Millard "Mickey" S. Drexler (born August 17, 1944) is an American businessman and investor, currently CEO of Alex Mill, and head of Drexler Ventures. He was formerly the CEO and chairman of

J.Crew Group J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, d ...

, as well as the CEO of

Gap Inc The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap (stylized as GAP), is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. Gap was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The c ...

Early life and education

Born to Jewish parents in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, his mother died when he was 16. He studied at the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, and

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1 ...

. He later received an MBA. from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

Career

In the mid-1970s, Drexler was a

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more ...

vice-president at

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. He has also worked at Ann Taylor,

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a divi ...

, and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

. He was on

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

’s board of directors from 1999 until 2015.

Gap Inc.

Drexler is often credited with Gap's meteoric rise during the 1990s. Prior to his involvement, Gap had been a relatively small chain selling private and public

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

s. Under Drexler the company made a dramatic shift to

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

brand merchandise and expanded rapidly to become an iconic part of 1990s

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

, such as "khakis, basics and casual Fridays". Television advertisements featuring songs such as "Mellow Yellow" and "Dress You Up in My Love" showcased the relaxed American casual look that defined the Gap brand. On May 22, 2002, however due to a sales slump and ballooning debt, plus his management style which clashed with the Fisher family, Drexler was abruptly forced to announce his retirement by Gap founder

Donald Fisher Donald George Fisher (September 3, 1928 – September 27, 2009) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded The Gap Inc. clothing stores with his wife Doris F. Fisher. Early life and education Fisher was born in ...

. Drexler stayed on as CEO until September 26, 2002, when

Paul Pressler Paul Pressler is the chair of the board of directors of eBay. He was previously CEO of Gap, Inc., chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and a partner at the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Early life and career Pressler rece ...

was named as his successor. Drexler was bitter about his ouster but it was validated when sales rebounded one month after his departure.

J.Crew Group

The J.Crew Group, an American clothing and accessories retailer based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, was founded in 1983 with the launch of its

catalog Catalog or catalogue may refer to: *Cataloging **'emmy on the 'og **in science and technology ***Library catalog, a catalog of books and other media ****Union catalog, a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries ...

and expanded into

brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases ...

retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

in 1989 with its first store at the

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...

in New York City. J.Crew hired Drexler as chairman and CEO in 2003 after his abrupt departure from Gap. Applying similar strategies from Gap, Drexler sought to reposition the J.Crew brand as a truly upscale boutique. What was once a low-priced, American, dressy-casual brand became more an upscale, dressy-vintage American brand with "frills included". On June 5, 2017, it was announced that Drexler would step aside as chief executive. He had been unable to stop a several year slide as consumer tastes changed. Drexler noted that "J.Crew raised prices and underwent expansion during years when consumers became more and more thrifty". On January 18, 2019, Drexler announced his retirement as chairman, but will remain a strategic advisor to the Office of the CEO and the board.

Alex Mill

As of 2021, Drexler is the CEO of Alex Mill, a clothing brand started by his son.

In popular culture

Drexler has made a guest appearance in an episode of the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

drama ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited ...

'' called '' Confessions'', in which he plays a car wash customer. Drexler said his scene took nine takes to film.

References

External links

Official J.Crew Website

Official Madewell website

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090301022408/http://jcrewaholics.com/behind-the-scenes/a-jcrewaholics-email-to-mickey-drexler/ An Email to Mickey Drexler from JCrewAholics {{DEFAULTSORT:Drexler, Millard American retail chief executives 20th-century American Jews Boston University School of Management alumni The Bronx High School of Science alumni Directors of Apple Inc. Gap Inc. people 1944 births Living people University at Buffalo alumni American chief executives of fashion industry companies People from the Bronx 21st-century American Jews