Madewell : a new brand from J. Crew

It's okay.

I hope it's better than the overpriced crap at JCrew.:lol:
 
madewell opened today in texas, anyone see it?
 
I'm so excited for this, I'm a huge fan of J.Crew for certain items. I just saw Madewell mentioned in the Bazaar I got in the mail yesterday. Howevor, I am upset that they are not planning any immediate web shopping.

EDIT: I just did some more investigating and read on wwd.com that madewell1973.com is planned to premiere this week and items will be available to buy "via a toll free number."
 
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story and pics from wwd.

WWD West: Madewell Makes Its Debut in Dallas
By Rusty Williamson
DALLAS — Mickey Drexler has a newborn baby.

The chairman and chief executive officer of J. Crew Group on Tuesday unveiled the first store for its new Madewell casual brand, a 3,000-square-foot unit at the NorthPark Center mall here. Madewell is the group's third format after J. Crew and Crewcuts.

"Madewell started as a fun, stimulating idea that has grown into an assortment of great styles that look good now and will look good in five years," said Drexler, dressed in a dark tailored jacket and dark-rinse denim jeans for an exclusive walk-through on Tuesday. "At the end, it's all about great style, design, product and attitude."

Madewell was inspired by a workwear company of the same name founded in 1937 in New Bedford, Mass., and is expected to have up to seven units or more by the end of next year, including a store set to open Sept. 2 in Century City in Los Angeles. Market sources said the brand will open in Manhattan later this year, though Drexler was tight-lipped about openings beyond those already revealed.

A Web site, madewell1937.com, is expected to launch this week, with some looks also available for purchase via a toll-free phone number.

In channeling its retro heritage, the Madewell store features a navy bead-board exterior, white ceramic tile accents, dark hardwood floors and antique wood furnishings, along with padded dressform mannequins. Framed pairs of vintage Madewell pants line the walls.

The front has retro transom-style windows that contain old, school desk chairs, dressforms and Venetian blind window coverings and are merchandised with lots of men's wear vests and pants, argyle knits, corduroy and velvet jackets and softly washed denim jeans.

Inside, styles include an array of chinos, denim items, fleece, T-shirts, polos and pintucked-shirts, pinstriped henleys and men's wear-inspired plaid vests, among other looks.

Madewell also has inked several exclusive partnerships with a range of global designers for certain niche fashion categories, including tennis shoe company Springcourt, which will offer an original design of a simple tennis shoe that's been the French company's signature since 1936. Philip Crangi, a New York City-based jewelry designer, will feature select pieces from his Giles & Brother line, which is inspired by vintage and estate jewelry.

"These are not looks for teenagers," said Drexler, who was at the opening with J. Crew president Jeff Pfeifle. "I think there's been a real void at retail for subtly timeless clothing with a bit of an edge while still retaining a classic sensibility and integrity.

"Women have told us that they're tired of spending so much money for hip clothing at expensive boutiques. We think Madewell offers a unique point of view. For me, this store is an act of love for the whole Madewell concept."

Much like a vintage haberdashery for women, the brand merges the romance and simplicity of a Thirties' specialty store, including lots of retro design touches, with an edgy take on casual classic styles for women ages 20 and beyond.

The moderately priced merchandise is about 20 to 30 percent lower than J. Crew and spans from $12.50 for a striped cotton tank top to $265 for a washed leather bomber jacket. Many items retail on average for $45 or less, and 80 percent of the assortment costs less than $100.

For example, there are hooded sweatshirts priced from $48; denim jeans in three fits and 10 washes, priced about $68.50 to $125 for premium styles; twill chinos at $58 to $68; wool blazers priced from $198 to $248, and accessories including leather bracelets at $18 to leather satchels for $98.

"I fell in love with the romance, innocence and honesty that Madewell stood for and bought the brand in 2003 just before I joined J. Crew," said Drexler, who now licenses the brand for $1 a year to J. Crew Group.

Drexler wouldn't comment on sales projections for the Madewell chain. However, many, though not all, stores in the upscale NorthPark Center mall, which completed a $200 million renovation earlier this year, average around $1,000 a square foot in sales.

In an interview with WWD in May, Drexler hinted the Madewell chain might be poised for big volume.

"I can't predict what's going to happen," said Drexler. "Everybody in the world, including Wal-Mart, started with one store. If I dream about it, I like to think [Madewell] could be a big business. But right now, we look at it day to day. The lower the price point in a business, the bigger it can be."

The Madewell opening Tuesday was the third major development for J. Crew Group in as many months. Earlier this summer, the $950 million firm launched the children's fashion chain Crewcuts at NorthPark Center.

In June, the retailer went public on the New York Stock Exchange in the third-largest apparel retailing IPO in history. The offering aimed to raise at least $376 million and was a major triumph for Drexler, 61. At the first day's closing price, Drexler's J. Crew stake was worth more than $173 million. He currently holds 12 percent of the company.
 

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thanks for all the info...
sounds like a brilliant plan...
there is an absolute void in the market for anyone above 20 years of age....
women who don't want clothes that are too trendy or that fall apart after onee or two washes...

jcrew is def on track right now....they seem to be on a roll...
can't wait for the online shop...

maybe they will do jeans that come above the pubic bone!?!?!...
:woot:...
 
Seems like Gap, Eddie Bauer and H&M all rolled into one.
 
i think j crew is outrageously overpriced. This has gotta be an improvement.

their next store is in Los angeles.

i'm surprised they opened the first store in dallas.
 
lucy92 said:
i think j crew is outrageously overpriced. This has gotta be an improvement.

i disagree...
some things at j.crew are over-prices (t-shirts, for example, along with alot of their summer stuff--shorts, skirts, etc.)
but other things are really affordable...
jeans for $88-120, for the same italian/japanese denim that lines like earnest sewn uses...
cashmere sweaters made by loro piano for under $150...
and their suiting is very nice as well...

i'm interesting in seeing the madewell stuff...
and how it compares to something like ruehl, which has a similar concept, and martin + osa...
 
kimair said:
and how it compares to something like ruehl, which has a similar concept, and martin + osa...

i'm not familiar with those...do we have threads on them?...
 
Ruehl is a different concept. It's a more or less Abercrombie's try at "luxury". The price point is much higher than Abercrombie's and uses more "luxurious" details like hand embroidery and screenprinting. It's essentially the same items at Abercrombie but in "nicer" fabrics. Seriously, it's almost as if they use the same patterns for both stores but change the fabrics, trims, and notions slightly. I say "nicer" because they tend to be, like the detailing of the clothes, overdone and tacky. It's appeal is for the young rich 20 something who has brand loyalty to Abercrombie but isn't quite comfortable (or at the right taste level) trying contemporary premium labels like Miss Sixty or Marc by Marc Jacobs, or feels that department stores are for their Mom's skip over the selection in their non metropolitan upscale mall altogether.

Madewell is sort of an antithesis to Ruehl in it's practicality and less overkill vibe.


The Ruehl stores takes Abercrombie's policy on hiring sales people for their looks to the max. They have "models" , one guy and girl, standing outside greeting people as they come in, everyday!
 
This sounds appealing ... I will check it out. I am a big believer in spending less than $100 on jeans, surprising though that philosophy would sounds to Neimans :P :lol:
 
kimair said:
i disagree...
some things at j.crew are over-prices (t-shirts, for example, along with alot of their summer stuff--shorts, skirts, etc.)
but other things are really affordable...
jeans for $88-120, for the same italian/japanese denim that lines like earnest sewn uses...
cashmere sweaters made by loro piano for under $150...
and their suiting is very nice as well...

i'm interesting in seeing the madewell stuff...
and how it compares to something like ruehl, which has a similar concept, and martin + osa...

At the same time, Jcrew's fits are terrible..."straight cut" is how I discribe it :P Some of their sweaters are alright and I like their tanks (I buy a few very season). That's about it. They claim that their cashmere is from the same mill that Loro Piana uses, but it doesn't mean the same quality of cashmere. It might be that loro piana uses the 5% best cashmere and then the 50% cashmere goes to jcrew so that Loro piana doesn't waste many sheep's hair :lol: and also get some $$ from Jcrew by using their name...Good for them!

From what I see so far, it looks more like a jcrew outlet to me :unsure:

Edit:and I hate the name.:sick:

A:"you look cute today. who are you wearing?
B:"madewell"
A:"excuse me?":lol:
 
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excerpt and images from wwd.

Drexler at Work: Refining the Madewell Vision
By David Moin
Madewell, the brand born out of the vision of Millard "Mickey" Drexler and an old workwear label he purchased about five years ago, is becoming more of a reality.

After being introduced by the J. Crew Group six months ago, the Madewell personality has been sharpened, the winning product has been identified and losers culled from the collection. A transactional Web site is expected to go live in early 2008, and the hunt for retail real estate is intensifying. Seven stores should be operating by the end of this year, and finding a downtown Manhattan location for an opening this fall or next year is a priority.

In an unusual move, a temporary boutique opens today on the 11th floor of J. Crew's New York headquarters at 770 Broadway and Ninth Street. The 1,500-square-foot space carries the full range of merchandise, but spotlights spring bestsellers " garment dyed five-pocket jeans, drop-waisted jumpers, Italian leather boots and totes, raw-edged pima cotton V-necks and vintage stripe Ts. Heretofore, these products were available only at the chain's two existing doors at Westfield Century City shopping center in Los Angeles and at NorthPark Center in Dallas. It's New Yorkers' first taste of the women's casual brand, which is edgier than most.

"We wanted to have some fun with this, so we're opening a little shop and inviting friends, customers, fashionistas and associates," said Drexler, chairman and chief executive of J. Crew Group, in an exclusive interview, during which he provided a progress report on Madewell.

The temporary shop is also a ploy to generate some East Coast hype, and get the J. Crew Group team " and possibly some Wall Street analysts " more tuned into how the brand is gathering steam, in advance of a permanent New York store. "Realistically, we'll have a location selected by the end of this year," Drexler said. "We want to be downtown, in SoHo or TriBeCa or the West Village. We want to get the right location. We are definitely in no hurry to get this moving.'

Elsewhere around the country, Madewell store openings are set for The Domain in Austin, Tex., on Friday; in May at The Mall at Short Hills, in New Jersey, and in Las Vegas in the Fashion Show Mall just off the Strip.



The Century City unit is tracking at over $500 in sales per square foot, according to industry sources, while the Dallas unit has been disappointing due to construction in the mall wing, which has been deterring traffic.

Drexler characterized Madewell as still being in the "R&D" phase and by no means "a gun-to-the-head start-up." There's no pressure for the group to expand, with plenty of growth opportunities remaining for its core J. Crew brand, he emphasized.


Madewell has formulated an expansion plan for 2008, though no deals have closed yet, and Drexler is taking it slow, gauging sales results and consumer reaction for a few more seasons before giving any kind of full-fledged rollout the green light.
"It's for girls who graduated from the teenage chains and can't afford to take out a mortgage on clothes."
Millard "Mickey" Drexler

For Madewell, "It's so early to have any kind of concrete expectations," Drexler said. "It takes a year and a half to two years to get a feel. We are in the constant adjustment phase right now." He added, "We're keeping Madewell under the radar."

Well, kind of. There's obviously enough confidence and enthusiasm to move the concept forward a bit in the most competitive city in the country. "We were impatient to bring [Madewell] to the New York audience," Drexler admitted. Yet for the moment, there's a limited window of shopping opportunity. The store at 770 Broadway will only be open through March 16. It's by invitation only today, and, thereafter, customers will have to call ahead to get in.

There's been no advertising yet, only word of mouth, and some celebrities have shopped the L.A. store, including Reese Witherspoon a few times. Uma Thurman got into the 770 Broadway unit on Monday and went for the garment-dyed denim and girly tops. "We're very pleased with the buzz and the reaction to the goods, and we are very pleased with the niche in the marketplace that Madewell fills. It's inspired by a vision and a sense of the goods," Drexler said.

While Madewell, like the J. Crew brand, emphasizes detailing and colors, "It's not the same sensibility of J. Crew. We are not creating a less expensive J. Crew," Drexler explained. "Madewell has a different personality."

Madewell products are priced 20 to 30 percent less than J. Crew.

The 770 Broadway site is heavily merchandised, and that's also a J. Crew trait. "We like to use every square foot," Drexler noted. "We like intense merchandising."

But the styling, as well as the colors, like the porcelain or sterling gray denims, and gauzy, breathable fabrics, seem different. So does the target market. It's less preppy, less tailored, and more geared for customers shopping Scoop, Barneys Co-op, Fred Segal, Anthropologie, the fifth floor of Bergdorf Goodman, 5F, and such hip vendors as James Perse and C&C California, albeit at significantly lower price points. There also seems to be less of an evening component, though there are casual elements appropriate for going out.

"It's for girls who graduated from the teenage chains and can't afford to take out a mortgage on clothes," Drexler said. "We're in the trend business; we're not about basics. We're not a teenage chain and we're not assigning an age to this business."

Since its launch, Madewell has evolved in several ways, responding to customer demand. "It's all about product driving us, as we go through seeing what are the demands of our customers," said Kin Lee, Madewell's head of design. Novelty is more prevalent, and the assortment is less deep in classics; blazers have been dropped, and labels have been added, such as Wallace rumpled sweaters; Eliot camisoles with lace appliqués and safari dresses; New Haven chino-inspired trouser shorts; Hawke for understated, easy fit sweatshirts and sweat bottoms, and Lockharte accessories, including $98 to $248 bags and shoes. There are a few outside brands in the store, such as Havianas flip-flops and Philip Crangi jewelry.

"Madewell started as a fun idea that has grown into an assortment of great clothes that look good now, and will continue to look good five years from now," Drexler said in a statement. "At the end of the day, it's about great style, design and attitude " its ageless."

Madewell is a former workwear company in New Bedford, Mass., dating back to 1937. Before he joined J. Crew in December 2003, Drexler purchased the name which is now owned by J. Crew Group. The Madewell label appears only on denim and cords. "I didn't want Madewell to be on anything else," Drexler said. "When you put a denim brand on other categories, it doesn't have the same integrity or authenticity."
 

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Caffeine said:
At the same time, Jcrew's fits are terrible..."straight cut" is how I discribe it :P Some of their sweaters are alright and I like their tanks (I buy a few very season). That's about it. They claim that their cashmere is from the same mill that Loro Piana uses, but it doesn't mean the same quality of cashmere. It might be that loro piana uses the 5% best cashmere and then the 50% cashmere goes to jcrew so that Loro piana doesn't waste many sheep's hair :lol: and also get some $$ from Jcrew by using their name...Good for them!

Well, Jcrew's cut and fit are perfect on me, especially those suiting collections. The only problem I have is their tees. The cashmere is indeed a bargain. In the industry Banana Republic and J Crew are considered the pioneer of the affordable and good cashmere.
 

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