Old Navy and Gap are splitting into two companies. We visited both stores, and realized why one company is dominating the other. (GPS)

• Gap Inc. on Thursday announced it was splitting Old Navy off into its own publicly traded company.
• The Gap brand has recently struggled to keep up with Old Navy, which has become the most successful of the Gap Inc. brands.
• In late 2018 we shopped at both Old Navy and Gap.
• We discovered why Old Navy had been carrying Gap Inc. before the brand spun off as its own company. 

Old Navy is splitting from the Gap.

Gap Inc. on Thursday announced it would be splitting the retail company into two publicly traded companies — Old Navy and a yet-to-be-named company that will consist of the Gap brand, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix, and Hill City.

Recently, Old Navy has been spearheading Gap Inc.'s growth as its namesake brand struggles to keep up.

Gap discounts nearly everything in the store, threatening margins, and ultimately making shoppers less likely to pay full price. It also offers a lot of the same styles and quality clothing as Old Navy, but for a higher price.

"We are clearly not satisfied with the performance of Gap brand. We know this iconic brand is important to customers, and we are committed to taking the bold and necessary steps to ensure that it delivers value to shareholders," Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck said in the company's earnings release in November.

In late 2018, we shopped at Gap and Old Navy. We saw for ourselves why one store was helping Gap Inc. while the other is hurting it.

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The first store we went to was Gap, in New York's Financial District. There were two large 50%-off signs in the entryway.

Women's clothing was on the first floor.

There were a lot of plain sweaters for sale ...