Troubled retailer J Crew Group plans to replace its present CEO Jan Singer with Libby Wadle, CEO, once again unifying the leadership of the group under one CEO. Leadership reshuffle may add to the current instability at the company, which only emerged from Chapter 11 restructuring in September. The brand’s turnaround is now more challenging given the ongoing disruption in apparel spending, as the pandemic continues to radically alter US consumers’ shopping habits.
J Crew has been struggling since 2015 when its sales began to slide Saddled with debt, it became hooked on discounts and lost the trust of consumers, who once came to it for quality basics. Successive executives have struggled to reset the brand for the current, fragmented, digital retail era.
It now falls to Wadle to find a way forward. After years saddled with debt, the company’s recent restructuring leaves her with more breathing room than her predecessors, but she is inheriting a far more challenging retail environment.
Prior to her most recent position overseeing Madewell, Wadle was the president of the J Crew brand and has held multiple senior roles since she joined the group in 2004.
