Hard timesAfter the deal with Texas Pacific Group where the buyout company acquired a majority stake for $560 million, one of J Crew's co-founders, Emily Woods has left the company. According to one of the company's lead designers under TPG, the company's design approach was primarily focused on cost: "We would get a list: X styles, six pants for $55, seven pants for $70 . We would choose fabrics and design them into criteria boxes. This completely stifled creativity. » As J Crew's clothing became too "boring" for its typical customers, the company's losses began to widen, from $11 million in 2001 to $40 million in 2002. The atmosphere in the company was made even worse by the fact that 3 CEOs disappeared in 5 years. TPG's goals to grow the business and grow the brand didn't appear to be coming to fruition. One of the reasons merchandise became boring and no longer attractive to customers was that most production and design decisions were driven by cost. The creative team addressed the cost issue by providing products that could be produced at a reasonable price. However, these were not the products customers wanted and regardless of their price, they did not sell very well. TPG's next hire was Mickey Drexler, who had previously been fired from J Crew's rival Gap. Widely credited with turning around Gap and increasing its revenue from [ ] to [ ] over the course of a decade, Drexler eventually fell out with the founder and made poor decisions regarding the company's growth. Ultimately, this proved to be a crucial “learning” for his J Crew turnaround. Drexler backgroundMickey Drexler was known in the retail community for turning around both Gap and, earlier, Ann Taylor. He was often in the middle of paper...... by J Crew :1. J Crew children's line – “CrewCuts” – something that J Crew did not do before but it was done based on the example of United Colors of Benetton, but within the quality/style framework consistent with the new strategy adopted by J Crew2. J Crew Bridal – a new line created to reflect what customers were buying. It was discovered that many customers were purchasing simple cocktail dresses in different colors as bridesmaid dresses. So the company was quick to take advantage of this and create a separate line. Collection - this was the highest segment in terms of quality/price, which represented items sometimes selling for several hundred dollars.4. Madwell – a more upscale and trendy clothing brand for younger people. The increase in J Crew's supply was immediately reflected after the takeover and continued to grow after the initial increase in new stores in 2008.