Intelligence

10 November, 2008 by Imran Amed, Editor

Mickey Drexler | The magic of merchandising

Mickey Drexler is probably the most famous merchandiser in the fashion world. Merchandisers are known for their magical ability to combine art and science, analytics and gut feel, experience and predictive skills.

Over twenty years, Drexler built the Gap into a bonafide worldwide business from a struggling 400-store regional chain, using his product and merchandising skills and a 20-piece wardrobe that he kept on a list in his drawer while middling it out in other roles that didn’t inspire him.

I came across this conversation from earlier this year between Mr. Drexler and Charlie Rose, one of America’s most respected and talented interviewers. Charlie Rose says he “wants to go to school” on Drexler’s experience — which exactly what he does, getting underneath the mystery of merchandising through a series of stories and examples from Drexler’s career.

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Comments (3)

  1. No wonder The Gap has gone downhill without his direction. I was never much of a fan of J.Crew back in the 1990s and didn’t quite get their preppy look. It wasn’t until a trip to NYC in 2006 that I got a look at J.Crew’s collection and was really blown away on how fresh and young it had become. Highly admirable to what a profit J.Crew has become under his direction. It’s too bad of a timing that they had to open up their high end store during the recession.

    Posted by: Dahlia – 11 November, 2008 at 4:14 am

  2. to quote; ‘let us move toward that…’ with regards to referencing daily news gossip essentially. Good way to highlight J.Crew follow the market & do not lead it. In the sense of highstreet we’re talking ofcourse. To quote; ‘i have a uniform i wear’…fashion is moving away from uniformal or a unitarist perspective to a far more individualistic aesthetic. The days of clones are beginning to evaporate…it’s obviously a strong business model but i’d throw j.crew in with all the other rubbish out there.

    Posted by: jamie – 12 November, 2008 at 10:42 am

  3. Drexlers’ formula is more relevant now than ever. (20 items)

    Posted by: t – 13 November, 2008 at 5:33 pm

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