1. Jenna Lyons started working at J.Crew in 1991 as a men's assistant rugby shirt designer when she was 21.
2. She now owns 289 pairs of shoes (and counting).
3. There are 985,839 images in the company's digital archives.
4. The signature red lip made its catalog debut in 2005.
5. J.Crew HQ occupies 5 floors – that's 5 city blocks – of the building at 770 Broadway.
6. There are 6,337 custom color chips in the "Color Library."
7. On Cyber Monday 2013 the distribution center shipped out a record 101,000 packages.
8. Style Guide shoots have taken place in 43 different countries.
9. The First Family all wore J. Crew on the 2009 Inauguration. The President wore a J.Crew bow tie to the ball, the First Lady wore J.Crew gloves at the ceremony which she held on the Lincoln Bible, and the girls wore head to toe J.Crew.
10. When Michelle Obama and her daughters wore J.Crew to the presidential inauguration shares in the company rose 10% and the website crashed—the company then retired the color of Malia's coat and Michelle's belt.
11. The brand held its first women's presentation at New York Fashion Week on September 13, 2011 at Lincoln Center.
12. For over 10 years, makeup artist Troi Ollivierre mixed a variety of textures and shades of lipsticks for fashion week presentations and style guide shoots. He'd get feedback from the models about the finish, saturation and final color and made tweaks accordingly. J. Crew now sells two shades of lipstick from his latest collection, Troi Ollivierre.
13. The company launched its Garments for Good collection in July 2013 with its Friends of the High Line collaboration that included photography by Joel Sternfeld and illustrations of the High Line by children's author Peter Brown.
14. Since 2013, J. Crew has continued to collaborate with unique charities and artists to help raise awareness including its Save the Bees initiative (with artist Donald Robertson) and the David Sheldrick Wildlife trust (with artist Hugo Guinness).
15. Since its Garments for Good launch, J. Crew has donated more than one million dollars to its charity partners including DonorsChoose.org, Teach For America, the American Red Cross, EDUN, Born Free, Partnership for A Healthy America, David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Xerces Society and Buglife.
16. The men's "770 jeans"—the jean of choice by the designer—are named for the address of the company's headquarter offices at 770 Broadway in New York City's NoHo neighborhood.
17. Chairman and CEO Mickey Drexler interviews everybody who gets hired at J.Crew.
18. His cell phone is connected to 790 speakers at 770 (a system he had installed when he first started) so that he can comment on everything from the latest collection to new hires to the best place to get a burger nearby.
19. In 2003, J. Crew started its own Color Library at 770 to catalog the unique colors that the brand creates and names each season (anywhere to 10 to 150 a season).
20. The visual team searches flea markets, auctions and antique stores to find one-of-a-kind artwork, props and furniture to fill stores and the office. Highlights at 770: a large rug on the 13th floor that's custom made from three different vintage Moroccan rugs, a traditional antique wood table custom lacquered in a bright Yves Klein cobalt blue and a vintage brass "hi" sculpture.
21. There is a woman in the distribution center (merchandise processor Betty) who has hand-packed and fluffed every wedding dress shipped over the past 10 years. Members of the contact center have also hand-delivered wedding items in time for the big day.
22. J. Crew launched jcrew.com in 1996, joined Instagram in 2012, and launched the J.Crew blog in 2014.
23. The company had to get approval from the Royal Crown in order for London set designer Shona Heath to create a fleet of whimsical, fiberglass taxis (cast from a real vintage fairway) that were suspended above the Regent Street store to serve as a temporary storefront.
24. In the '90s, schools would contact the South Street seaport store (the first retail store that opened in 1989) to buy rugby shirts in bulk for their athletic teams.
25. A giant rope macramé owl that's two stories high hangs in the stairwell of the Prince St. store created by artist Andy Harman; the company sourced thousands of vintage gloves for the installation in the stairwell of the Fifth Avenue store; and designed a huge oversized Lite Brite board for the crewcuts windows on Madison Ave.
26. The Ludlow suit is meticulously crafted by skilled artisans— it takes over 200 steps to create from start to finish.
27. The design team uses 770 employees to wear test every single garment in EVERY size (000 to 16) and maternity, too.
28. The company has its own embellishment designer, Amy, who hand-creates all embellishment designs for garments from sequins, crystals, beads, fabrics, trim ribbon and embroidery floss from both the NYC garment district and vendors from Brooklyn to India. She sources her inspiration from vintage garments, jewelry, flea market finds and—most recently–intricately tied fly fishing lures. Each season, she develops new pieces by prying old jewelry apart, re-setting stones, spray-painting or glitter coating.
29. The men's Cramerton chino uses the same rugged, made-in-the-USA twill that was issued to the American military. J. Crew sourced WWII vintage military tents and created limited-edition, one-of-a-kind shorts out of them for the men's collection. Each pair is hand numbered and unique.
30. J. Crew works with the best European mills in the world to source all of its fabrics. From Italian cashmeres to British tweeds and French lace, the company works with the most storied and revered artisans in the world.
31. A few unexpected people who've modeled for the brand over the years: Lauren Hutton (starting with her first cover in 1991), Linda Evangelista (she appeared on the cover twice in 1989) and the entire cast of Dawson's creek.
32. During shoots on location, the crew—everyone from the tailor and photographer to photo assistants and models—participates in "theme days" on sets: French day, pink day, polka dots, stripes.
