THE INSIDER: PATRICK ROBINSON

My jeans cost less than my cool cred. A lot less.

Things you might not know about the eternal style fountain known as The Gap:

*It was founded in August 1969, almost forty years ago.
*The original Gap store, in San Francisco California, sold denim and records.  That's it.
*Starting this August, it'll have more denim - for $69 or under.

We spoke to Gap's creative director, the designer Patrick Robinson, about the latest jean scene.

Denim seems pretty constant at The Gap.  How is it being relaunched?  I've been here for two years - two years almost exactly.  And what I've been doing is going through everything - women's bras, t-shirts, literally everything - and revamping it to make it more current.  Denim has taken the longest to relaunch - almost a year - because I won't launch it until it's right.  And getting it right takes years.

What's different about the new Gap denim?  It's from premium factories.  This is the fabric of $200, $300 jeans, and we're making them for much less.  We've also been really picky about the details - the buttons, the rivets, we lined some of the women's jeans in blue oxford cloth because to me, Gap is that basic blue.  The quality here is really perfect.  I didn't want to do it unless it was perfect.

Did you visit the factories?  Better.  I flew all the head sewers from our factories to my design studio in New York.  We had a week-long workshop where I showed them how I wanted everything to be sewn.

Are you doing more shoes with Pierre Hardy, the Balenciaga cobbler?  Absolutely.  They're a few different colors, in suede.  But I covered them in denim in the photos to show off the jeans.

You're a guy, selling millions of jeans to women.  Is there a secret?  Just listen, really listen to people! And make sure when you hire people for your design team, that they listen, too.  Also, really, let's be honest, it's all about the ass.

Yes.  You can play with flare, boot cut, skinny, whatever, but that's kind of a ruse. The real thing that matters is, do these jeans lift my ass?  Do these jeans temper my thighs?  If you have that, you're good.
--FARAN KRENTCIL






This story was published on April 21, 2009.