Opens in new windowWhen J.Crew emerged from bankruptcy in 2020, the American brand known for cable knit crewnecks and slim-fitting suits was at an existential crossroads.
After years of financial uncertainty, the company was finally solvent with a new owner. But from a customer perspective, the retailer was still on shaky ground. The fashion-forward Jenna Lyons, who served as J.Crew’s creative director from 2008 to 2017, may have catapulted the brand into the fashion stratosphere but in doing so, alienated many loyal customers, who lamented what they perceived as declining quality and a trend-chasing mentality.
It was this identity crisis that Libby Wadle inherited when she was named CEO of J.Crew Group four years ago. Through a steady, balanced product strategy and savvy adaptation to post-pandemic consumer behaviour, Wadle, who had been with the company since 2004, has successfully turned the retailer around without drastically overhauling the business model or abandoning its preppy roots.
In 2024, J.Crew Group, which also owns Madewell, is projected to hit sales of $3 billion, a record high. Wadle unpacks how her team was able to pull it off — and the importance of never losing sight of the core customer.
BoF: You’ve been at the helm of J.Crew’s turnaround for the past four years, what was your strategy going into it?
Libby Wadle: When I took the role, it was November 2020, it was certainly a tumultuous time. There was a lot to do, but I didn’t have a laid-out strategy in place. I feel like there’s been a lot of learning. There’s been a lot of takeaways from our core customers, but also understanding about what it takes to meaningfully bring new people into the brand, and what that right mix really is for us.
We are clear on our mission today, which is about building a brand that really embodies multi-generational style, and continuing to evolve to meet the needs of all of those customers. I think we are at our best when we do that really well.
BoF: What major actions went into getting J.Crew into the shape that it is today?
LW: The first order of business was making sure we felt really good about our creative direction. Having [womenswear head of design] Olympia [Gayot] newly onboard, and us really getting reacquainted with the brand together again, then bringing [menswear designer] Brendon [Babenzien] on shortly thereafter, that was really critical. We really are at our best when we lead with great creative and we lead with great design. We’re seeing momentum now when we release collections for both our new fashion but also our classics and our evolved classics.
The other real pillar for us is the experience. That touches our retail stores, it touches our digital experience. Then the catalogue, which we relaunched this fall.
BoF: What does J.Crew’s customer makeup look like today?
LW: Our core customer really puts style first, and they’re fairly ageless in demographic. That said, many are in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and they’ve likely grown up with J.Crew. These are our best customers. They’re our multi-generational customers and they’re bringing their kids to the brand, too.
It’s also very important not to get so blinded by doing exactly what the customer thinks they want. You also need to inspire and delight them, so that’s where the creative component and the magic that we’ve been able to bring back really comes in. At the end of the day, we strive to create product that really is ageless and timeless.
BoF: 10 years ago, J.Crew really struggled with balancing a fashion-forward offering under Lyons while still serving its older customers who have shopped with the brand for years. How have you been able to address this issue of balance in assortment?
LW: A primary issue that I’d observed coming in was really our need to get back to a creative and design-forward approach to the brand that also embraced our heritage and our classics, and really finding that sweet spot.
We are not a trendy brand. We are a brand that is ultimately rooted in heritage and classics. Some of those pieces are evolved, they feel modern, and some actually remain quite traditional. Balance is critical to making sure you’re not alienating your core customer, and then you’re exciting a newer customer who might come in.
So, we’re seeing a lovely balance of people connecting and coming back into the brand, and then we’re seeing a really nice rate of acquisition coming in under age 30. It’s the balance of the product. It’s the balance of the storytelling, and at the end of the day, you have to keep that core customer in mind.
It’s also very important not to get so blinded by doing exactly what the customer thinks they want. You also need to inspire and delight them.
BoF: What goes into the design process in maintaining that balance?
LW: It’s a constant dialogue we have here. ‘Should we keep this item in? Should we move forward? How much should we tweak this bestselling style? How much should we let it go?’ Luckily, we’re sitting on a lot of great customer data and product-selling information. We talk a lot to our customers. We have a lot of access now to our customers, and through all of that, we really have found, I think, a really nice sweet spot of maintaining that balance.
If we’re delivering on a trend, for example, the barn jacket is trending today, and we had this incredible vintage version, which we did a release of and it sells out in minutes — incredible. But we also have in our offering a [new version] of the original barn jacket on our men’s side and a waxed and cropped version on our women’s side, too. So, having those iterations of what’s heritage to us but delivering iterations in a way that feels really modern and relevant has really been the crux of our product formula.
BoF: How has J.Crew adapted its supply chain to meet the needs of its new design strategy?
LW: As you know, we are not fast fashion. We do believe [in] allowing time for the creative process and the design process. We have a lot of Italian fabrics that we use that require quite a bit of lead time. We haven’t tried to trim our calendar to adapt to a [faster] fashion cycle. That said, we do believe that there’s opportunities that come up all the time.
What we have done over the past four years is really establish a faster cycle, a cycle that allows us to react to what’s happening in our own business and react to what’s happening out there in the world to become more dynamic. I think you have to be dynamic, even if you want to really protect the longer-term creative storytelling. I think it’s very easy for a brand to swing the pendulum one way or the other. I think you just have to be nimble but, at the same time, you have to really be careful about maintaining the integrity of the product that you’re delivering.
BoF: What is the role of distribution in reaching all your different segments of customers?
LW: It’s important to recognise where the different audiences are and meet them where they are. This means delivering on the store experience is going to feel different than something you’re going to see on the website, which has become a channel of convenience. The store has really been about a celebration of the best of brand.
I think when you think about those two channels, they’re actually switched in a way compared to 10 years ago, when people really did stop by the store to pick things up. Stores were the channel of convenience.
Today, with the ease and the convenience of the online shop, it just made a lot more sense for us to demonstrate the best of the brand in the stores, which is one of the most important platforms for us.
There are many different ways we can show up in the world and there’s a moment to celebrate things differently on TikTok versus Instagram, for instance. Letting go a little bit more on certain platforms, where it just makes sense for people to feel more authentic and more organic, and then using other platforms for really being as inspirational and aspirational as we need to be.
BoF: Why bring back the catalogue now?
LW: The loudest and the clearest feedback that we got from customers was, ‘Please bring back the catalogue.’ I knew when I started that we weren’t ready, because I knew that the magic of the catalogue was really about the storytelling and really being able to stand behind the product, so I allowed us to really take our time. We really don’t think about it creatively when we’re developing the catalogue, that this story is for a younger customer, or this story is for an older customer. It really does feel pretty ageless when you open that book.
Engagement around the brand that brings the catalogue and the store together has been, I would say, an unanticipated wonderful moment for us. It really connects all the parts of why people love this brand. The customer component obviously is really critical, and having the stores be so meaningful again, it’s just so refreshing for those of us who’ve been in this business for a long time. I think it just really reiterates the importance of the physical connection and the excitement that people have for shopping in general, connecting with brands they love, and the importance of, not just great marketing, but actually delivering great product and great experience behind that marketing.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
This article first appeared in The State of Fashion 2025, an in-depth report on the global fashion industry, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company.
