Life Beyond Mail Order : J. Crew Says Its New Upscale Line Is Best Seen Up Close, in Person
J. Crew is pulling a switcheroo for fall.
The direct marketer of weekend casual wear, which is expected to garner sales of more than $200 million this year on the strength of 14 catalogue mailings, is spinning out a new upscale career line that will be featured only in its 12 retail stores.
“We’re going after a different aspect of the customer’s lifestyle,” says spokeswoman Jennifer Riegel.
Priced 50% or so higher than the Classics line featured in the stores and catalogues, “we felt a need for the customer to try the clothes on, to see and feel the fabrics,” she says.
The new Collection line is now trickling into J. Crew shops in California (South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and San Francisco Centre) and elsewhere. The tailored suits and separates come in merino wools, cashmere and wool blends, silks and cotton twills, priced from $40 to $450.
The Collection is “concise” for fall--just 12 outfits--but it will be double that for spring, says Riegel.
J. Crew sends out about 50 million catalogues a year, but the company is jumping into retailing in a big way, with plans to open 50 stores over the next five years, recession or no recession.
The concept of having different goods in stores and catalogues is as old as direct marketing pioneers Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward. Williams-Sonoma features far more housewares in its stores than in catalogues, whereas Victoria’s Secret adds dresses and leisure wear to its catalogues not found in the shops.
Lori Holliday Banks, fashion editor at Tobe Associates, a New York consulting firm, says J. Crew is capitalizing on the demand for so-called bridge clothing epitomized by Donna Karan’s DKNY. Leaving Collection out of the catalogue makes sense, she says, since “customers would think twice about mail-ordering expensive clothes.”
