Do it, do it right, pay close attention to the product, and over time, you will win.
— Mickey Drexler
While 2015 was challenging, we implemented many strategic and operational initiatives to improve our business and better position J.Crew for the future.
First, as I've always said, it all starts with product, which means having the right assortment, styles, and fits. Second is price, where we strive to offer the best quality, style, and design at a fair value. This is critically important, given the highly promotional environment we are operating in. And third, traffic.
I never wanted to compete on price in my history because on price, you don't always win.
I grew up in the Bronx. I used to remember going to all these fancy stores in Manhattan to run errands or whatever, and I felt intimidated, like they did not talk to me because I was from the Bronx. I never want anyone to be intimidated by fashion. Fashion is fun or, at least, should be.
The British invented the classic look. Men's apparel was created in London, the great English style. You have to respect this country's suits, shirts, shoes, luggage.
Gap was essentially the American wardrobe that was well-priced, and it was attractive, and it was happy, and it had great color, and it has jeans, and I think we did the same with Old Navy. And I think we do the same with J.Crew at a much higher level, Madewell at another level.
The person is a resume, not what's on a piece of paper. Whoever gives advice about resumes in college should be dismissed. Titles don't matter. GPAs don't matter, nor does what school you go to.
You can't separate the clothes from the stores, from the environment.
If you get someone right out of college - and I meet a lot of them - you're not going to get a lot of experience at all, so you have to feel the ambition and desire, which is based on a lot of factors.
Training is expensive, and a lot of kids don't get trained, perhaps. So I also identify with the kid or the person who has grown up in environments like I've grown up in.
Apple has beautiful design, beautiful product, incredibly functional. But mostly, it's about picking product, getting behind it, marketing it, and introducing it to a customer. What they've done just inspires me.
Don't be buying out of emotion. Buy less if you love something but feel it's a risky item. We don't want overstock. And remember: No profit, no fun!
When you say something, and a thousand people are hearing it, you hope you leave an impression.
I didn't like the name 'personal shopper.' That makes it sound like too much of a commodity and not personal enough.
Steve Jobs, if he had lived, was gonna design an iCar. I think cars have an extraordinary opportunity for cool design.
Growing up, I always wanted a bedroom of my own.
Fashion is guaranteed to never always be right.
If you get a pant that fits the woman, as all women know, you get a loyal customer for life.
It is our job as always to focus on what we can control in the business.
There are too many retailers. There are too many brands. There are too many designers. There are too many discount stores, and the predator online companies are selling discount like crazy.
Celebrities have nothing to do with style.
My personal opinion about the world is that it's homogenized.
I hire a lot of waiters, waitresses. Someone who's successful has a background that's not predictable.
My office has no walls. You can't be removed from your team to be successful. You have to be respectful of others.
Hong Kong has always been a dynamic and exciting and high-energy city, and it has that New York thing going on, and people here care about how they look.
I like someone who's focused and can tell me what they've done well and not well and who's very open, honest, and self-aware.
I find, in merchandising and design and creative, a business school degree isn't particularly helpful.
You have to build a team, but someone's got to lead, and someone's got to be unpopular at times.
You know what ends up on the markdown racks? All the weird colors. Guys don't wear orange or citron.
Service drives a lot of my decisions.
I think I was the youngest, fastest-promoted buyer in the history of Bloomingdale's.
I couldn't stand not controlling my own product from how it's manufactured to how it's sold.
Data is very important, but you have to be good at reading the data in an emotional way. If you look at a selling report, there's an emotional trend to what's selling.
I'm looking forward to partnering with TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners. This transaction is a clear endorsement of J. Crew and the hard work and dedication of all of our associates.
Customers don't just want to shop: they want to feel that the brand understands them.
I've yet to see a correlation in my industry between great social media and great numbers.
We have secured names and trademarks with either loose ideas or intentions, or with our imaginations. Sometimes things come of it, or they don't.
What is fashion? I don't know.
I think it's in my mind, and it's driven me my entire life, and it is to offer customers tasteful clothes at good value, meaning it lets the world - or more of the world - afford to dress well.
People put 'study abroad' on their resume. I actually like when they don't study abroad because that means they aren't entitled. What about study abroad will make you a better J.Crew associate?
My management style is there is no such thing as non-important people in the company.
You banter, and you talk, and you get a sense of the speed of thinking and flexibility... It's not terribly scientific, but I interview a dozen or two dozen people a week, and I get a certain vibe reasonably fast.
I call them associates; I don't like the word 'employee.'
I don't size up their grades or their board scores. Because in America today, that's just an advantage certain people have. I size up the give and take, the speed of thinking, what I perceive as ambition. I say, 'Tell me about your high school jobs.' And I love people who worked in coffee shops who were waiters and waitresses.
I define leadership as: Emotionally, you own your business. You own it with passion. And you either have or you don't have an economic investment. But when you have all three of those, you are the boss from Day One, and you care every single day more than anyone.
Christopher Columbus discovered America in a blue-and-white sailor shirt, and since then, men have been wearing blue and white shirts.
The No. 1 thing is the product. The goods have to be good, but I care about how you feel about it.
We buy and sell goods. We buy low and sell higher - that's what we all do to make a profit. But I consider a merchant someone who has a certain intuition and instinct, and - very important - knows how to run a business, knows the numbers.
If you think you know the consumer better than anyone, then you're in real trouble. So we take a close watch. You spend time in stores.
