This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than those that are purely historical are forward-looking statements. Words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” and similar expressions also identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the following:

The Gap, Inc. (Gap Inc., the “Company,” “we,” and “our”) was incorporated in the State of California in July 1969 and was reincorporated under the laws ofin the State of Delaware in May 1988.

Our business follows a seasonal pattern, with sales peaking during the end-of-year holiday period.

Our ability to develop and evolve our existing brands is a key to our success. We believe our distinct brands are among our most important assets. With the exception of Intermix, virtually all aspects of brand development, from product design and distribution to marketing, merchandising and shopping environments, are controlled by Gap Inc. employees. With respect to Intermix, we control all aspects of brand development except for product design related to third-party products. We continue to invest in our business and enhance the customer experience through significant investments in our supply chain and customer, digital and omni-channel capabilities, investments in marketing, enhancement of our onlineomni-channel shopping sites,experience, remodeling of existing stores, and international expansion.

Old Navy, Gap, GapKids, babyGap, GapMaternity, GapBody, GapFit, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, Intermix, Janie and Weddington WayJack, and Hill City trademarks and service marks, and certain other trademarks and service marks, 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.

We make available on our website, www.gapinc.com, under “Investors,” 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.

The following are our executive officers:

Our past performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance because actual future results and trends may differ materially depending on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the risks and uncertainties discussed below. In addition, historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods.

Our success is largely dependent upon our ability to gauge the tastes of our customers and to provide merchandise that satisfies customer demand in a timely manner. However, lead times for many of our design and purchasing decisions may make it more difficult for us to respond rapidly to new or changing apparel trends or consumer acceptance of our products. The global apparel retail business fluctuates according to changes in consumer preferences, dictated in part by apparel trends and season. To the extent we misjudge the market for our merchandise or the products suitable for local markets, or fail to execute trends and deliver productproducts to the market as timely as our competitors, our sales will be adversely affected, and the markdowns required to move the resulting excess inventory will adversely affect our operating results.

The global apparel retail industry is highly competitive. We and our franchisees compete with local, national, and global department stores, specialty and discount store chains, independent retail stores, and online businesses that market similar lines of merchandise. We face a variety of competitive challenges in an increasingly complex and fast-paced environment, including:

As part of our normal operations, we receive and maintain confidential, proprietary, and personally identifiable information, including credit card information, and information about our customers, our employees, job applicants, and other third parties. Our business employs systems and websites that allow for the secure storage and transmission of this information. However, despite our safeguards and security processes and protections, security breaches could expose us to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, litigation, and potential liability. The retail industry, in particular, has been the target of many recent cyber-attacks. We may not have the resources to anticipate or prevent rapidly evolving types of cyber-attacks. Attacks may be targeted at us, our vendors or customers, or others who have entrusted us with information. In addition, even if we take appropriate measures to safeguard our information security and privacy environment from security breaches, we could still expose our customers and our business to risk. Actual or anticipated attacks may disrupt or impair our technology capabilities, and may cause us to incur increasing costs, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants. Advances in computer capabilities, new technological discoveries, or other developments may result in the technology used by us to protect transaction or other data being breached or compromised. Measures we implement to protect against cyber attacks may also have the potential to impact our customers’ shopping experience or decrease activity on our websites by making them more difficult to use. Data and security breaches can also occur as a result of non-technical issues, including intentional or inadvertent breachbreaches by our employees or by persons with whom we have commercial relationships that result in the unauthorized release of personal or confidential information. In addition, the global regulatory environment surrounding information security, cybersecurity, and privacy is increasingly demanding, with new and changing requirements,laws, such as the European Union'sUnion’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act, which give customers have a high expectation that the Company will adequately protectright to control how their personal information from cyber-attackis collected, used and retained. Violating these rights, or other security breaches. Security breaches and cyber incidentsfailing to secure personal information, could result in a violation of applicable privacy and other laws, significant legal and financial exposure, and a loss of consumer confidence in our security measures, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and our reputation.

We maintain a complex networktechnology platform consisting of both legacy and modern systems. WeThese systems require continual maintenance, upgrades and changes, some of which are significant. Upgrades involve replacing existing systems with successor systems, making changes to existing systems, or cost-effectively acquiring new systems with new functionality. We are aware of inherent risks associated with maintaining and replacing these systems, including accurately capturing data and addressing system disruptions and believe we are taking appropriate action to mitigate the risks through testing, training, and staging implementation, as well as ensuring appropriate commercial contracts are in place with third-party vendors supplying or supporting our IT initiatives. However, there can be no assurances that we will successfully maintain or launch these systems as planned or that they will be implemented without disruptions to our operations. IT system disruptions or failures, if not anticipated and appropriately mitigated, or failure to successfully implement new or upgraded systems, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our current strategies include pursuing selective international expansion in a number of countries around the world through a number of channels. This includes our franchisees opening additional stores internationally. We have limited experience operating or franchising in some of these locations. In many of these locations, we face major, established competitors. In addition, in many of these locations, the real estate, employment and labor, transportation and logistics, regulatory, and other operating requirements differ dramatically from those in the places where we have more experience. Consumer tastes and trends may differ in many of these locations and, as a result, the sales of our products may not be successful or result in the margins we anticipate. If our international expansion plans are unsuccessful or do not deliver an appropriate return on our investments, our operations and financial results could be materially, adversely affected.

We enter into franchise agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate stores and, in limited circumstances, websites, in many countries around the world. Under these agreements, third parties operate, or will operate, stores and websites that sell apparel and related products under our brand names. The effect of these arrangements on our business and results of operations is uncertain and will depend upon various factors, including the demand for our products in new markets internationally and our ability to successfully identify appropriate third parties to act as franchisees, distributors, or in a similar capacity. In addition, certain aspects of these arrangements are not directly within our control, such as franchisee financial stability and the ability of these third parties to meet their projections regarding store locations, store openings, and sales. Other risks that may affect these third parties include general economic conditions in specific countries or markets, foreign exchange rates, changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, restrictions on the transfer of funds, and political instability. Moreover, while the agreements we have entered into and plan to enter into in the future provide us with certain termination rights, the value of our brands could be impaired to the extent that these third parties do not operate their stores in a manner consistent with our requirements regarding our brand identities and customer experience standards. Failure to protect the value of our brands, or any other harmful acts or omissions by a franchisee, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and our reputation.

Trade restrictions, including increased tariffs or quotas, embargoes, safeguards, and customs restrictions against apparel items, as well as U.S. or foreign labor strikes, work stoppages, or boycotts, could increase the cost or reduce the supply of apparel available to us and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We cannot predict whether any of the countries in which our merchandise currently is competitive.

Our success depends in part on our ability to grow sales and improve sales,margins, in particular at our largest brands. A variety of factors affect comparable sales or margins, including but not limited to apparel trends, competition, current economic conditions, the timing of new merchandise releases and promotional events, changes in our merchandise mix, the success of marketing programs, foreign currency fluctuations, industry traffic trends, and weather conditions. These factors may cause our comparable sales results and margins to differ materially from

prior periods and from expectations. Our comparable sales, including the associated comparable online sales, have fluctuated significantly in the past on an annual and quarterly basis. Over the past fiscal year, our reported quarterly comparable sales have ranged from a high of positive 5negative 1 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 20172019 to a low of positive 1negative 4 percent in the first, second quarterand third quarters of fiscal 2017.2019. Over the past five years, our reported gross margins have ranged from a high of 39.038.3 percent in fiscal 20132017 to a low of 36.2 percent in fiscal 2015. In addition, over the past five years, our reported operating margins have ranged from a high of 13.39.6 percent in fiscal 20132015 to a low of 7.73.5 percent in fiscal 2016.2019.

In April 2011, we issued $1.25 billion aggregate principal amount of 5.95 percent notes due April 2021. As a result, we have additional costs that include interest payable semi-annually on the notes. In January 2014, we also entered into a 15 billion Japanese yen, four-year, unsecured term loan which was fully repaid in June 2017.

Our cash flows from operations are the primary source of funds for these debt service payments. In this regard, we have generated annual cash flow from operating activities in excess of $1 billion per year for well over a decade and ended fiscal 20172019 with $1.8$1.4 billion of cash and cash equivalents on our balance sheet. We are also able to supplement near-term liquidity, if necessary, with our $500 million revolving credit facility. We continue to target a cash balance between $1.0 billion to $1.2 billion, which provides not only for our working capital needs, but also a reserve for unexpected business downturns. However, if our cash flows from operating activities decline significantly, including any such decline related to reduced store traffic and widespread temporary store closures as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we may be required to reprioritize our business initiatives to ensure that we can continue to service or refinance our debt with favorable rates and terms. In addition, any future reduction in our long-term senior unsecured credit ratings could result in reduced access to the credit and capital markets, and higher interest costs and potentially increased lease or hedging costs.

In May 2016, FitchNovember 2019, Standard and Poor’s Ratings and Standard & Poor's Rating ServicesService downgraded their respective credit ratingsrating of us from BBB- negativeBB+ stable outlook to BB+ stableBB negative outlook. These downgrades,This downgrade, and any future reduction in our long-term senior unsecured credit ratings, could result in reduced access to the credit and capital markets, more restrictive covenants in future financial documents and higher interest costs, and potentially increased lease or hedging costs.

For further information on our debt and credit facilities, see Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Notes 4Note 5 and 5Note 6 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K.

As a multinational company, we are subject to various proceedings, lawsuits, disputes, and claims (“Actions”) arising in the ordinary course of our business. Many of these Actions raise complex factual and legal issues and are subject to uncertainties. Actions filed against us from time to time include commercial, intellectual property, customer, employment, and data privacy claims, including class action lawsuits. The plaintiffs in some Actions seek unspecified damages or injunctive relief, or both. Actions are in various procedural stages and some are covered in part by insurance. We cannot predict with assurance the outcome of Actions brought against us. Accordingly, developments, settlements, or resolutions may occur and impact income in the quarter of such development, settlement, or resolution. An unfavorable outcome could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

None.

Not applicable.