Introduction

Established in 1947 under the brand name Popular Sales Club, J. Crew was a start-up enterprise which focused on door-to-door sales of women’s clothes. The company grew and expanded over the years, and in the 1983 the executive management of the company joined Catalog sales, an opportunity which changed the fortunes of the firm (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2016). Sales started ballooning and the company changed its name to J. Crew to catch the wealthy, preppy customers’ attention.

In the subsequent years, the company developed a strong brand image with loyal following that grabbed the attention of young people in the apparel industry. Mickey Drexler became company’s CEO in 2003 at a time when sales had started to stagnate (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2016). Drexler initiated an expansion strategy by adding apparel lines and distribution channels in forms of direct retailing and e-commerce. New lines like Weddings for bridal parties and Crewcuts for children were created for the first time. He grew the company from a 400 million dollar valuation to 14 billion dollar competitor.