The inspiration for this first jeans-only store came from Donald Fisher’s frustrations as a consumer: he was finding jeans hard to shop for, having to travel to several different stores to examine a variety of brands because no one location housed them all.
The retailer took its name in homage to “the generation gap,” a term popular in the late 1960s describing the intellectual, ethical, and social gulf between young people and their parents’ generation. was founded in 1969 by Donald and Doris Fisher as a single store staffed by a handful of employees. Yesterday, I heard this one: The GAP was started by a gay man and the name means Gay And Proud.Īlthough The Gap did begin in San Francisco, a city home to a large homosexual population and strongly associated with gay pride, its name has nothing to do with either of those coincident facts. Akin to the Troop Sport (“To Rule Over Oppressed People”) and Adidas (“All Day I Dream About Sex”) canards, the rumor about The Gap asserts that it drew its name from an initialization of the phrase “Gay And Proud”: Our “look good for good” program also includes in-kind donations and volunteering for groups such as Live-Out-Loud and GMHC.Once again the search for hidden meanings in the mundane has resulted in an interesting rumor about the supposedly acronymic origins of the name of a popular attirer. “Additionally, through this campaign we hope to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness. “Kenneth Cole works with and financially supports a number of organizations committed to equality throughout the year, including the Human Rights Campaign and the United Nations Foundation,” a Kenneth Cole representative said via email. When reached for comment, a Kenneth Cole representative said the company would not be donating proceeds from the sales of its 2018 pride merchandise, but noted Kenneth Cole’s contributions to LGBTQ organizations at other times. But there’s not much in the way of concrete details about how, exactly, Kenneth Cole lives up to the claim that it’s “been supporting equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community since 1993.” Kenneth Cole has a very splashy landing page for its rainbow-adorned leather sneakers and other pride merchandise. and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association internationally Dr. Organizations: GLSEN, PFLAG, the Trevor Project, Gender Spectrum, the National Center for Transgender Equality in the U.S. When reached for comment by Mic, Apple declined to elaborate further. In a press release, Apple said it would donate a percentage of the proceeds to a number of LGBTQ organizations, but did not disclose a specific amount.
The watchband is available now for $49 Apple Watch users can also download a matching pride-themed watch face. The new band features a slightly different design, with thin, rainbow stripes over a white background. This is the second time Apple has released a pride-themed watchband: In 2016, Apple gave some of its employees limited-edition pride watchbands, but later sold them to the public in June 2017, according to Mashable.
( Editor’s note: Mic will update this list as pride campaigns launch throughout June.) ConverseĪt a press conference Monday, Apple announced a brand-new, pride-themed watchband for its Apple Watch.
We’ve marked those companies with the universal sign of mystery: the shruggie. In many cases, companies actively decline to share how much they contribute. To help you be a more informed consumer, Mic has compiled a guide to companies that have aligned themselves with pride in one way or another, with detailed information on whether a brand is donating any proceeds to LGBTQ organizations - and if so, how much. A number of companies take things a step further for Pride Month, forging more meaningful partnerships with LGBTQ charities and organizations dedicated to addressing homelessness, mental health and other issues plaguing queer communities. Luckily, that’s not the case universally. In other words, companies often use the iconography of pride to foster goodwill with their consumers, but don’t actually do anything substantive to affect change. However, more and more brands in recent years have fallen prey to honoring Pride Month thoughtlessly, simply slapping a rainbow on a T-shirt, tweeting “love is love” and calling it a day. These often limited-edition collections offer a great opportunity for companies to make meaningful monetary contributions to LGBTQ organizations and help the most vulnerable people in those communities. June marks the beginning of Pride Month, a time when brands ‘round the world jump on the rainbow bandwagon and unleash their pride-themed merchandise.