Mickey Drexler, the veteran retail executive behind Gap and J.Crew, shares his unvarnished perspective on leading his fashion startup, Alex Mill. He details the grit of bootstrapping without external investors, the critical importance of deep industry expertise in an advisory capacity, and the strategic focus on direct-to-consumer to avoid discounting. Drexler also weighs in controversially on the impact of remote work, declaring 'Never coming to work is a serious problem,' offering a direct challenge to prevailing WFH trends for high-performance ecommerce teams.
Heading up a startup, as opposed to a large corporation, has its pros and cons, said Mickey Drexler, the former CEO and chairman of J.Crew Group and CEO of Gap Inc. Today, Drexler is the executive chairman of Alex Mill. The fashion brand was founded in 2012 by his son, Alex Drexler, and Somsack Sikhounmuong, who formerly led design at Madewell. "When I started Old Navy, I had the bank of Gap to fund it… Then I started Madewell, which I owned the name of and sold to J.Crew, and [it was] the same thing: I had the bank of J.Crew,” Drexler said on the latest Glossy Podcast. “But with this business, there are no big banks. There's my bank and my son's bank; we don't have any investors other than us. And it's much more difficult.” Still, he said, “I love it. Because you're involved in every decision. You're looking at everything in detail. And you're micromanaging like crazy, which I like to do.” Rather than investors, Alex Mill has an "unofficial" board of directors, largely made up of people who work in the industry. “Understanding the fashion business is a rarity if you're not in it,” he said. While Alex Mill is not yet profitable, Drexler said business is “seven times what it was two and a half years ago.” And, he said, the company is getting ready to “step on the gas,” in terms of accelerating its growth. That includes linking with a marketing agency; adding to the company’s one store, in NYC’s SoHo; getting inventory right and continuing to sell at full price. “If we weren't direct-to-consumer, the goods we sell would all be marked down somewhere,” he said. “The most successful department store today is TJ Maxx.”