J. Crew is axing its bridal business. Facebook/J. Crew J. Crew is killing its entire bridal line. 
 
 The company has marked down its entire line of bridesmaids dresses and wedding gowns by up to 70% online and in stores. Many dresses are out of stock in most sizes. 
 
 Once the merchandise sells out, the company will no longer offer a bridal line, a J. Crew weddings specialist told Business Insider when reached by phone on Thursday. 
 
 This is a significant shift for J. Crew, which has been in the bridal business since 2004. 
 
 The company sold bridesmaids dresses and wedding gowns exclusively online until 2010, when J. Crew opened its first bridal boutique on Madison Avenue in New York. 
 
 The company has opened several more bridal locations over the years, including one inside its store on 5th Avenue in the Flatiron District of New York. The entire bridal line will be removed from that store, as well as from J. Crew's other locations. 
 
 A spokesperson for J. Crew confirmed the company is discontinuing its current wedding line. 
 
 On Thursday, J. Crew's website offered bridesmaid dresses originally marked as $228 for as low as $69.99. 
 
 JCrew.com A wedding gown was discounted from the original price of $2,650 down to $1,899.99. JCrew.com 
 
 J. Crew's decision to axe its bridal line comes amid several years of flagging sales for the retail chain. It also follows the company's recent launch of its first activewear line. 
 
 J. Crew's revenue declined 4% in the most recent quarter to $569.8 million and sales at stores open at least a year declined 8%, following a decrease of 11% in the same period last year. ||||| Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here. 
 
 J.Crew is axing its bridal collection, Racked has learned. In its place, it will offer an expanded line of party and special occasion dresses starting this spring. 
 
 When reached for comment, J.Crew confirmed the shift in strategy after more than a decade in the bridal business. It jumped into the category in 2004; CEO Mickey Drexler told the New Yorker in 2012 that the idea came to him when he discovered that brides bought multiples of the same dress for their friends as bridesmaid dresses. 
 
 J.Crew is largely credited with being the first non-bridal retailer to dabble in the space. It paved the way for brands like Ann Taylor, H&M, Asos, and Modcloth to also make affordable bridal dresses, disrupting the bridal store sector that IBISWorld counts as a $3 billion space. 
 
 The brand's collection of bridal gowns, bridesmaids dresses, and even jumpsuits and crop tops were always front and center in its catalogues, and even anchored an Upper East Side store. But over time, J.Crew's bridal business became more of a burden than a boon, according to a source close to the brand. The category proved to be inefficient, financially speaking. 
 
 Materials like tulle, sequins, and lace are costly, and, when you think about it, the bridal sector is prone to bleeding money: The amount of women shopping for wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses is a fraction of those looking for special occasion attire. Ultimately, said the source, the company was unhappy with how the category was operating. Certainly, there was the option to create cheaper versions of J.Crew's bridal division, but the brand holds itself to a certain standard, the source says, and prides itself on its quality, which helps explain why they chose to just cut the line entirely. 
 
 The price of both wedding and bridesmaid dresses have been slashed by 30 percent on J.Crew's website, and the brand confirmed that once its bridal inventory sells out, it's done. So if you're in the market for a wedding dress — or if you just want to own a white tulle gown from the same brand Jennifer Aniston wore to her wedding — now's your chance. 
 
 When asked what to expect come spring, J.Crew said it couldn't share many details but did say to expect the classic J.Crew aesthetic: Feminine prints, bold colors, and fun florals. 
 
 Watch: Why are weddings so damn expensive?
– It's Splitsville for J.Crew and the bridal business. The company—which shook up the sector in 2004 when it started competing with specialist bridal firms—has decided to get rid of its entire bridal line, including gowns and bridesmaid dresses, and replace it with an expanded collection of party dresses, Racked reports. A source says the company, which sold its bridal collection exclusively online until it opened a New York City bridal store in 2010, found that the line wasn't making it much money and they decided to ax it instead of skimping on quality. Business Insider notes that in good news for the bride on a budget, the company has slashed prices on its bridal line this week and the discounts will continue until the inventory is gone. (This bridal shop owner was spotted naked in the store window.)