truth thursday: madewell

my first official “truth thursday.” well, here goes nothing. it should be cathartic.

madewell, you’ve made me really sad. you’ve made me sad as an e-marketing professional, as a writer, but most importantly, you’ve made me sad as a consumer. this disappointment stems from a few places. let me explain:

  • why don’t you collaborate with bloggers? sending a lookbook to a handful of fashion news websites isn’t the way to go about promoting your product anymore. it doesn’t mean that you should send out a ton of free shit (that dilutes a brand), but we are your demo. we are the people that can highlight the latest collections if we want to and we won’t want to if you don’t show a little appreciation for your customer. maybe a tea-and-crumpets brunch on a sunday morning? close up a madewell store for a couple of hours and offer attendees 30% off their purchase? what do you have to lose by opening up?
  • you went a step in the right direction by scooping up alexa chung—us internet folk love alexa like we love cupcakes and fuzzy puppies—but that line, only the first collection, was publicly launched. you could’ve done well to host a one-on-one with alexa and some brand-appropriate e-writers. oh, the content it could’ve created! but nope, you went the easy route and did an open party on last year’s fno that resulted in a mob of drunk underagers. also—and this could be a j.crew parent company issue—but when i stopped by my local madewell the day of the first collection release, i was not allowed to take any photos. are you serious? you think you can control what photos come out? that only hi-res images approved by your brand will exist? get out of town.
  • did you really not create a blog until august? what large, heavy rock have you been living under? every brand that tailors to the younger generation should have one because, duh, we are sitting at our computers every day waiting to interact with you. 2011 isn’t just about going into a store and touching clothes, it’s about seeing the day-to-day and the people who make madewell so special.
  • continuing that, you should be highlighting your employees. we all know that they are the real brand ambassadors; they know the ins-and-outs, trend-wise, of madewell. who wouldn’t want to see that? seriously, i met some of your girls last fashion week and they were devastatingly chic. who knows how to dress in your clothes better than the people that create them? show them off!

please know that “truth thursday” isn’t to tear down a brand and say how much they suck, but rather point out issues they didn’t realize existed from the outside. these are some of my favorite companies, ones that i shop at on the regular.

i think i got enough out of my system for one week. next week? zara.

truth thursday
  1. rockspindeln reblogged this from sarazucker
  2. whatjanewore said: Went into Madewell for the 1st time today in the SF Centre. Looks like a slightly grown up A&F. Uggh.
  3. kings said: a lot more truth to be told about Zara…
  4. blackberryvision said: Zara forbid me from taking a pic of a shoe on my foot that is online high res bc it’s company policy. Outdated company bs policy is outdated. I can rant on them more than useless made well bc they’re at least out of site bc their lazy shits.
  5. girl6nyc said: Great points. I do slightly disagree with your first point. There are a LOT of bloggers who Im sick of seeing (not you!) and I don’t care for what they have to say.
  6. texturism said: i wrote a similar note to them this summer.
  7. sarazucker posted this
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