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Mickey Drexler sends an e-mail to J.Crew customers

April 25, 2016Written by Tom Ryan

In an unusual move, Mickey Drexler, J.Crew's chairman and CEO, sent an e-mail Saturday morning to customers detailing the progress the chain is making in upgrading its product offerings. Entitled "On customers and caffè Americano," Mr. Drexler talks about how he spent his day on Friday — heading to the gym, listening to his favorite music and picking up coffee when a woman came up to him at the company's Soho store and said, "My J.Crew is back." Mr. Drexler wrote, "I know she was responding to the color, the quality, our fresh take on the classics." He then discussed how the J.Crew team is dedicated to providing its customers with the "best quality, design, service and prices" and encouraged customers to visit the stores or jcrew.com as well as reach out to him. He wrote, "If there's something you think we can do better. I want to hear it — just email me: msd@jcrew.com." Mr. Drexler is a merchandising legend known for creating the Gap chain, launching Old Navy and successfully repositioning J.Crew in the prior decade as an upscale boutique. But J.Crew has struggled in recent years due in large part to fashion miscues. The chain has been hurt by its move away from classic styles and price hikes. The company largely ignored the athleisure trend led by Lululemon. Customers have complained about fit and quality as well as higher prices. After several quarters of discounting to clear inventories, J.Crew must also now retrain customers to buy at full price. J.Crew's fourth quarter showed some progress, with a narrower loss and same-store sales only declining four percent. In its earnings release, Mr. Drexler said the company is "better positioned having made important changes in our product and marketing and through the careful management of expenses and inventory."

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