Just to the south of The Rink, tucked between Lodi restaurant’s patio awning and the 1 Rockefeller Center entrance, is a small but mighty clothing shop that those in the know clamor for.

The fashion brand Alex Mill may be a hidden gem on campus, but every other aspect of it is lodged in pop culture and fashion allure. Harry Styles and Jessica Alba are among its famous fans, and Paul Rudd and his son wore Kansas City Chiefs-themed shirts from the brand to the Super Bowl this year. If that’s not enough celebrity clout, Jimmy Fallon even reached out directly to collaborate on a pajama line P’Jimmies, which debuted last fall.

But the brand has its own boldfaced name: Chairman Millard “Mickey” Drexler, a certified rockstar of the fashion world, puts his magical rubber stamp on every detail.

Among the label’s staples are classy but classic takes on button-down shirts, cardigans, sweaters, and jeans in an array of subtle and bold color options, all timeless pieces. Every item’s design is made to span trends du jour, with an elevated quality that outlasts the brand’s competitors. In short, it's all the wardrobe essentials you need for a lifetime for a clean and sharp everyday look.

The distinct simplicity hits the moment you step inside an Alex Mill, with its pleasing palette of clothing choices. If there’s a slight sort of familiarity, it comes from Drexler’s magic touch. After all, he’s the mastermind behind more than a few clothing empires. He served as the CEO of Gap Inc. for nearly two decades, during which time he founded Old Navy. He then moved on to J. Crew as CEO, founding Madewell during his tenure.

Despite his reign in the C-suite of the big box brands, Alex Mill is a completely different type of endeavor for Drexler. The brand was founded in 2012 as a small men’s clothing shop on Soho’s Elizabeth Street by Alex Drexler, Mickey’s son.

For its first seven years, Alex paved his own way, impressively winning over celebrities and the fashion industry alike, especially developing a dedicated following for its men’s shirts.

Then in 2019, Mickey was looking for a new challenge and cherished his relationship with designer Somsack Sikhounmuong, whom he’d worked with as the creative director at J.Crew and Madewell. The trio came together and decided to pump fresh energy into Alex Mill… especially fitting since the name connotes an actual mill.

“We worked like crazy in a total start-up environment,” Mickey says. “It was very challenging in the beginning.”

The relaunch worked. While its menswear roots are evident, a women’s line was quickly added since Mickey says it’s “big business,” adding the asterisk that a major portion of women also buy men’s clothing.

One item that popped quickly was a jumpsuit, which made such noise on the fashion scene a Glamour story called it the “single best thing I’ve bought in 2019.”

Its pieces are designed to have permanence in shoppers’ wardrobes, and Mickey is uber hands-on and astutely tuned in to every customer who steps through the doors to understand what their needs are. He studies their browsing patterns and leans on his customer associates—each of whom he knows by name—polling each of them one by one on shoppers’ behaviors.

“The most important factor is the people on the team,” Mickey says. “You can't be successful without them. The people who know best are those who deal with the customers. I always call on people who know more than I do and learn from them.”

But he quickly takes those learnings and turns them into action. On the day of this interview, his team revealed that many customers duck in looking for hats and gloves on chilly New York days. Mickey notices the warm-weather products are hard to spot on a display toward the back, and directs them to move the display to an unused central shelf space. Within minutes, it feels like they had been there all along.

“I'm a detective—I'm very curious, and everything's a clue,” he says of his strategy, admitting he’s also appropriately addicted to true crime and observing how the good detectives solve the murders.

Mickey pairs that instinct with an innate creativity. “I used to live in my imagination as a kid—I think that’s part of who I am,” the businessman admits. He says his drive, ambition, and competitiveness come from “putting a huge premium on seeing around corners.” While most people tend to look in the rearview mirror, studying the past, his strategy is different: “If you use your imagination, you see opportunity.”

He’s constantly searching for inspiration, taken by the way a store associate has paired her own vintage long-sleeved shirt with thumbholes under another shirt, as well as an enamel pin a customer has on their tote, asking his team to take photos of both.

While most folks so well-versed in fashion innuendos pride themselves on wearing the timeliest trends, Mickey proudly shares that every item he was wearing on that day was vintage, and at least a decade old, including a pair of jeans that were custom-made for him at J.Crew. 

“Most people shop their closets—you don’t need a lot of clothes, you just need the right clothes,” he says.

Despite that laid-back sense, Mickey is so revered that on a quiet Friday afternoon during our visit, a visitor from Hong Kong who had been shopping at FAO Schwarz popped in and immediately recognized him. After all, the chairman is a bonafide superstar, a status made concrete by his guest spot across the street at 30 Rockefeller on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last November.

“For 40 years, I've been watching people walk through the curtain, and when I walked through, it was amazing,” he says of his appearance to talk about Fallon’s Alex Mill pajamas line, which quickly sold out with proceeds going to charity.

But Mickey’s day-to-day focus is on building up Alex Mill. This Rockefeller Center store marks the brand’s third location, in addition to a Soho shop on Mercer Street and an Upper East Side one on Madison Avenue. Drawing both global visitors and locals who work in the area, this marks a new chapter in the brand’s exposure.

While his staff calls out favorites like Daily Provisions (with a shout-out to its cruller), Jupiter, and Smith & Mills, Mickey’s favorite thing to do in Rockefeller Center is take in the “vibe of walking around,” he says. “It’s like its own city, I just like to observe, I visit some shops because I learn so much schmoozing. It’s what I do. It may be serendipitous or kismet, but it’s all instinct.”

It’s a skill he fine-tuned from working with Steve Jobs, having been an Apple board member for 15 years. “I loved Steve and admired him,” he says. “He kept climbing the mountain and nothing stopped him. Even when he was ill with cancer, he was developing the iPad. He was his own person and hugely special.”

Mickey has clearly forged his own path as well, always doing things his way, but what he loves about Alex Mill is that it’s unlike the corporate fashion entities he’s worked with. “This company is like an old-fashioned, family- and team-owned company,” he says, cherishing the opportunity to work with his son.

Together, they’ve hit upon the secret formula that’s breathing fresh air into the fashion business, though at heart, it’s just family business from a couple of New Yorkers. “The best compliment I get is that I'm the same as I've always been,” Mickey says. “ I haven't forgotten my roots, and I love to be called a mensch.”

Alex Mill is open at 1 Rockefeller Plaza Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm and Sunday from 11am to 6pm.