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Fashion August 12, 2010, 5:00PM EST

J.Crew Takes a Leading Role in Men's Fashion

Through dozens of innovative partnerships, Frank Muytjens is putting J.Crew menswear front and center

By Joe Pompeo

Frank Muytjens, head of men's design for J.Crew (JCG), emerges from behind a partition with a handsome model he's just fitted in a dark gray T-shirt. The model walks and poses for about 40 J.Crew designers, store managers, and marketers, all of whom are packed into a showroom at the company's 150,000-square-foot downtown Manhattan headquarters where Chief Executive Officer Millard "Mickey" Drexler can sometimes be seen riding his bicycle. Drexler, the former CEO of Gap (GPS), is wearing jeans and a light blue button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves. He clutches a BlackBerry in his right hand and leans back in an office chair. This is J.Crew's Spring 2011 Men's Finalization meeting, where the designers and merchants show off next season's fashions for the boss. As the model approaches, he and Drexler bump fists.

"So this is a slim fit?" asks Drexler. Muytjens (pronounced "MOW-jens) nods. "This is a pocket T," Drexler says. "It's a cheeseburger, not just a hamburger. So show me the cheeseburger! I know it sounds weird, but. " His team lets out a collective chuckle. "Do you realize what we've just done? We're reintroducing a slim, pocket T. Frank, am I missing something?"

"Nope," says Muytjens with a grin.

Drexler, 65, has long been admired for his obsessiveness, and in Muytjens, 50, he has found his ideal employee. Clad in a vintage Japanese work shirt and perfectly weathered 10-year-old Levi's cuffed over J.Crew's own brown Sperry Top-Siders, Muytjens is tall and slim with a silver pompadour. He grew up in Holland and moved to New York in 1994 to establish himself as a designer. After working at Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) for eight years, he landed at J.Crew in 2004. In 2008 he took over as head of men's design. Now he's leading the brand's transformation—a gradual updating and upscaling of its preppy look that began when Drexler joined the company in 2003.

The men's fashion landscape has long been dominated on one side by luxury brands, such as Prada and Gucci, that intimidate casual shoppers. On the other side are less expensive alternatives like Banana Republic (GPS) that no longer seem au courant. J.Crew has emerged in this void as the merchant of a new style that bridges work and leisure, youth and age, vintage and contemporary, gay and straight. "Muytjens understood that men don't want to be just one thing and then learned how to provide it," says Ned Martel, editor of The Washington Post's style section. "Anyone in an office cares about how they look, even if their sartorial position is 'I don't care about how I look.' "

Under Muytjens, J.Crew has responded to current style trends—Americana, work wear, slimmer fits—with clothes that come at reasonable price points and don't alienate shoppers. (Most J.Crew suits run about $600.) "Our mission," Muytjens says, "is to make it easier for a guy to shop in our stores. Not more challenging." At the same time, he has adopted Drexler's attention to detail and desire to go for the cheeseburger, as it were. "I don't think many retailers are focusing on the fashion aspect for guys the way J.Crew is," says Christine Chen, a retail analyst at the investment bank Needham & Co.

Menswear accounts for less than half of J.Crew's net retail sales; in the months of April and May, it made up just 37.7% of its national dollar share. However, the rate at which J.Crew's men's operation has been expanding suggests that it will be a growth area for some time to come. "The biggest opportunity for them is in the men's business," says Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at market research firm NPD Group. "They've recognized that over the last few years, no one's had more competition than the women's market.

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