Dive Brief:

• Nordstrom and J.Crew’s Madewell brand announced a deal to sell Madewell items through Nordstrom’s e-commerce site and 15 of its stores.

• The relationship marks another effort by Nordstrom to offer a variety of brands in its stores through pop-ups and stores-within-stores.

• Madewell is a 78-year-old clothing company purchased by J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler 10 years ago. It was later recreated as a lower-cost sub-brand akin to Gap Inc.’s Old Navy, another Drexler brainchild.

Dive Insight:

Madewell in many ways is filling a gap left by … The Gap, selling high-quality jeans and other items at attractive price points to the older-than-teenagers crowd. The brand holds a lot of promise for J. Crew, which has seen its flagship brand falter recently. It seems that Nordstrom has picked the right time to partner with Madewell on its upswing.