Banana Republic 2011 Annual Report Download - page 21

Trademarks and Service Marks
Gap, GapKids, babyGap, GapBody, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, and Athleta trademarks and service
marks, and certain other trademarks, have been registered, or are the subject of pending trademark applications,
with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and with the registries of many foreign countries and/or are
protected by common law.
Franchising
We have franchise agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap and/or Banana Republic stores in a
number of countries, including Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Guam,
Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Peru,
Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine,
United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Vietnam. Under these agreements, third parties operate, or will operate,
stores that sell apparel and related products under our brand names. We continue to increase the number of
countries in which we enter into these types of arrangements as part of our strategy to expand internationally. For
additional information on risks related to our franchise business, see the sections entitled “Risk Factors—Our
efforts to expand internationally may not be successful” and “Risk Factors—Our franchise business is subject to
certain risks not directly within our control and could impair the value of our brands” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K.
Inventory
The nature of the retail business requires us to carry a significant amount of inventory, especially prior to peak
selling seasons when we, along with other retailers, generally build up inventory levels. We maintain a large part of
our inventory in distribution centers. We review our inventory levels in order to identify slow-moving merchandise
and broken assortments (items no longer in stock in a sufficient range of sizes or colors) and use markdowns to
clear merchandise. Also see the section entitled “Risk Factors—We must successfully gauge fashion trends and
changing consumer preferences to succeed” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K.
Competitors
The global specialty apparel retail industry is highly competitive. We compete with local, national, and global apparel
retailers. We are also faced with competition in European, Japanese, Chinese, and Canadian markets from established
regional and national chains, and our franchisees face significant competition in the markets in which they operate.
Also see the section entitled “Risk Factors—Our business is highly competitive” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K.
Employees
As of January 28, 2012, we had a work force of approximately 132,000 employees, which includes a combination
of part- and full-time employees. We also hire seasonal employees, primarily during the peak end-of-year holiday
period.
To remain competitive in the apparel retail industry, we must attract, develop, and retain skilled employees,
including executives. Competition for such personnel is intense. Our success is dependent to a significant degree
on the continued contributions of key employees. Also see the section entitled “Risk Factors—We must successfully
gauge apparel trends and changing consumer preferences to succeed” in Item 1A of this Form 10-K.
Available Information
We make available on our website, gapinc.com, under “Investors, Financial Information, SEC Filings,” free of charge,
our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to
those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish them to the SEC.
Our Board of Directors Committee Charters (Audit and Finance, Compensation and Management Development,
and Governance and Nominating Committees) and Corporate Governance Guidelines are also available on our
website under “Investors, Governance.” The Code of Business Conduct can be found at gapinc.com under
“Investors, Corporate Compliance, Code of Business Conduct.” Any amendments and waivers to the code will also
be available on the website.
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