How can this be? Aren’t the Obamas single handedly propping up J. Crew’s sales by wearing their gear all the time?

The numbers just don’t add up.  In 2007 they employed 7,600 and MarketWatch claims they now employ 3,100. The cuts are primarily in it’s New York offices and field and distribution centers.  Last year they reported sales of $1.3 billion? What’s wrong with this picture?

Well, they’ve had some problems over the past few years.  The men’s barn coat contained Teflon which has nasty chemicals like PFCs. Then Xinhua, their Chinese textile supplier, was fined $1.4 million for the discharge of illegal sewage. Then there’s the Saipan sweatshop scandal where they were part of a $20 million dollar settlement for violation of labor laws.

Last month their website crashed from the sheer volume of buyers. Maybe they should print fewer catalogs and focus on their site which has been written up in financial publications for having issues. Problems like everything showing up as “out of stock”, canceled orders and insignificant discounts earned them the “Worst Website Redesign Award” from Fashionism.org.

We are astounded that a company getting such free press nationally is actually cutting jobs.  Sales at The Gap are way down but their profit margin is still holding. L.L. Bean and Land’s End (division of Sears) haven’t announced any layoff plans. Clearly,  the competition just does it better.

Whatever your politics, you have to admit that this power couple has a huge impact on society. Smart marketers quickly jumped on the bandwagon and made some fast cash selling t-shirts and such. Just think what they can do for the garment industry right here in the USA. Just because we sent manufacturing offshore doesn’t mean we can’t bring it back home. There are a few facilities here, making mostly jeans and t-shirts.

In fact, American Apparel has revolutionized the t-shirt business.  Presently, they are the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States employing over 4,000 at it’s factory headquarters. These are not minimum wage jobs as the average employee makes $12.00 an hour. 12 bucks is a far cry from what Mickey D’s and Burger King are paying.  Imagine if some other entrepreneurs took this business model and ran with it. Uh, I don’t know, maybe J. Crew, The Gap, the Limited, just to name a few.

In the photo, the First Lady is wearing an H&M dress that cost $34.90 and at that price probably not made in Sweden. Sure, we are the largest consumers of the cheap but what has it really cost us? A stable economy, that’s what.