Last week, guests including creative director Terrence O’Connor, gallerist Hannah Traore, and actor Yesly Dimate spent two days in New York’s Adirondack mountains. They were at Camp Crew, the adult summer camp that’s the backdrop for J.Crew’s latest brand trip and campaign. Chief marketing officer Julia Collier conceived the concept — but she didn’t join the guests for the canoe races, dockside swims, and sunset boat rides.
“What we found with the Italy trip [last summer] was that not having an official brand representation there allowed for people to connect in a way more authentic way,” Collier says. “I felt quite strongly about there not being a me, or an Olympia [Gayot, J.Crew’s creative director], to take it outside of that traditional brand trip thing.” (J.Crew’s director of PR was along for the ride, to make sure things ran smoothly.)
Collier jokes that she couldn’t help but micromanage from afar. The trip was part of a larger campaign she had conceived around the 250th anniversary of the United States. “It’s impossible to ignore America 250,” she says. “Whilst we don’t think it’s right for us to align closely with it, it is an important moment to recognize that we are an American brand and we’re very proud of that. And what we represent to people is a part of America that is nostalgic.”
The resulting marketing initiative was a multi-pronged effort that involved an initial campaign featuring 2010s supermodels — all former Victoria’s Secret Angels — in a summer camp setting; the Camp Crew brand trip; and pop-ups and activations in Chicago (June 13-14), Georgetown (June 13), New Jersey (June 13), and Nashville (June 19-20). The limited-edition Camp Crew capsule collection is available to buy at each activation.
Collier looked at talent who she thought would get along, even if they didn’t all know one another.
Photo: Courtesy of J.Crew
It’s a reflection of British-born Collier’s approach to marketing since she joined the all-American brand as CMO at the beginning of 2025 after five years at Skims, four of which she spent as SVP of brand marketing. She joined at a moment when J.Crew was back on the rise, in both financials and the cultural conversation, following the brand’s 2020 bankruptcy filing. Under CEO Libby Wadle, who took the helm in November 2020, J.Crew has once again established itself as a modern American player.
But J.Crew is now competing in a scene that’s more saturated than the days of J.Crew’s famous catalogs, as brands like Gap and Abercrombie claw back their once-huge market share, and the Zaras of the world continue their push upmarket, all bolstered by buzzy campaigns with big talent in front of and behind the camera. Collier’s job is to make J.Crew stand out from the crowd with a modern marketing playbook that utilizes — but also pushes beyond — the nostalgia factor.
