Drew Green
CEO, IN DOCHINO APPAREL
Drew Green didn't launch
Indochino, the menswear maker founded in 2007 on the premise that customers shouldn’t have to spend tons of money for custom clothing. But having built a successful business of his own in Shop.ca, the Scarborough, Ontario, native considered taking over as CEO of Indochino in 2015 more challenging than starting some- thing himself. “The company was losing US$7 million to US$8 million a year, had very little runway and was in need of a total revamp,” Green recalls. “The existing shareholders and myself came together, essentially reacquired the company and started from scratch.”
However, Green faced pressures that wouldn’t dog a new business. “It’s a lot different than starting your own company from the ground up,” he says. “But to be honest, it’s a little more stressful because you’re losing money from day one and you don’t have a lot of time to figure it out.”
Green has used his time at Indochino well, reengineering its supply chain, developing partnerships with companies like Postmedia Network, building new showrooms—the company now has 34 across North America—and personally overhauling the management team. Since he arrived, the business has grown from just over 100 employees to about 600 through a combination of online sales and bricks-andmortar stores.
The CEO likes to share credit for this turnaround. His preferred brand of office culture— cultivated with Shop.ca, sold in 2014 to Toronto-based Emerge Commerce—hinges on recognizing others.
“My companies have always been known for daily standups, where you have everybody communicate their top priority for the day before and the day that’s happening,” Green says. “Then we have a weekly game ball, which is a peer-to-peer recognition mechanism, and you feel great because somebody’s recognizing your efforts. Whether you’re playing on a team or building a company, the more you can work as a unit, the better things you accomplish.”
What do you do to unwind/relax? I spend time with my sons, watching and helping them become men