YouSaid · the spoken record

Libby Wadle

lines on the record: 22
first: 2021-07-22
most recent: 2021-07-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“With ThreadUp is really the start of something that could be even bigger. I think that Like we do a lot at Madewell, we like to sort of test and learn and try some things. And I think this is a good foray into a much bigger opportunity. So I picture other categories and other ways of playing in the resale world. So I'm excited about sort of paving the way for Madewell and J. Crew to participate in a more important way in the resale business.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Think that we have to reignite the energy and the fire and the love that people have with the J-Crew brand. That is our job. That's what we need to do. That's our mandate. And I think that it's there. A lot of people know J-Crew. We don't have an issue right now with brand awareness in as much as I don't want people to be neutral about the brand. I want the passion to be back with the brand. We will be at our best when people are advocates and are passionate about the J-Crew brand. And I do believe that really leading with creativity and design will get us back there. And so I'm really hopeful. I think on a much more hopeful, optimistic way versus what's at stake when I think about our opportunity at J-Crew. I think that the resale platform that we've built”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We all sort of have lives that we had to juggle. And so, definitely, I think just going through all of this together has actually helped a lot in terms of the way I like to lead, which is in a way that's pretty transparent and connected to my team. And again, like I said in a very kind of collaborative way.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we have no more loudspeaker. I did not disconnect the loudspeaker, but it does not exist anymore. But what that loudspeaker meant and what that means to me is when I try to do it now and I come into the office, I'm in the office today, I walk around and I talk to everyone and I think again that connection like I said before the humanity and it's really important in the Zoom culture to take a moment at the beginning of these calls to actually catch up, I think. And so we do a little bit of that as well. It's certainly challenging for sure. I think though again what came out of COVID is we all got a little bit more casual and so people saw my dog jump across the back of my couch my kid having a meltdown in the background you know whatever it is but I think there's automatically this sort of like veil that was lifted for many of us and”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“With her best edit and the best curation. And of course, we want to have the items that she needs to have no matter when or where and she wants to run and pick up. But I think what shifted really is that the stores need to be the best of and that the channel of convenience has really become the online channel.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Listen, everything's accelerated, right? So obviously, online usage and everyone's e-commerce business has increased substantially more than they thought it would have. So two years ago, we assorted the stores thinking that maybe you didn't have to have your best of there, that it could be sort of where your classics could be, your stockups. You could run in and out to pick up. And I think what's shifted is the convenience is now really happening online and that your channel of convenience and your channel of experience and really experiencing that brand in the best possible way is happening in the store. It's no secret that our made roll stores in general are 3,000 feet. They're not that big. So you can't have everything at these stores. And I think we really want to show up with our best foot forward.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I'll say that you never would wish for it to happen, but there's something about actually having the stores closed literally that reinforces the meaning of that channel and why you need that physical part of the business. It's not like the conversation wasn't being had before going into the pandemic, right? About how important our stores, what's happening to the retail environment, how many stores are you going to have? And I think the beautiful thing about Madewell is we have a good amount of stores. We don't have a ton. We're not overstored. It's a complementary experience. And if anything, COVID has really reinforced that complement of stores to your online experience. So people get it, customers get it. They really want that human connection. If anything, COVID has just made that, I think, more apparent to us.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Creative and then the customer needs to tell us how things are fitting. Are they liking how the fabric feels? I'll tell you we've developed our stores in Madewell where the fitting rooms are built in almost all of the stores on the selling floor and they're really sort of adjacent to or across from the denim bar. So they're intentionally to create that dialogue and conversation. So whether you're shopping with your friend or your friend can be there with you or your mom couldn't be there, but you have the denim stylist who is there to help create that conversation and have that conversation with you. And that is by far the most valuable feedback that we get in terms of improving our genes. So she might not tell us that, oh, I'm definitely going to want to wear a balloon jean next year. That's fine. That's for us to tell her. But she's going to tell us how is that comfort stretch working for the fit. So it's definitely a balance of both.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, you can have analysis paralysis on the data, and you can also have it on too many anecdotal stories, right? And I think there's still an element of allowing your sort of great design team and great creative team to give you the courage to move forward so you can give your customer confidence that you are ultimately the curator and the great editor of their closet. And there's definitely some places that we should be pushing forward. But there's also some places where a classic is a classic and we encourage people to continue to, especially in the spirit of sustainability, shop from their closet. So we're not necessarily about sort of fashion for fashion's sake. We don't sort of go overboard on which color do like pink or red. And storytelling for our brands are very important. And that has to come from design and”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know what I think about when someone says we're a legacy brand at J Crew? I think as long as we have a great legacy, to me that shouldn't mean old or not modern. So when I think about when J. Crew was hot and I believe it's about sort of the, it's the same kind of frankly energy that we're feeling today when we put creativity and product at the forefront of things. And what we're feeling right now in general in the world, in our business, is that people are excited to get dressed again. And I think both J. Crew and Madewell play a really important role in being brands that can do that.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We are brands, and that's how we think of ourselves. And because of that, we think of ourselves sort of beyond the day in, day out of selling genes, which is important. It's so great to get a great fitting pair of jeans. But at the end of the day, we're really building. And has an energy about it that you hear the name and you have a memory or a thought that is exciting. So with Madewell, it's having that impact beyond sort of shopping experience and having that deeper connection with her as a customer or him as a customer as part of our community. And we're really doing that as well at JCR.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, definitely ongoing because those kind of commitments we spent a while really developing what our targets and commitments should be. And so that do well report is what came out in October of last year was really a culmination of all of the work we had been doing and we wanted to feel really confident about being able to hit those targets and then some, frankly. So did not come out of the pandemic. It made though that work so much more important. I think everyone's just become so much more aware about wellness, not only of taking care of themselves, but what's happening in the world and the planet. And already people cared a lot, especially our customer at Madewell, about the companies where they choose to shop and whether their values align. That is even more important than ever for us that we really connect that way. And so, yeah.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And what is most important to them. So I wanted to go and hear what they were thinking about. They hadn't decided yet. And they presented to us thoughts, the things that they were determining. And I got to hear that and speak to the factory workers directly about why these things were meaningful to them. And I also told Sylvie just about this amazing organic garden they were growing on site at the factory and they were very proudly showing me all of that. I planted a tree for them. And I just really got to spend time with them in a way that having been in the apparel industry for so long was very different than frankly walking into a factory, like seeing the factory floor and then going into a room and meeting with factory management. And the perspective was very different from how you show up normally as a retailer. It put so much more humanity into what you're doing.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, I went to Vietnam. I'd say now. I always have to subtract the year of COVID out, probably about three or four years ago. Maybe four. And we visited with our partners at SciTex, and they were our first factory, in fact. And they're one of our most important denim partners. And they agreed to join on this journey with us on fair trade. And what you do with fair trade is basically they have a committee that is formed made up of the workers. So it's not management. So it's the workers and the workers sort of elect who is going to speak for them and be part of the committee to decide how they want to spend the fair trade premiums to sort of better the lives in their own community. So some people spend it on building daycares, some people spend it on financial advice services. Some people grow organic gardens. And there's a lot of way that depending on the situation.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it was a little bit of a combination of the two of them. I'll tell you that I've never felt more inspired and excited and invigorated by my job as I have been in the past, I'd say four or five years as we've been building purpose along with business. It's added this whole dimension that is so much more meaningful. I can really feel proud of telling my daughter stories about my visit to the Fairtrade factory in Vietnam and what it meant to the communities there and what they were choosing to spend their fair trade fees on versus what the best selling gene was, which is great as well. I love that part of the business as well. But I think for all of us who have been on this journey here at J Crew Group and in Madewell, we've always had a real sort of startup mentality and an entrepreneurial mentality with everything that we do.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, I love being a guinea pig. It's good. I mean, especially in sustainability, I welcome anyone to join this because it's really great when people can really pioneer and pave the way and more people can join in. There's another program that we do. We were the first Denim brand to partner with Fair Trade and certify factories to produce Fairtrade denim. And very quickly people followed us, which we think is fantastic because it just you make a bigger impact that way. So feel the same way around resale for sure.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. They're great partners. We've learned a lot from them. We know that Madewell is one of the most popular brands sold and resold on Threatup. And so it seemed like a really amazing connection to sort of build this together. They wanted to get into resale as a service from a platform and expanding their business. And we were really up for being the first to do it with them. So it's been a really fun partnership.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Launched some resale shops in partnership with ThreadUp, and we've had great success there with recycled Madewell denim or jeans sold in those in-person shops. And that was sort of our very initial dipping our toe in the water on this business. And so here we are today with a much bigger platform and we're partnering with ThreadUp actually who is powering our site because they know this business, I think, better than anyone.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so we have an amazing community at Madewell who loves to tell us what they think. We tap into that. We have a program. It's really a sort of a crowdsourcing program. It's called Madewell Group Chat. It's got around 5,000 volunteers who we tap into for all sorts of topics about what she's loving, what she cares about in the world, where else she shops or what she would like to see from us, how our fits are, and what we've learned in those chats are that resale and circularity and sustainability in general are increasingly important to our community at Madewell. You ask people, who was the competition, and you're often going to hear, I like to thrift as well as shop at Madewell and sort of mix and match vintage with my Madewell denim. A few years ago, we launched a lot of...”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Step really is a way to expand the effort in circularity, broaden our audience, and really get into the resale business because we know that our customer, he loves made well, but we know that she also really loves to shop resale. And when we talk to her and we talk to her quite a bit, we get that answer over and over again. And so we know that we could probably expand the, I like to say, number of butts in jeans by getting into the retail resale business, but also really making a difference and leading the way. Apparel is not the cleanest business in the world. And so the more you can do to make the life of the genes and the apparel longer, the better off we all are.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sure. So Maidwell is part of our J-Crew group here, and I did run that business for a few years before taking on this new role for the whole group. And we are very excited that we just launched this Made Well Forever site, which is our resale platform. And it's focused really in increasing the life of our genes many years ago now. We started a program called Blue Jeans Go Green, and that's a recycling program for genes where you can bring any gene in, and we will recycle those genes and turn them into housing insulation and housing insulation goes to great, great organizations, organizations like Habitat for Humanity and that kind of thing. So that was really our first foray into circularity and denim. And to date, we've recycled over a million pairs of genes. And so this next.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Never would wish for it to happen, but there's something about actually having the stores closed literally that reinforces the meaning of that channel and why you need that physical part of the business. We have an amazing community at Madewell who loves to tell us what they think. And what we've learned in those chats are that resale and circularity and sustainability in general are increasingly important to our community. We have to reignite the energy and the fire and the love that people have with the J Crew brand. I don't want people to be neutral about the brand. I want the passion to be back with the brand. We will be at our best when people are advocates and are passionate about the J-Crew brand. Believe that really leading with creativity and design will get us back there.”
2021-07-22 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: Inside J.Crew's purposeful pivot, with CEO Libby Wadle · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT