This will allow CEO Mickey Drexler and co. to fix what’s wrong with the business–and build on what’s right–without having to deal with public shareholders.

“It is a clear endorsement of J.Crew and of the hard work and commitment of each and every one of our associates,” Drexler said of the agreement. “As I have always said, we are in this for the long term and we do what we do day in and day out so we can deliver the best possible products to our customers.”

(via Fashionista)

Valentino x Gap via Fashionista

Is this Dover Street Market 2.0? WWD reports that Rei Kawakubo is set to open a 19,000 square foot multi-brand emporium called I.T. Beijing Market in, um, Beijing, China, on December 29th. The four-story space will stock Comme as well as other labels including Alaia, YSL, Ann Demeulemeester, and A Bathing Ape.

And that’s not the end of CDG’s retail expansion in Asia. Kawakubo plans on opening a 32,000 square foot store called Ginza Komatsu Market in Tokyo next year. WWD reports that “the product mix will be half Comme des Garcons brands, the rest invited and curated by Kawakubo in collaboration with Komatsu.”

A new Comme des Garcons flagship will also bow in Tokyo in January. The brand will open a 4,500 square foot store in the Marunouchi district. Early reports say the location will include a 2,000 square foot branch of Paris’ Rose Bakery. (via Racked)

This autumn sees the launch of Sleeping Bags, a breakthrough social enterprise that produces beautiful and ecologically sound bags made from recycled luxury hotel bed linen. Inspired by the product they are intended to replace: plastic bags, the product concept was developed by a collective of London’s leading designers, including Tom Dixon and Oonagh O’Hagan.

“Twice a year Sleeping Bags collaborates with established and emerging artists and designers, commissioning original artworks on a theme rooted in the brand concept, ‘The Secret World of Beds’. The work is then showcased on the bags, making up each season’s collection, whilst at the same time creating limited edition pieces of art. Sleeping Bags’ launch theme is ‘In My Dreams’ and contributions come from Jason Bruges, Vicki Murdoch, Avsh Alom Gur, Sir John Hegarty, David McCandless, Vicki Murdoch and Oonagh O’Hagan. Previewing from November with Vicki Murdoch’s design in four colour-ways, additional ‘In My Dreams’ artworks will be released on bags over the coming months.

Made in London from retired bed linen sourced form the capital’s luxury hotels, Sleeping Bags provides an environmentally friendly choice for the style conscious and aesthetically minded.

Check out the details here!

“I’m interested in the dissonance between fashion and food,” said Doonan. “Whenever we do an event, the fashion people say, ‘No food please. Let’s just serve vodka.’ But our customers are much more interested in Bobby Flay and Keith McNally than in Lindsay Lohan or the Kardashians. Chefs are definitely the new celebrities.” (via The Moment)

Visit Barneys

“Harry & David is a gift-giving tradition around the holidays. This year the company famous for its fruit and other mail-order delectables is opening up “pop-up orchards” in neighborhoods around the country. The stores were inspired by Harry & David’s home in Oregon’s Rogue River Valley and feature Harry & David’s new customizable options, such as the “Create Your Own” Bento Box, in addition to Harry & David favorites including new flavors of Moose Munch snacks. The holiday collections will feature exclusive wines, artisanal cheeses, baked goods and of course, fresh fruit. Harry & David is also offering special pricing at the rate of $19.34 on select holiday items to commemorate their anniversary year.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to launch our Pop-Up Orchard concept just in time for the holiday season,” says Steve Heyer, who has the title of Chief Happiness Officer. “It’s a unique platform for us to share our rich brand heritage and showcase our farm-to-table expertise while engaging with consumers across the country’s most bustling cities for the first time.”

The stores will be open through January 2011. A store locator is available on the Harry & David website. Locations include the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia; at the Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, Georgia; at Beachwood Place in Cleveland, Ohio; at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, Colorado and on Greenwich Ave in Greenwich, Connecticut.”

(via Luxist)

For a long time now, the Haut Marais has attracted indie boutiques and avant-garde designers. More and more, they’re foreign-born. The American modernist Jack Henry made his home at 25, rue Charlot, which is just down the street from Plagg, Barbara Kurdziel’s shop devoted to Scandinavian fashion, which is just down the street from the Korean designer Moon Young Hee’s whimsical atelier. And just around the corner on rue de Vielle du Temple, the New York design collective Surface to Air opened its new flagship featuring edgy-urbane men’s and women’s fashion. Foreign flair is suddenly everywhere, and for a city that’s infamous for resisting change, it’s a welcome infusion.

The latest international arrival is Koko. After years of talking about it, and then a year of red tape and on-the-ground planning, the New Zealand expat Catherine McMahon is opening Paris’s first and only store devoted to Kiwi goods. McMahon was often complimented when she wore clothes designed by her compatriots, but, she says, “I realized not many people know anything about Kiwi fashion.” When her boutique opens on Sept. 17, it will be her mission to familiarize the locals with names like Karen Walker, Kate Sylvester and Trelise Cooper.

The neighborhood’s worldliness isn’t only the result of boutiques and designers. Merce and the Muse delighted French coffee snobs this summer with its in-house brew, which the American owner went all the way to Denmark’s Coffee Collective to learn. And then there’s Mary Quarta — next door to Merce, both a bread-crumb trail from Koko — an Italian who started scooping up divine cones of Nutella and stracciatella gelato this past season. The French will never lose their taste for espresso at zinc counters and macarons at the salon de thé, but global flavors go down easy, too.

Cyrille Weiner The Surface to Air store in Marais.