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Vol.22 : John Ermatinger (Gap Japan K.K.)
July 25, 2007
Niigata quake sparks calls for nuke plant safety review
Honda miscues delay Acura release
Markets prepare for coalition calamity
Writers embark on forestation campaign
Expanded coverage: Private sector must grab reform baton
khakis：カーキ色のズボン
headway：進歩
service requirements：サービス要件
reside：存在する
sales associates：店員
（ J: John, P: Peter ）
| J : |
When you think about the Gap brand, first, we are an American icon brand. We were the first brand to signal a shift in culture in the US and teach Americans how to dress casually both after work. What's changed over the last few years is the casual atmosphere has actually been embraced at work. And so the Gap mystique has actually carried on, not only in terms of the after work hours, but also is applicable for where to work as well.
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| P : |
Is that applicable nationwide in the US do you think or is it something that is more specific to - I don't know, people working in IT for example? |
| J : |
No, there has been a pronounced sea change over the last 10 years, Peter, in the US specifically. We used to wear a coat and tie 5 days a week and when the Gap brand showed consumers how they could dress respective to the work environment, it became a natural. People shed their ties and sport coats and they were able to wear sweaters and khakis and really nice pairs of jeans to work and it became acceptable. And, quite frankly, it's just more comfortable.
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| P : |
Do you see the same kind of change possibly happening in Japan? |
| P : |
To a smaller degree perhaps? |
| J : |
Absolutely and our Banana Republic brand, which is part of the Gap Japan family of brands, is making some real headway in that - this is a brand that has only been here in Japan for about 18-20 months, so we're fairly new with Banana Republic in Japan.
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| P : |
Is it that recent? I hadn't realized that. |
| J : |
Yes. Our whole premise in Banana Republic is really to share with both the female and male consumer that they can really look great with the assortment of products that we have for them, and that they can be comfortable, be professional, and its not only appropriate for the work environment but also when they go out after work.
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| P : |
Taste and clothes differ an awful lot from country to country, perhaps more with women's things than with men's things. And Japan has a very, I mean it has a unique look the young women like these days, which, I mean, my own daughter for example, when she goes outside of Japan to other countries, she finds a really, really big difference.
Now, for a company like Gap that is operating in multi-markets all the time, what do you do? Do you tailor your clothes for each market or do you - presumably you want to keep an integrated brand out there too, right?
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| J : |
What we do is, we take the essence of what North America provides us in terms of product creation. So we really take advantage of their inspiration and their direction. But one of the great things about having 200 associates here at Japan headquarters and over 5000 sales associates in our locations here in Japan - we are quite a local company in many respects. And so we're always taking that inspiration and we're twisting it and turning it and making it applicable and sensitized to the Japan consumer taste level.
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| P : |
So, the impression I get of service in retail stores in this country has changed quite a lot over the years. How do you see the level of service in Japan compared with, I don't know, say Hong Kong for example? Or the US? The US is going to be a lot different. |
| J : |
Well, I think it's very hard to compare Japan's service requirements with any other service requirements anywhere in the world. I think that the requirements here in Japan for service is so much higher...
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| J : |
...than anywhere I have ever experienced. It's one of the things we talk about often here. We have sales associates that have been in our system for over 9-10 years, some of them have been here since we've been here, which is a very, very fortunate asset to have, because of the service requirements.
And, we feel that it's a continuous improvement type of activity where those 4000 or 5000 sales associates in the store, we have to continue to train, we have to continue to encourage, we have to look for new and innovative ways to make them part of our brand.
A really good example of that is just a couple of weeks ago we ran a sales associate layering contest where we had 20 sales associates in 20 locations, set up blogs and they became stylists, and you could go on to their blog and you could see how they might put that dress together with a scarf or a jacket or how they would make outfits together.
And they became celebrities essentially because they were able to share with their customers and with customers over and above that, what the appropriate look was for their particular store. And then people would come in and ask for them by name and they became very, very famous. Actually, we recognized four of them as winners.
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| P : |
And this was through the website, so anybody could... |
| P : |
Access the blog and... |
| J : |
Yes. And it was fantastic for them. Like I said, it was - it's taking an asset that you see every day and that you depend on everyday and you encourage them to look at their responsibilities a little bit different and we provide them a little bit of assets and encouragement and it's amazing what the power that resides out there in our sales associate force. |
lore：言い伝え
work-life balance：仕事と生活のバランス
be better off：一層良くなる
（ J: John, P: Peter ）
| P : |
So, most of the people working for Gap Japan K.K. are Japanese employees?
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| P : |
How many non-Japanese are there? |
| J : |
We have about 17 total, so that's 17 out of roughly a little over 200 here at Japan headquarters and all of our sales associates and store management in the stores are Japan locals. |
| P : |
How many stores do you have in Japan? |
| J : |
Well, we have about 105 Gap locations and 20 Banana Republic locations.
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| P : |
Okay, and that is spread all over the country. |
| J : |
All over the country.
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| P : |
What does the name Gap mean? |
| J : |
Well, initially, lore has it that when Don Fisher started the business in 1969...
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| J : |
Yes, he was thinking of the generation gap. Now, he was a man in his early 40s, so he was really thinking about the younger generation and he was inspired by Levi's jeans and by music specifically. So, when he opened up the first store in 1969 on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco, which is, I have a copy of it for you, the store was actually famous for records, tapes and Levi's jeans.
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| P : |
So it wasn't a clothing store? |
| P : |
Levi's, records, and tapes. |
| J : |
Yes, and that's how we got started and these circles that you see are to simulate albums.
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| J : |
...we are dating ourselves now Peter, but, you know, we used to put on a big platter, you know,...
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| P : |
I still call everything records. That's interesting. |
| J : |
A matter of fact, my first week on the job, which was last year August, I started on Monday and that Friday we had a summer concert event, and we had local artists as well as artists from the US here, and we had a concert that evening with 5,000 winners of a contest that we had. And donations from that concert, because we actually sold t-shirts at the concert, went to help build two elementary schools in Cambodia.
So, kind of, going back to your earlier point around, it's more than just making sure we have standards in a country, we are actually looking for new and innovative ways to contribute back to those communities where we have factories and factory partners to participate in the community. And I think you referenced some product that you saw today at the Harajuku location, which is product Red.
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| P : |
Oh, those ones, yes, yes. |
| J : |
And that was made in South Africa. |
| J : |
Well, part of the profits from that venture, which is the 5-year commitment, will go towards serving people and communities in Africa to help fight and support AIDS awareness. |
| P : |
That was about that. Okay, I remember reading about that in the newspaper now. |
| J : |
And so Bono was here last December and he is a huge spokesperson for that effort and we are very, very proud to be part of that. |
| P : |
Okay. What was it they were doing in product RED, was there a new cell phone that was red or something? |
| J : |
Yes, Motorola has just introduced the new RED RAZOR... |
| P : |
Or maybe there was an iPod that was red as well. |
| J : |
And an iPod which is red. My executive assistant has a wonderful RED iPod which I appreciate through her. Armani is another local Japan partner that also participates. It's a great thing for the apparel community and the apparel business to raise our level of participation and involvement in community, not only in Japan which we are attempting to do well, but also realizing that we are a global community. |
| P : |
I've heard that your employees are encouraged to leave the office early on Friday. Can you tell me about this? It seems rather unusual. |
| J : |
Well, it's a little unusual for Japan, and to be honest its a little unusual for my team, but let me first describe what ‘summer hours' is. |
| P : |
Please do. Please do. |
| J : |
Instead of working from 9 to 6, which we all know in Japan nobody works from 9 to 6. It's usually 9 to 7, 9 to 8, 9 to 9 that's usually the itinerary. |
| J : |
We have to understand that it was only 10 to 15 years ago where the work week was actually inclusive of Saturday. So, we are pretty much a Monday through Friday working hours enterprise here, but one of the things we wanted to try this summer is to encourage employees to work from 8 to 5, Monday through Thursday and then 8 to 2 on Friday. |
| P : |
So, wait a minute, that's 9 hours times 4 is 36 plus 8 to 2 is six, so it is a 42 hour week. |
| J : |
The purpose behind summer hours is we really wanted to encourage employees to have some sense of work-life balance. We felt as a US-based company doing business here in Japan, it's something that we could show the way, that we could encourage, that we can break a few rules if you will, and that we could put a bit more encouragement around a healthy worklife balance, and have [to] our employees advantage, a Friday afternoon to spend with their family or to go to a park or go shopping or whatever makes them happy.
And I have admit, some people look at this and say, well, that's really strange and what am going to it with the time, I'm going to be lost, and who's going to do my work and all the reasons why we he can't do it.
But what we are saying here is we need to find a way to be productive during the time we are at work and we need to squeeze out the non-value added work and the things that take too much time and don't really provide benefits to the company, and tried to squeeze our work days down and be really productive the time we're here, but free up some mind space so you can go out, and you can enjoy life a little bit.
We believe, and we honestly believe - I have experienced this over 10 years, because we did it at Levi Strauss & Co, that employees, once they embrace a little bit of work-life balance, they find they are much more productive the time that they are here, they find that their energy level and their motivation and their enthusiasm is greatly enhanced by taking a little bit more time for themselves.
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| P : |
How long have you been doing this in Japan now? |
| J : |
We've just started it last Friday. |
| P : |
You just started, oh really! |
| J : |
Yeah, tomorrow is another day, so we are really optimistic. Let me just say this, I have one example which made it all worthwhile for me. I have received an e-mail from one of our team members on Monday who said, “You know, I was able to bathe my newborn son on Friday afternoon and not only did it make me happy because normally I can only do that on the weekends, but it also made my wife happy because I could spend more time with her.” |
| J : |
What more can I say, right. |
| P : |
Yes, absolutely. That sounds great. It would be really interesting to maybe come back in 6 months and see how everybody is adjusting to it because I am sure for a lot of people it will take a little time to adjust. |
| J : |
It will, but Peter, I would be overjoyed if people came back after this experiment and said, “John, we want to do this all year round.” I think it would be fantastic. I think the company would be better off because I think that our employees would find ways and would actually encourage management to weed out some of the unnecessary work that we do Monday through Thursday and that I really believe, especially in this business where there is so much combination of art and science that the head will be clearer, the enthusiasm will be regenerated and the batteries will be fresh. |
 Tom Wedgwood / Brand Ambassador
Waterford Wedgwood Japan, LTD 
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