Gap’s Biggest Fan Loves the ’90s In-Store Playlists as Much as the Clothes

Bise, who is now an elementary school teacher in Texas, says he simply loves accumulating the music from that time period, and adds that his passion isn’t fueled by compensation. His years at Gap were pivotal for him. Bise, who grew up near Austin, wanted to be in a more cosmopolitan Dallas after studying English at Texas A&M. One day, he opened the newspaper and went to the classified section to find a job. There was a listing for Gap, a store he had only visited once out of desperation. It was a moment that stayed with him. “I could not tell what was men’s or women’s. Everything was stripes and pastels. I mean, that was the late eighties. But at the same time, I did not know what was going on, so I walked out,” he says. “That stuck with me.”

Fast-forward to 1992, he interviewed for the job and got it. “I had no opinion, nothing,” says Bise about his approach to clothes at the time. “I wore what I got for Christmas.” Nevertheless, Bise got the job. “I didn’t know the difference between different materials. Knit, woven, no clue,” he says. “I caught on pretty quickly.” While Bise was initially only hired to work the holiday season at Gap, he quickly rose through the ranks. His manager began to have him work with window displays. From 1992 to 2006, Bise worked at a handful of Gaps in Texas, including the famed Dallas Galleria. “Being at Gap in 1998 and 1999 was like being Tina Turner at the 1985 Grammys,” he says. “The reason is because she won everything that year. She was the most celebrated. The most eyes were on her. Everyone was looking at her and following her every move. And that’s what it was like at Gap.”