The ACL Podcast 001: Mickey Drexler

Mickey Drexler is a product guy. He&#8217;s always feeling fabrics, talking about key items, and thinking about upcoming trends. He is obsessed with the details. Obviously he has excellent taste and is driven to keep pushing brands to new and better places. That&#8217;s why he is universally known as an incredible merchant. <br/><br/>We sat down to record this podcast in February, just before the pandemic really took hold, and he was as curious as ever. He&#8217;s a high energy guy and seems to always be moving a mile a minute. His pace and demeanor are very much a source of inspiration for me. I&#8217;m also a sucker for product people, so I suppose it makes sense that Mickey is someone that I really respect and look up to in the business. <br/><br/>The morning we recorded this in February Mickey and I met at the new <a href="https://www.alexmill.com/">Alex Mill</a> store on Mercer. We were the first people to walk into the shop that morning. We went to the offices downstairs and we immediately start going through racks and looking at the clothes. Throughout most of my career meetings have involved looking at clothes and it felt normal to be going through racks with him. I&#8217;m not a merchant (and what do I really know?) but Mickey was asking me about sweaters and chore coats and overdyed wovens. He&#8217;s always probing and gathering intel on what&#8217;s cool. The Alex Mill collection seems to be a nice evolution of the stylish aesthetic that Mickey has championed for decades. <br/><br/>What&#8217;s happening at Alex Mill seems to be the culmination of everything Mickey has learned over the years. The collection is built around a classic core but has subtle design and playfulness that designer Somsack Sikhounmuong does so well. Things feel fresh and the brand seems free from any sort of preconceived notions of what it should be. Alex Mill has a restrained approach to opening physical retail (right now the 70 Mercer flagship is the only shop) and it is smartly emphasizing its own e-commerce channel. It feel