Gap today issued its first social responsibility report, offering a comprehensive look into its ongoing efforts to improve labour standards in the approximately 3,000 garment factories worldwide that produce merchandise for the company's Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands.

The report also provides an overview of the company's focus on supporting sustainable, industry-wide change beyond the garment factories that produce its merchandise.

The report, which can be read on full at www.gapinc.com highlights the following:

A detailed review of the company's garment manufacturer and factory approval process and ongoing global monitoring program, which was launched in 1996. The company's 90-plus person compliance team conducted approximately 8,500 factory visits in 2003. The team rejected 16 percent of the 653 new garment facilities evaluated in 2003, and revoked prior approvals for 136 factories because of compliance violations.

Aggregated data for 2003 from eleven geographic regions showing labour and health and safety issues in 50 countries.

A discussion of the company's commitment to working collaboratively with multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Ethical Trading Initiative, Social Accountability International and the Global Alliance; labour unions such as UNITE; and other groups such as socially responsible investment funds to create sustainable, industry-wide solutions and universal standards.

"We believe that garment and other manufacturing workers around the world deserve better than the reality that many unfortunately face," said Gap Inc. CEO and President Paul Pressler. "We recognize and embrace our duty to take a leadership role, and our first social responsibility report discusses in detail our comprehensive efforts and commitments. We are convinced that collaborative, multi-stakeholder engagement is the only way to create sustainable changes for garment workers worldwide. We are working diligently toward that goal."