Of course J. Crew's stuff isn't even worth at retail. Hardly anything is worth retail, my man. They're still enjoying healthy profit margin even after the sales, and student/teacher discounts are applied.
Without going into too much detail to bore everyone else, here's their operation in a nutshell. J. Crew is a large manufacturer. Their target segment is traditional. They rely heavily on automation and low wage labor to keep the cost down and production speed up thus decreasing their cost to produce each piece. With that cost severely reduced, they can employ tactic discounts such as student/teacher/25% off/etc and still enjoy healthy profits.
If there is something J. Crew shines at, it is marketing. I can probably write a report on this so I'll stop now
I have the W&B camo sweater that was around $130? It feels like a regular cotton sweater. I just bought it because I liked the camo print. Nothing special about the fabric/construction at all.