Gap events explore how innovation, inclusion, impact are shaping the future of retail and technology

Gap has hosted a series of SF Tech Week events, with nearly 1,000 people coming together at the retailer's headquarters in San Francisco to explore how innovation, inclusion, and impact are shaping the future of retail and technology.

It closed the week with its Culture & Belonging Breakfast, co-hosted with Tribaja. This brought founders, technologists, and leaders together at the intersection of culture, belonging, and innovation.

In a LinkedIn post, Sven Gerjets, EVP, Chief Technology Officer Gap, said: "The energy was incredible - from hearing insights from Gap Inc.’s Black in Technology Community and Tribaja, to an interactive challenge where participants designed AI powered solutions for inclusion, with finalists competing for the top prize."

"A highlight of the morning was the fireside chat with Baron David (Founder at Baron David Enterprises) and our own Tamesha Hoppie-Henry (Vice President of Technology Operations at Gap), a powerful conversation about authenticity, representation, and purpose driven leadership."

He added: "Throughout the week, guests also experienced our Gap Inc. lobby installation, which showcased how technology is transforming the product journey, from AI enabled product design, to robotics in our distribution centers, to RFID and AI experiences in our stores."

"Huge thanks to Tribaja for partnering on this incredible event - and to Greylock and Silicon Foundry for joining us earlier in the week for The Future Is Human: Women Reimagining Innovation & Impact. This week reminded us that when culture and technology come together, we don’t just innovate - we inspire."

Google Cloud

Gap Inc reports a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud covering its portfolio of brands, including Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta. 

“AI is redefining what’s possible in retail, and we’re building our future technology roadmap around it,” says Sven Gerjets, Chief Technology Officer at Gap. “We believe this partnership gives us the expertise and speed to bring AI to life across our business, empowering teams, sparking creativity, and delivering for customers faster and with greater personalisation than ever.”  

“Our partnership with Gap is about reinventing the retail landscape with AI and helping them lead the industry with speed, personalisation, and game-changing customer experiences,” says Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. “Today, only Google offers a complete AI optimised stack - from silicon to models to platform to apps and agents - that can deliver this kind of transformation.” 

The tie up will provide Gap with a unified, AI powered platform which it expects to fuel innovation and greater efficiency across product creation, customer experience, and employee enablement using Google Cloud technologies such as Gemini, Vertex AI and BigQuery.

“By redesigning our workflows and putting AI in the hands of every employee, we are freeing Gap Inc. teams to focus on creativity, culture, and customer connection while keeping the company’s human centred DNA at the core of innovation,” Gerjets adds.