“I am a young, old guy. I have 'shpilkes'," he told WWD. "I am always in a state of impatience. I have been here for 14 years. I thought it was time to move on and lessen up on the day-to-day. The succession plan had been in motion for some time. I told the board a year ago I was ready to step down and move to chairman. We worked together looking for the right talent to lead the next phase of growth."
Drexler, who will carry on as chairman of the brand, will be succeeded by James Brett in the role of CEO, of whom Drexler said, "When we found Jim, we knew we had to move quickly... Jim has a proven track record of pushing for innovation and growing omnichannel brands. He has 25 years of retail experience, not that experience is the issue. He has had various leadership positions at Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie - there’s a proven track record there. You meet a lot of people during this succession process who might have impressive résumés but really haven’t had a chance to build a business. Jim has had a chance to build a business.”
Drexler, who has 37 years retail experience, transformed J Crew's business prospects when he came on board in 2003 when sales stood at $600 million and he quickly grew revenues to $2.3 billion - although recently has faced an uncertain period that has seen the brand landed with debts of $1.5 billion and a significant decline in sales.
“I think this is the most challenging period apparel retailing has seen maybe ever,” Drexler said, adding that he was going to allow Brett to be CEO from day one, despite there being a handover period, and allow him to be the boss. “People aren’t shopping the way they used to shop. There’s a revolution going on out there - an online revolution, but we have been doing a lot of strategic work. We have great people in place and we’re moving forward.”
His announcement comes two months after long-term employee Jenna Lyons, whose career trajectory Drexler nurtured from staff designer to creative director and president, departed the company. At the time, Drexler said that the decision for Lyons's departure came after the pair "agreed it was time for a change," with no hard feelings being held. As for his new position as chairman, 72-year-old Drexler - who still owns 10 per cent in the company, said he is still working on it.
“I have to work this out. The script has not yet been written. I’m here to mentor, to be helpful, to teach and help strategically when called upon. If you ask me the question in three or six months, I’ll have a much better answer.”
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