But some analysts aren't optimistic that the company can recover.
"I don't think they know how to fix J. Crew," Carla Casella, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, told Bloomberg. "They were just living on the past strength of their brand."
We visited J. Crew's website and found some glaring fashion misses and deep discounts that make a turnaround seem less and less likely.
Many retailers are advertising deep discounts in the wake of Christmas.
We found tons of items with even deeper price cuts, however, including this dress that was originally priced at $138 and is now selling for just $19.50 with all discounts and promotions applied.
In fact, full-priced merchandise is hard to find on J. Crew's website these days. The dress section of the site features just 16 full-priced dresses. Meanwhile, the sale section features more than 55 dresses.
The massive discounts are a sign that the retailer is having trouble clearing inventory — meaning it ordered too much of one style, and people aren't buying it.
For example, the hot pink faux fur on this otherwise basic winter coat is a confusing choice for a brand targeting professional women. As one customer wrote in the reviews of the coat, "The pop of pink faux fur is fun in the snow, but I usually don't wear it so I don't feel like a 13-year-old at work."
In another bizarre twist on a classic item, we found this blazer featuring a bright, floral, summery pattern in the dead of winter — and at an original cost of nearly $600.
Like down coats and blazers, collared shirts are a cornerstone of J. Crew's preppy-wardrobe roots. But this jewel-embellished version appears to be too bizarre for most customers, judging by the price dropping from $248 to $74.50.
We also found that J. Crew made some odd style choices for its models. This pajama jumpsuit seems impractical for bathroom trips, and we're utterly confused about why the company styled it with dressy flats and a blazer on the website.
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Hayley Peterson is an Executive Editor who oversees coverage of the economy, tech, media, advertising, defense, careers, and more.She was previously a chief correspondent at Business Insider and wrote breaking news, analysis, and in-depth investigations on large consumer companies, with an emphasis on retailers including Amazon, Walmart, major grocery chains, and department stores.Hayley won recognition from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing in 2018 for "defining the retail apocalypse" through her reporting on retail job losses, the decline of Sears, and the impact of store closings on bondholders.Prior to joining Business Insider in 2013, Hayley was a White House correspondent and embedded on the presidential 2012 campaign trail.
