While it turns out The Daily was just stirring up smoke with those false Jean Paul Gaultier rumors – he & Hermès look forward to a long and happy life together – the French house still has major problems.
WWD reports their profits have taken a 7% dip in the first half of the year which the house claims is fine, since they plan on evening out their numbers in the second half. While it’s tempting to blame the recession, Bryanboy puts it best when he tweets, “That’s what they get for letting Heidi Montag buy their stuff all the time.”
Meanwhile, on the other end of the retail spectrum, J.Crew’s profits aren’t just staying steady, but actually rising. CEO Mickey Drexler says, “There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned recession to make you run a better business.”
J.Crew’s always been the most-luxury of the high-street brands, which might explain, why, during all of this, they’ve consistently done well. If the woman who buys only designer clothing finally needs to cut back, she’s not going to stop shopping, but she will buy her basics elsewhere. And if she was buying $200 t-shirts, J.Crew’s $88 version is a steal.
Not that they’re perfect (Madewell’s not doing so hot), but they are winning while everyone else is losing.



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It was only back in March when J. Crew was still posting negative profits and had company layoffs so I’m not sure they’ve “consistently done well.”
And not everyone else is losing, if we are using the the same standards Guess, Belk, Buckle, Aeropostale, and True Religion all reported increases as well.
mais j’taime Madewell!!! when i can find it in my size on ebay. (shhhhh)
I’m surprised Madewell isn’t doing good with the the positive press buzzing about them.
http://vinesteet.blogspot.com/
the only reason j.crew is unscathed by the recession is the one-woman stimulus package named michelle obama.
-tania
the only reason j.crew is unscathed by the recession is the one-woman stimulus package named michelle obama.
-tania
THANK YOU!!…I was going to say the same thing…Michelle also really gave them some much needed free advertising this year…
actually, there were a lot of stories written about the “obama” effect & how it didn’t really increase that much of their sales. like the item she wore would sell out but it didn’t result in an overall profit increase for the company which, yeah, i found surprising