Gap founder Doris Fisher has died

Doris Fisher, who founded the US ready-to-wear brand Gap with her husband in 1969, died on Saturday. She revolutionized the way clothing is sold.

Fisher “passed away peacefully in San Francisco surrounded by her family at the age of 94,” the company said in a statement on Monday. She leaves behind three children, ten grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

The Stanford graduate founded The Gap after a frustrating shopping trip where her husband Donald couldn’t find jeans that fit. She found the name that referenced the generation gap and the youth she wanted to appeal to. More than 55 years later, the empire is worth $16 billion.

“The Fishers’ retail philosophy was to make shopping easy. Sizes were well organized and stores well stocked. Pants and shirts were stacked high (…) and there were numerous changing rooms,” points out The New York Times.

While her husband Don Fisher, who died in 2009, ran the business, Doris shaped a style and an image. This happened at a time when women were still rare in the business world.

The jeans, the white T-shirt, the safari jacket or the khaki sweatshirt: neat but casual ready-to-wear became available at moderate prices in outlets in the heart of US inner cities.

At the same time, the Fisher couple was involved in numerous philanthropic projects. As owners of a huge private collection of modern and contemporary art, they donated more than 1,100 works to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2009.

Doris was also involved in a network of public schools that aimed to create opportunities for disadvantaged students. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to these philanthropic projects.