<P> In 1947, Mitchell Cinader and Saul Charles founded Popular Merchandise, Inc., a store which did business as Popular Club Plan and sold low - priced women's clothing marketed through in - home demonstrations . Throughout the mid-1980s, sales from catalog operations grew rapidly . "Growth was explosive--25 to 30 percent a year," Cinader later recollected in The New York Times . Annual sales grew from $3 million to more than $100 million over five years . In 1985, the "Clifford & Wills" brand was launched, selling women's clothing that was more affordable than the Popular Merchandise line . In 1987, two executives left the company to start their own catalog, Tweeds . </P> <P> The 1980s marked a booming sales period for catalog retail giants Lands' End, Talbots, and L.L. Bean . Popular Merchandise initiated its own catalog operation, focusing on leisurewear for upper - middle - class customers, aiming for a Ralph Lauren look at a much lower price . The first Popular Club Plan catalog was mailed to customers in January 1983 and continued under that name until 1989 . Popular Club Plan catalogs often showed the same garment in more than one picture with close - up shots of the fabrics, so customers could get a sense of how the garment looked on the body and be assured of the company's claims of quality . </P> <P> In 1989, Popular Merchandise, Inc. became known as J. Crew, Inc . The company attempted, but failed to sell the Popular Club Plan brand . Also in 1989, J. Crew opened its first retail store, in South Street Seaport in downtown Manhattan . </P> <P> J. Crew Group was owned by the Cinader family for most of its existence, but in October 1997 investment firm Texas Pacific Group Inc. purchased a majority stake . By the year 2000, Texas Pacific held an approximate 62 percent stake, a group of J. Crew managers held about 10 percent, and Emily Cinader Woods, the chairman of J. Crew, along with her father, Arthur Cinader, held most of the remainder . The brand Clifford & Wills was sold to Speigel, Inc. in 2000 with the intent to boost sales . In 2004, J. Crew bought the rights to the brand Madewell, a defunct workwear manufacturer founded in 1937, and used the name from 2006 onwards as "a modern - day interpretation", targeted at younger women than their main brand . </P>

Where did the name j crew come from
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