By mid-2012, Lindsay Murphy, a sales associate from an East Coast store, had repeatedly heard women wishing that J.Crew offered maternity wear. She thought it was an interesting possibility. After all, why should a woman have to leave the brand in order to find attractive clothes that fit while she was pregnant? To evaluate her idea, Murphy would have to determine whether a maternity line would help the brand and then sell her recommendation to CEO Mickey Drexler.