quarter. Shares of the company dropped more than 20% in after-hours trading.”
Netflix has routinely branded itself as racially and sexually woke, turning off some customers.
In one example offered by The Daily Wire, Netflix in October 2020 “began creating a show about the life of Colin Kaepernick — a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who gained notoriety for kneeling during the national anthem, as well as later suggesting the NFL draft bears a resemblance to slavery.”
In the fall of that year, “subscription cancellations soared by 800% amid reaction to the company’s release of ‘Cuties’ — a French film that depicts pre-pubescent girls in sexually provocative situations,” The Daily Wire added. “Netflix defended the film as a ‘social commentary against the sexualization of young children.’”
Related: Tuned Out: Netflix Shares Plunge As Subscribers Flee; Elon Musk Blames ‘Woke Mind Virus’