Having been involved in some of the greatest US retail success stories of the past three decades, the indomitable American is now bringing J Crew to the UK.

Mickey Drexler

Millard ‘Mickey’ Drexler became known as ‘The King of Retail’ after turning around the fortunes of retailers including Gapand his current firm J Crew, which launched in the UK today. However, just two months ago he tried his hand at another profession: acting.

Drexler made his debut on TV show Breaking Bad at the end of August after telling producers he was obsessed with the hit US drama. He appeared as a customer at protagonist Walter White’s carwash in an eight-second stint.

Luckily for the world of retail, Drexler’s foray into acting was a fleeting one.

Drexler came from humble beginnings in the Bronx and has risen to become one of the most respected operators in fashion retail.

He started his career as a buyer at New York department store group Bloomingdale’s in the 1960s. After stints at rival department stores Abraham & Straus and Macy’s, at the tender age of 36 he became chief executive of womenswear retailer Ann Taylor, where he performed his first turnaround.

However, it was at Gap that Drexler really made his name. When he joined the retailer in 1983 it was a $400m (£248.8m) company; when he left in 2002 it had grown into a $14bn (£8.7bn) global fashion powerhouse.

Drexler spearheaded Gap’s dramatic shift to own-label merchandise and the retailer’s relaxed, casual look became synonymous with American style in the 1990s.

Drexler is known for his intuitive sense of what his customer wants and has masterminded classic trends such as the khaki trouser. He has retained the street-smart style he had growing up in the Bronx and trusts his instincts.

It’s not just in fashion that Drexler has a flair for retail. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs asked him to join the technology company’s board in 1999, and Drexler still sits on it today. With his retail nous he helped create the blueprint for Apple’s revolutionary stores.

Drexler has said it was his over-ambitious plans that led to his unceremonious firing from Gap in 2002. The retailer was suffering amid widespread competition from Abercrombie & Fitch thought to Walmart, which were trying to emulate Gap’s laid-back style. His decision to move Gap away from its signature basics to more trendy product misfired and profits dived.

However, J Crew offered Drexler a chance at redemption. Since taking over the casualwear retailer in 2003 he has upped its style credentials - it’s now a favourite of Michelle Obama - and has driven a sales uplift of 170%. It now has more than 300 stores and makes more than $2bn (£1.24bn) in sales a year.

As well as invigorating its product, Drexler took the retailer public in 2006, then private again in 2010 in a management buyout backed by private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners.

After a decade in the J Crew hotseat, Drexler is as hands-on as ever. He famously has a loudspeaker in J Crew’s office so he can communicate with staff, leading to some employees nicknaming him ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

The retailer’s UK store openings represent its first international expansion and the retailer is taking a unique approach to its debut.

Rather than staging a grand opening of its Regent Street flagship, which has been pushed back a week from November 1 to November 8, it is taking its first steps into the UK with a menswear-only store named 38 Lamb’s Conduit, on the London street of the same name.

The shop will enable J Crew to align itself with the menswear indies in the area and help lift the brand. It is also opening a womenswear boutique in Brompton Cross in west London.

Drexler says every neighbourhood in London has its “own unique personality” and J Crew’s various formats are tailored to some of those personalities.

It is unsurprising that the retailer has been inventive in its property strategy, which has been devised with the help of agent Harper Dennis Hobbs. Drexler, who is 69, is a keen property developer, with investments in Andy Warhol’s former estate in The Hamptons, a $20m (£12.43m) Park Avenue apartment and two homes on Long Island.

But rather than his acting and property careers, it is for fashion that Drexler will surely remain best known, and with British shoppers eagerly awaiting J Crew’s arrival, he could soon be known as the King of Retail here as well.

Career history

2003 Chairman and chief executive, J Crew

1983 Chief executive, Gap

1980 President, Ann Taylor

Non-executive roles Apple; Teach For America