Homegrown Intermix is going Gap!
Earlier today, Gap announced the acquisition of Intermix for $130 million. That’s a lot of J. Brand jeans and Givenchy jackets. The deal opens the door for the casual-centric retailer to expand into the lovable luxury market.
Intermix currently operates 32 boutiques across North America, in addition to a dismal e-commerce site. One can only assume that Gap will quickly use their online expertise to make Intermix an e-commerce sensation.
Fashion insiders haven’t yet weighed in the deal but we can’t help from asking about Piperlime, which has never seemed to create a fashion identity that extends beyond Rachel Zoe’s style picks. We might go as far to suggest that Gap should rebrand Piperlime to Intermix and give the site a bit more of a fashion focus.
The Intermix stores on the other hand, will also need a bit of a fashion revival. Over the past few years Intermix has lost a bit of their cool factor while boutiques like Fivestory and Kirna Zabete have blossomed. For the retailer to remain successful it will have to continue to experimient with trends, which can perioutically mean a luxury misstep. Investors of public companies usually don’t like those. Perhaps we should coin that an InterGap.
