Top 45 Mickey Drexler Quotes

We have secured names and trademarks with either loose ideas or intentions, or with our imaginations. Sometimes things come of it, or they don’t.

You know what ends up on the markdown racks? All the weird colors. Guys don’t wear orange or citron.

When I started at Bloomingdale’s as a buyer, Alexander’s was a discounter across the street, and every time Alexander’s had something that we had at Bloomingdale’s, we’d have to meet price. I didn’t really want to be in a business where I had no control over my inventory, the value of my inventory.

I love to work. I have a passion for what I do.

Everything has a trend to it; I don’t care if it’s appliances or engines. I always ask, ‘What has a company done in the past five years that somebody’s noticed?’

Creativity runs on automatic, no matter what’s happening in other parts of my life. I can’t help myself. It’s been in me, and it evolves in me over the years. It’s a condition in me.

I consider a merchant someone who has a certain intuition and instinct, and – very important – knows how to run a business, knows the numbers.

I would like Madewell jeans to be the Levi’s of its generation.

I like someone who’s focused and can tell me what they’ve done well and not well and who’s very open, honest, and self-aware.

My personal opinion about the world is that it’s homogenized.

I spot detail quickly.

Hong Kong has always been a dynamic and exciting and high-energy city, and it has that New York thing going on, and people here care about how they look.

The British invented the classic look. Men’s apparel was created in London, the great English style. You have to respect this country’s suits, shirts, shoes, luggage.

What is fashion? I don’t know.

While 2015 was challenging, we implemented many strategic and operational initiatives to improve our business and better position J.Crew for the future.

Data is very important, but you have to be good at reading the data in an emotional way. If you look at a selling report, there’s an emotional trend to what’s selling.

I didn’t like the name ‘personal shopper.’ That makes it sound like too much of a commodity and not personal enough.

Christopher Columbus discovered America in a blue-and-white sailor shirt, and since then, men have been wearing blue and white shirts.

I find, in merchandising and design and creative, a business school degree isn’t particularly helpful.

I’ve yet to see a correlation in my industry between great social media and great numbers.

Every single day, I’m curious about everything. Curiosity is finding answers to things.

If you think you know the consumer better than anyone, then you’re in real trouble. So we take a close watch. You spend time in stores.

I don’t buy art. I’d rather buy a beautiful location or a beautiful site than buy art. A beautiful home is like owning a beautiful painting, except you can live in it.

I think I was the youngest, fastest-promoted buyer in the history of Bloomingdale’s.

When I was young in the business, I felt anything I wanted to buy personally and professionally was always too expensive.

If you don’t care about the lapel or the buttons or the fit, then you are doing a disservice to the consumer. We’re all inside the tunnel, speaking the language of business, but we need to speak the language of customers.

Growing up, I always wanted a bedroom of my own.

If you get a pant that fits the woman, as all women know, you get a loyal customer for life.

I’m always looking over my shoulder, needing to stay ahead of the game.

Don’t be buying out of emotion. Buy less if you love something but feel it’s a risky item. We don’t want overstock. And remember: No profit, no fun!

I define leadership as: Emotionally, you own your business. You own it with passion. And you either have or you don’t have an economic investment. But when you have all three of those, you are the boss from Day One, and you care every single day more than anyone.

I’m an agent of change all day long, and I want to meet other people like that.

We buy and sell goods. We buy low and sell higher – that’s what we all do to make a profit. But I consider a merchant someone who has a certain intuition and instinct, and – very important – knows how to run a business, knows the numbers.

You can’t separate the clothes from the stores, from the environment.

If you don’t get trained for your SATs in America today, you are at a disadvantage. Training is expensive and a lot of kids don’t get trained, perhaps. So I also identify with the kid or the person who has grown up in environments like I’ve grown up in.

A merchant is someone who figures out how to select, how to smell, how to identify, how to feel, how to time, how to buy, how to sell, and how to hopefully have two plus two equal six.

I call them associates; I don’t like the word ’employee.’

People like consistency. Whether it’s a store or a restaurant, they want to come in and see what you are famous for.

I’m looking forward to partnering with TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners. This transaction is a clear endorsement of J. Crew and the hard work and dedication of all of our associates.

My management style is there is no such thing as non-important people in the company.

You have to build a team, but someone’s got to lead, and someone’s got to be unpopular at times.

I look at companies as price-players or quality-players. The only way to go with J.Crew was quality.

If you get someone right out of college – and I meet a lot of them – you’re not going to get a lot of experience at all, so you have to feel the ambition and desire, which is based on a lot of factors.

Do it, do it right, pay close attention to the product, and over time, you will win.

I couldn’t stand not controlling my own product from how it’s manufactured to how it’s sold.