J. Crew CEO confesses the 'very big mistake' that sent the company spiraling
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Drexler, 72, said the retailer jacked up its prices at a time when customers were becoming increasingly cost-conscious.
"We gave a perception of being a higher-priced company than we were - in our catalog, online and in our general presentation," Drexler told the Journal. "Very big mistake."
At the height of the Great Recession in 2008, J. Crew unveiled a higher-priced line, called J. Crew Collection.
The line, spearheaded by recently-departed head designer Jenna Lyons, debuted with a store on Madison Avenue in New York City featuring items such as a $3,000 jacket "with French sequins in various shades of tortoiseshell hand-sewn into silk chiffon," the now-defunct magazine Portfolio wrote at the time.
The higher prices alienated customers at a time when most Americans were strapped for cash and increasingly shopping at discount stores.
"We became a little too elitist in our attitude," Drexler told the Journal.
The website now features a pared-down selection of Collection items, and many of the items are under $200.
In the past, Drexler has also attributed the company's losses to a number of fashion misses.
J. Crew's total sales fell 6% to $2 billion last year and same-store sales dropped 8% following a decrease of 10% the prior year.
The company has more than $2 billion of debt and less than $150 million in cash.
Drexler is now trying to turn business around by putting a big emphasis on lowering prices and becoming a more "approachable" brand, he said.
"We're getting back to being who we are - much more comfortable, approachable, democratic and friendly," he told the Journal.