J.Crew Hires Madewell’s Head Designer
Models at J.Crew’s Fall 2015 presentation. Photo: Getty
J.Crew’s latest attempt to raise its profits to its flourishing sister brand Madewell’s level? Hiring the man behind Madewell’s best selling clothes.
In a statement released Wednesday evening, the retailer with a sweater problem revealed that it will be replacing Tom Mora as the brand’s Head of Women’s Design with Somsack Sikhounmuong, Head of Design for Madewell. Sikhounmuong has worked for J.Crew and Madewell for 14 years, and was top dog at Madewell for two.
Mora, who is now leaving the company entirely, had held his position since September, 2011.
And Mora’s not the only one who’ll need to start looking for a new job: The company also said that it will lay off 175 employees—mostly from its corporate headquarters—in an effort to “streamline operations to support its omni-channel business and reduce overall expenses.”
Said J.Crew Chairman and CEO Mickey Drexler, “We are making meaningful and strategic changes across our organization to better position us for future growth. While many of these decisions were difficult, they are necessary With Somsack in his new role, we will continue to focus on making critical improvements to our J.Crew women’s assortment including fit, design aesthetic and styling. We know what needs to be done and while many of these initiatives take time, we have a committed team in place to make it happen.“
J.Crew announced just last week that it has already suffered $462.4 million in losses this year (compared to just $30.1 million in the same period last year). Meanwhile, Madewell’s sales are up 33 percent.
Taking over for Sikhounmuong at Madewell is Joyce Lee, who’s been at the company for seven years. We’ll have to wait and see how much these assignment changes will affect both J.Crew and Madewell… and whether Sikhounmuong’s expertise can turn that whole dire cardigan situation around.
More from Yahoo Style:
J.Crew’s Returning to “Classics” — & We Can’t Wait
Meet the Designer Behind Madewell’s Cool Basics
The J.Crew You Loved Is Returning in 2015
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