Word: drexler
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Like all great merchants, Drexler is a relentless store walker, picking up details on operations, fashion and consumer behavior like so much lint. "You can get numbers, but there's no flavor," says Drexler, who fell in love with retail during a summer job at the now defunct Abraham & Straus department store exactly because he wasn't deskbound. After stints at Bloomingdale's and Macy's, he became ceo of Ann Taylor and revived the company, which got the attention of Gap founder Donald Fisher. It has all contributed to an almost eerie command of what's happening around...
...Drexler's talent is fed by his near obsessive information intake. "He watches everything," says analyst Jennifer Black of Jennifer Black & Associates, which is how a single comment from a call-center operator about bridesmaids buying cotton dresses launched a line of formalwear that now includes $3,000 wedding gowns...
...system, though, isn't flawless and neither is Drexler. In the fall of 2005, J. Crew stocked heavy sweaters and classic styles, then watched the temperature rise and shoppers recede. Yet that misstep paled next to the one that ended his reign at Gap in the late 1990s, when Drexler overreacted to fast-fashion chains like H&M and took Gap trendy, alienating its core khaki customer. That call, exacerbated by an overaggressive store expansion, led to his forced resignation...
That's why growing smartly--instead of quickly--consumes Drexler. Last year J. Crew added just 25 stores; this year 35 to 40. "We don't want to be bigger faster," Drexler told analysts. "We want to be better faster." Consider Madewell, a new store that could rival his creation of Old Navy for Gap. Clothes at Madewell are casual (hoodies, bubble tunics) and cost 20% to 30% less than J. Crew's. While Drexler drove Old Navy from zero to $1 billion in sales in four years, the plan at Madewell is slow growth: five new stores...
Still, the more stores, the more time Drexler will spend in them, taking notes. When he finds something interesting, he'll no doubt send word. They'd better keep the p.a. system in good working order...