Name: The Power of Partnerships: J.Crew Hits The Slopes
Uploaded: 2025-10-16
Duration: 19 min 21 s

What do J.Crew and the U.S. Ski Team have in common besides parkas? Retail and sports collaborations are having a moment, and ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics (and after J.Crew’s partnership with USA Swimming led to a 10% boost in new customers), the brand is now launching a collaboration with U.S. Ski. The CEOs of both organizations will discuss how they plan to reach new audiences, drive cultural relevance, and amplify the visibility of two enduring icons at a moment when the world will be watching.

The Power of Partnerships: J.Crew Hits The Slopes

Conferences

Who here, show of hands cannot stop thinking about the Olympic Games that are 4 months away because I can't. I might be the only one and that's OK too, but start thinking about it because so, so Libby, J.Crew partnered with USA Swimming last summer on a collection ahead of the Paris Olympics, and in March, your brand announced a collaboration with Sovier US Ski ahead of the 2026 winter. games which are coming up so fast. So Libby, I want to start with you. Fashion retail is so hyper competitive. Why invest in sports in a time where you could be, you know, chasing influencers, TikTok trends, any other buzzy things? What is it about sports that really spoke to you? I think, first of all, thank you for having us. This is great and actually for me to just hear Fran at Abercrombie is doing such an amazing job. It's really fun to follow that. Um, so you know, I think with J.Crew, you know, we don't do a ton of sort of chasing lots of trends. I think what's important to us is we always sort of go back our touchstone really is our history, our heritage, and, uh, really quality and how much that's mattered. About the year and so when we pick people to partner with or uh brands to partner with brands that have really a similar sort of authenticity about them, a similar heritage um and a really like-minded in a lot of ways is really critical for us so. For us, uh, it's really about finding that partner where you have this sort of organic connection. So sports for us, obviously we're not a performance brand, we're not a sports brand, although, you know, maybe you've worked out in a J.Crew tank tie but that might be as far as you get, but we do have a heritage certainly slope side and we're worn our cashmere is worn Are ski. Which is frankly my favorite part of skiing, right? A lot of people, and so, and we've had, you know, years and years with our beautiful J.Crew catalog creative of, you know, a woman in a tartan ball ball skirt and a cashmere sweater sitting on a chair lift, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of DNA there and so for us this really felt incredibly. to tap into honestly sports, which is so much a part of a culture. It's where our customer is, you know, skiing and snowboarding is a growing sport and it definitely is something that our customer base does. It's an activity that we all can really relate to, so it felt very, very natural. And honestly today sports, you know, you just heard about the NFL sports is where Where there's a lot of divisive things going on right now, sports, we all come together it's a time that we can all get together and for us we're a multi-generational brand and skiing. And snowboarding is really a multi-generational sport. You bring your kids out there to ski for the first time, and it's something that you can do together. So it really resonated for us and J.Crew. And Sophie, that brings me to you. What was appealing to you? Were there any risks you saw? Was this maybe a thought that you had to maybe make the sport more accessible to more people, or what was going on in your mind? Yeah, well, Oliy's articulated it brilliantly, not much more for me to add, but right from the Get go it did just seem like such an organic fit. I remember when we were looked at the catalogs, even the designs for the first time, we literally had no feedback. It's like exactly what does that ever happen for you, Libby that no one gives you feedback, no. I'm like we, we often get feedback, yeah, yeah, um, but it's pretty fantastic, I will say, yeah, the design team really hit it out of the park and they even had sort of, um, a lot of the items that you're gonna see in a few months already, you know, on show from prior catalogs. Decades they're literally bringing back that heritage and history, which for us is very, very important, you know, the history of our athletes and just these sports is what we really pride ourselves on, as well as being with such an iconic American brand. I mean, at the end of the day we are the US ski and snowboard team, so we do want that authentic connection. So this is just allowing us to really transition into the lifestyle space. I mean, I'm fortunate I've worked in a lot of different sports. This is my favorite job that I've ever had. I've Talked about a lot of sports being lifestyle. I can honestly say these are the ultimate lifestyle sports, whether you ever put on skis or a snowboard like Libby said, who doesn't want to be part of these just amazing locations, be part of the outdoors and enjoying a pre, whatever form that might take. And so this really allows us to transition into that area. I think, to be honest, not really in a way that any other sport sport could so it just feels really right. The other thing I would say for us, um, being actually a not for profit, even though we're very commercial. Minded and want to generate as much revenue as possible, we're all about our athletes in the sports and again in the early conversations it was like not what can the athletes do for us? What can we do for the athletes? How can they be involved in the product? How can we give them? What, what do they need when they're on the road? How can they really be a part of this process and they love that. Um, it doesn't normally start with that conversation. It's like, OK, how many appearances what are they gonna do XY is it both for the athletes and consumers? You wanna have kind of a dual purpose this partnership? Yeah, I mean, I would say, and so if you can speak certainly to to what how the athletes benefit, I'd say that I think it really is an opportunity to give of course our brand a great platform, but also these athletes have worked their entire life for this moment. It's such an important moment for them and it's thrilling to be able to feature their stories, so we do so much more than just photograph them, we'll be highlighting their individual stories along the way and I mean, the best part about this for me at least, and as you said we did, we had the great collaboration with um US swim, um, really meeting these athletes and understanding their journey and then honestly their journey after, right, and really understanding, you know, helping we had great relationships post the the games just offering advice and and really connecting with athletes and stand out that you can point out that were really exciting to you or any people that. You know, we're interesting. Yeah, so we, um, there's a woman, Natalie Hind actually who was a medalist in the 2020 Olympics, and she was featured in our in our campaign for US swim that we did, and we just formed a great connection. We have occasional Zoom calls to sort of check in and see what's going on and. Um, I learned as much from her. I think probably as she does from me in terms of sort of what's next for athletes after these pinnacle moments. It's just, I think really eye-opening and um really I think a testament to The way we approach our partnerships, which is really sort of very holistically and again it's about an authentic connection and we want the customers to feel an authentic connection with the athletes it's critical, yeah. So if you're speaking of the athletes, I feel like, you know, women's sports obviously is having a moment, as we all know with WNBA. Do you see a similar wave building in winter sports or what do you think it'll take to actually get to that level? Yeah, I mean, we've had an amazing tradition of having transcendent athletes in our sports on the female side. I always feel a little bit bad talking about that because our men have done brilliantly as well, but the women have set the standard, but it's a women's conference, you know, we've got to celebrate them going back, you know, years, Peekaboo Street, Lindsey Vonn with her amazing comeback. She turns 41 next week and she's got a chance of winning an Olympic medal with a new knee. Mikaela Shiffrin. The greatest ever female or male alpine skier in the world, better than any of the Europeans, Chloe Kim, Jessie Diggins. So yeah, they, they sort of results speak for themselves, but they also have this bigger purpose. And so for us, look, it's very timely for us it's kind of a tailwind of this momentum around women's sports because we've had it now for decades, and I think that multigenerational. is also really cool. I mean, it's going to be one of our campaigns in the future. I think also what makes our sports so special as it is something that grandparents do with their grandkids, you know, the fact that you spend so much time on the chairlift, not just doing the sport, and you can't be on devices because you get frostbite and you just sort of forced to engage and I think, yeah, that's something that makes it really quite, quite unique lesson for kids. I think we can all use that. Um, I'm going to come to the audience for in for questions in just a second, um, but Libby, quick question for you on the partnership. So both of your organizations have such rich histories. How do you protect, you know, the authenticity of both of them when when joining forces and how do you make sure you're true to both of your brands? Yeah, I mean, I think we start from the very beginning to the way we figure out if this is gonna work is that connection point and. You know our our design team and our marketing team uh flew out to Park City where these guys are based at the very beginning of the relationship and together with their team really dove into the archive and made sure that we really understand sort of their history and we didn't just sort of transfer what we believed the. Creative and the product could be through our lens only and I think that was really critical and you say you didn't have any feedback but the truth is we had so much inspiration uh from this original trip uh from our team who went and and raided the closet basically they have rooms we didn't even know existed yeah yeah she. Yeah, an old uniform, exactly, and they were really good at combing through the archives. I will say they're very good at that. And, and they came back with, with these actually these a lot of the most valuable pieces they came back with were these vintage patches from all of the past games that were on the performance wear and the uniforms. And so that was really The the starting point for how we created the collection and now sort of the actual vintage patches show up across the collection and they inspired some of the other designs so I think that we have to honor the heritage of that that brand in order to do the collaboration justice because. Customers see right through you I think if it's not authentic and if it doesn't come from somewhere real there are a bazillion collaborations today one launches every every day in this business and to cut through. You know, we need to tell a really good story and we have to have really connected authentic products so it really it has to be real. That makes sense. Gen Z is all about authenticity too, and we'll we'll come back to them and what the next generation wants in a second, um, but any questions from our audience out here? OK. Yes, May coming. Hi, so great to see you soon, um, again, I saw you in Davos. When would the, um, peekaboo and all the snowboarders kicking will come here. It will be wonderful to hear the stories. Yeah, we, we'd love to have them come join at one of these, um, events. I mean, it's fantastic to hear from them directly. Um, I don't want to distract them at the moment because they're focusing on training. Our season actually starts um a week from from Friday, so, um, they're really in sort of the final stages of their prep, but they love to participate in these kind of activities and they're, they're so, um, well rounded, to be honest. Athletes aren't making the millions of dollars that some others are. Some do very well, but in general, they just have a different perspective. A lot of them are in further education, they're doing internships, have second jobs, and so actually in these kind of environments, they're fascinating to hear from and just very humble and grateful as well, which I think is also very, very refreshing in this day and age. But we'll try and get them. I see one over here. Hi, good morning, Christine Russo. I worked in the 6th Avenue corporate office when the senators were there, and it's good to see, yeah, a long time ago, and it was the height of the roll neck sweater and the barn jacket, and I see that it's back. So speaking of heritage. Speaking of heritage, how is that going and how much does that play into your merchandizing strategy? Yes, wow, that's a great question. Was it planted? I've been wanting to talk about the role ever since I sat down. No, it's, it plays, it's a big part of what we're doing. Like I said, we love to dive into archives, and I think when I took this role I've been not as far back as that, but I've been with the group for about 22 years now, so I have a lot of history, some would say baggage, but I call it history. Uh, with J.Crew and and through all different versions of J.Crew, and I think what I know is when we've been at our best is we really do tap into our roots and our heritage and what connects people to that and that's, you know, we would be nothing without our history and our heritage and it's honestly a big differentiator for us. So with the roll neck, it's been incredible for those of you who haven't seen it, but hopefully. You have, we, we did a big relaunch with our new roll neck generation where we have a men's roll neck which was our original roll neck that you speak about that was designed in 1988, and we have a 2025 roll neck that we designed on the women's side and we put together an incredible cast of young creative talent to represent our New rollneck generation and that campaign came out last month and was incredibly viral and at this point we still have Roll next coming in but it's kind of a get it while you while it lasts moment which is great if you're in our business we want it to last a little bit longer so I wish I had a little bit more inventory but it's another story uh but it's incredibly important and especially today when. Nostalgia. People are just feeling comfort and nostalgia. It's a big part of trend. I'd say our generation is feeling comfort and nostalgia, and the new generation sees the trend of nostalgia, and that is really an incredible moment for a brand that has so much heritage like J.Crew, and so it's a great opportunity to tap into that. So more to come, but it's, it's been incredible. The roll neck has been. Um, a great moment for us for both sort of the old timers like me and for new people coming to J.Crew. Livia, I have a follow up question on on that and it's talking about generations because J.Crew's been on this big turnaround journey since the bankruptcy filing in 2020. What are you doing to kind of keep the momentum going, um, bring new audiences into the brand so. Doesn't just resonate, you know, it's millennials like me who grew up with it, but what are you seeing that like Gen Z, Gen Alpha want to keep this brand sustaining for the future? Yeah, I mean, I think that like I said before, there's this sort of authenticity piece that all of the generations care about and the references being a brand um that has references back to a Almost a better time or a nostalgic time like I said it's just I see that that's a common connection I think for all the generations. So whether you're someone like me who got the J.Crew catalog in college, I dog eared it, I knew I couldn't. I spoke to the woman in Lynchburg, Virginia, by the way, she's still there, you know, taking my order on the or from the order form that you used to fill out and then waiting for those packages. That kind of nostalgia. I bought my first my first suit for an interview. I didn't get the job, but I bought my first interview suit at a J.Crew. I remember the fabric. I remember the experience, and that is still resonant today. We have a new generation of people coming into J.Crew looking for their interview suit and then looking for a roll neck sweater and so I think always trying to find those moments of resonance that really cuts across. Multi-generations has been critical for us. It's not just about one generation. It's really about connecting and finding that commonality with all. It's just been fun, yeah, yeah. I want to end on some advice because I think that's what a lot of people here in the room are looking for. We've all seen, you know, the dangers of partnerships when they go south, Gav and Kanye, to name a few, but you know, what advice would you give to brands who are looking to partner with each other? What do you think is really important that our audience here know? Sophia I'll start with you and we have about a minute each. Yeah, I mean, I think you can feel quite early on whether it's a good fit or not, you know, you can't really fake it, especially if you've got the right sort of level of people engaged in the conversation. Um, so just being very clear about what you're looking for going into it, if it doesn't match that, then move in a different direction because, you know, these relationships go through highs and lows, whether it's the economy or other things, especially when you're talking about live sports, things don't go always according to plan. So if you haven't got that true authentic foundation and for us there were just so many check boxes, um, but you've got to spend time with the people, you know, to really make sure that um you are aligned and that you're in it, in it together for the long run because short term for us. It doesn't doesn't work um for us it has to be a long term partnership to really make it worthwhile. That makes sense. Yeah, what about you? I mean, it's important this collab is the longest collab we've ever signed on for. It's a 3 year partnership and so you know it's, it's, it's one of a kind for us. It's new, it's very exciting and like I said, we've only dabbled in sports. This is really the deepest we'll have gone, and I think Sophie's right you have. To make sure I mean you got you're gonna, we're going to be together for 3 years we better like each other and we and we're already we had dinner last night and we were already sort of brainstorming about what's next because there's life after the Olympic Games and we're excited about what we could be doing next and how it could sort of give a platform to both of our businesses and I think you have to, you have to want to have that continuous dialogue and I think you have to be working with a partner who wants to have that balance and and is really sort of. to the things you do really well and then really respects what's important for your partner like Sophie said, you know, the athletes couldn't be here because they are sort of on the road to the games and training starts like next week in terms of actual snow on the ground and skiing and so really being respectful to the athletes throughout all of this is critical. So I just think that's and you you just have to really love working together, I think, yeah, great advice. Thank you both so much. Good luck at the games. Thank you. Thank you very much so much thank you.