J. Crew is floundering.
It has been struggling for some time, alienating some of its most loyal customers with recent styles that — under creative director Jenna Lyons — have strayed from the classic fashions J. Crew is best known for.
But the company won't directly blame Lyons for its decline, even if she is at the helm of the creative decisions. Instead, CEO Mickey Drexler is blaming sweaters, reports Bloomberg.
For the most recent quarter, J. Crew sales dropped 5.2% to $508.7 million.
"The lion's share of our women's issues is isolated to knits and sweaters, which has been an outsize portion of our business," Drexler said on a conference call with analysts, according to Bloomberg.
He said the retailer "got sloppy" with an ill-fitting cardigan and ran out of one popular hit, the Tippi sweater, according to The New York Post.
“We didn’t have the right cardigan,” Drexler said on the call, according to The Post. "...It didn’t fit that well and we didn’t buy enough of the perfect crew. We’ve become a T-shirt destination.”
J. Crew's off-kilter items have been lampooned by Meaghan Keane on The Gloss. Women's lifestyle website The Hairpin also mocked Jenna Lyons for championing so many outrageously priced and largely unwearable items.
In March, Drexler confessed, "we’ve made some missteps over the last year and we are working hard to course correct," on an earnings call, according to The Wall Street Journal. In the same call, he reportedly admitted, "I don’t think J.Crew women’s looked like J.Crew women’s as much as it could have."
The company also recently infuriated many of its female customers by changing its signature ballet flats, proving that it may have a long way to go before it resolves its problems.
Fortunately, the brand can at least count on its sister company Madewell, whose sales are booming, per Bloomberg.
SEE ALSO: J. Crew is alienating its most important customers
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