Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
"We have to reignite the energy and the fire and the love," says CEO Libby Wadle of J.Crew Group, which launched Madewell Forever this week, a dynamic bet on sustainability. The resale platform, in partnership with ThredUp, is part of a purpose-led pivot that Wadle first sparked as head of Madewell. Wadle takes us inside that journey, looking back to J.Crew's heyday and forward to the opportunities that she believes purpose can unlock. From a visit to a fair-trade factory in Vietnam to new insights on in-store versus online, Wadle says, "I've never felt more inspired and excited and invigorated."
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You never would wish for it to happen, but there's something about actually having the stores closed |
| 0:06.9 | literally that |
| 0:08.9 | reinforces the |
| 0:11.1 | Meaning of that channel and why you need that physical part of the business. We have an amazing community |
| 0:18.0 | at Madewell who loves to tell us what they think and what we've learned in those chats are that |
| 0:24.6 | resale and circularity and |
| 0:29.6 | Sustainability in general are increasingly important to our community. We have to |
| 0:36.6 | Reignite the energy and the fire and the love that people have with the J-Crew brand. |
| 0:43.2 | I don't want people to be neutral about the brand. I want the passion to be back with the brand |
| 0:48.2 | We will be at our best when people are our advocates and our passionate about the J-Crew brand |
| 0:54.8 | And I do believe that really leading with creativity and design will get us back there |
| 1:06.0 | That's Libby Wadel CEO of J-Crew Group parent company for the iconic but struggling J-Crew brand as well as the more vibrant |
| 1:14.2 | Madewell just this week made well announced a new platform made well forever dedicated to reselling previously used made well goods |
| 1:22.0 | I'm Bob Safian former editor of fast company founder of the flux group and host of masters of scale rapid response |
| 1:29.0 | I wanted to talk to Libby because as the marketplace for a parralled dramatically shifts |
| 1:34.0 | She's made a dynamic bet on sustainability to differentiate the company |
| 1:38.5 | Libby took over J-Crew Group in late 2020 not long after the company emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy |
| 1:45.3 | But she's hardly a newcomer she was president of the J-Crew brand when the business was at its peak |
| 1:51.0 | And more recently has been running made well putting in place a playbook for a purpose-led business that she's now rolling out |
| 1:57.8 | Libby is taking entrepreneurial risks in quest of tapping the kind of heat and energy that define J-Crew in its heyday |
| 2:06.1 | A legacy brand doesn't have to mean old and not modern she says with the right creativity and strategic discipline |
| 2:13.0 | There's plenty of opportunity to get excited about |
... |
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