Prep Rally

**Malique Morris** (0:01)
What they've been able to do on the front end in terms of rebranding and crafting this image and getting people to care about them again, is not necessarily translating to the top and bottom line.

**Peter Hamby** (0:14)
Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Friday, August 21st. Today, I'm joined by Malique Morris with a look at J.Crew and their resurgence in the retail marketplace as they make Preppy cool again. But is the J.Crew buzz actually helping their bottom line? Malique has the story. We also discuss Condé Nast getting into the influencer affiliate game and how Condé is trying to create a new revenue line with Vette.
We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode, The Powers That Be.
Happy Friday everybody and welcome to The Powers That Be. Hey, happy birthday to me. It's my birthday. When you have an August birthday, no one tells you happy birthday when you're a little kid. You need to celebrate yourself a little bit. I'm joined today by my colleague Malique Morris. We're going to talk about the travails of J.Crew. Speaking of young Peter, I spent a lot of time at J.Crew at the Short Pump Mall down there in Richmond, Virginia. We're also going to talk about an influencer marketing strategy that Vogue has just kicked off. But first, Malique, it's good to see you. Let's give a shout out to our colleague, Lauren Sherman, who got a mighty nice profile in Vanity Fair, even though they took some unnecessary shots at Puck. But you know, that's what happens when you're at the top.

**Malique Morris** (1:54)
Yes, we love Lauren Sherman. We stand by Lauren Sherman. It was a very interesting profile. And you know, if you dish it, you got to take it. So that's how that works.

**Peter Hamby** (2:05)
Aidan McLaughlin at Vanity Fair wrote the piece, who I really like, and I met him at a Puck party in DC recently. Super nice guy. Aidan actually shoot me a DM.
Our photographer took a picture of us together, even though we never met. I forgot to send it to you. Anyway, Malique, let's talk about J.Crew and Rolex sweaters.

**Malique Morris** (2:21)
Well, happy birthday to you, actually.

**Peter Hamby** (2:23)
Thank you, thank you. You know, I was fit. I don't fish for compliments, but I just.

**Malique Morris** (2:27)
See, you're a Leo.

**Peter Hamby** (2:29)
I am a Leo. What are you?

**Malique Morris** (2:30)
Interesting, I'm a Taurus.

**Peter Hamby** (2:32)
Got it, just like my brother, just like my brother.

**Malique Morris** (2:35)
What day is your brother?

**Peter Hamby** (2:37)
He is May 2nd.

**Malique Morris** (2:39)
Okay, I'm April 30th, so a week apart.

**Peter Hamby** (2:42)
We'll trade astrology notes next time you're in Venice with all the other astrology freaks out here. Anyway, let's talk about roll neck sweaters, Malique. I like a roll neck.
I have two roll necks. You know where I got them? I got them from Todd Snyder, and Lauren Sherman knows I love my Todd Snyder. The connective tissue to the story is that I believe the designer Todd Snyder is a former J.Crew guy.

**Malique Morris** (3:07)
Yeah, a former J.Crew guy.

**Peter Hamby** (3:09)
And I think we've talked about this on previous podcasts where in the taxonomy of mass market prep wear, you've got Banana Republic and you've got Gap and you've got J.Crew, which has always been, you know, at least when I was coming up, they're sort of at the higher end of retail fashion and then they fell off for a few years. And it does feel like they're making a little bit of a comeback. There's a J.Crew store on Abbot Kinney, right by me, the fashion capital of the West.
And you go in there and like the stuff feels nicer. The store experience feels a little nicer. I think the question that you're trying to figure out here in your piece, which by the way had the great headline, to live J.Crew, those who get it, get it.
Can you be a, there's probably a better word for a mass market brand, but can you be a mass market brand at the same time when you're making your approximate luxury products? And I bring up the Roll Next Sweater because they just launched a big campaign with Bad Bunny and Maggie Rogers. Jasmine Tookes, married to my friend from Snap, Juan. Shout out, Juan. What's the challenge for J.Crew right now in the marketplace?

**Malique Morris** (4:19)
It's interesting because, you know, you say you're going to the store and you're feeling the quality, it feels a little nicer. The quality of the product is actually something that's kind of in question. What they've been doing really well at J.Crew is an image overhaul. They've really kind of gone back to the roots of being preppy, you know, in the 2010s when it was, you know, the creative was driven by Jenna Lyons.