Confession: Old Navy Confusion

I first heard of Old Navy a few years after it was founded, probably around 1998. One of my teen magazines had an editorial on where to find cute but inexpensive clothes, and one of the featured outfits was from Old Navy.

Not being near any Old Navy outposts or even having heard of the young store, I had no point of reference for the Gap offshoot, but I did have extensive experience visiting army/navy surplus stores and US Navy bases. So, my 12-year-old self assumed that Old Navy was not a new chain clothing store, but instead an army/navy surplus store of some kind.

I was quite confused as to why my magazine would be shopping at army/navy surplus stores in the first place, let alone including pieces from them in a national publication, since most surplus stores are fairly local.

It was probably a few more years before I saw my first Old Navy store, and another year or two after that before I finally made the connection. (Having gotten it in my mind that the featured outfit was from a surplus store, I quickly forgot the name of the store listed and remembered only that it was an army/navy store.)

Now, I shop at Old Navy fairly frequently — there's one in each of the malls and shopping plazas I go to — and I can't believe how I ever made such a funny mistake. At least no one else knows about it!

Oh, wait...