A reader sent this:
Jack Carlson, 38, who has just been announced as J Press’s creative director and president, intends the brand to take up its rightful, bigger place in the American imagination. “My plan is to make J Press a standard bearer for American menswear and Ivy style, and a much more well-known brand nationally,” says the Massachusetts native, who has the modest stature of the rowing coxswain he was, but the energy and enthusiasm of a whole boatful of athletes. “Why should Ralph Lauren have all the fun? J Press is the OG of this stuff.”...
“The brand needs to be more fun,” Carlson says. “It was always the more fun little brother to Brooks Brothers, but it hasn’t emphasised that. It needs to be more colourful, more rebellious. We made the rules; that gives us permission to break them.”
- Jack Carlson, the king of preppy, is taking on J Press <https://www.ft.com/content/ff9b5278-c46d-4991-bbc1-bad12ffb00b3>
See also:
- J. Press <https://jpressonline.com/>
Oh no ...
ReplyDeleteThat was my immediate reaction too. Rowing Blazers is a ghastly brand. It peddles clichéd and kitsch tat, masquerading as Ivy or preppy style, at ridiculous prices. I dread to think what Carlson's inflated ego will do to J Press.
DeleteKill it
DeleteThe The king of something new
ReplyDeleteThis COULD be the start of something - if Carlson can only hold the line when the profit pressure inevitably sets in. Wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize he'd sold Rowing Blazers. Love it or hate it, he created a brand with an original vision.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge I see him facing with J. Press is that in order to make the brand "fun" (his word), he's going to need to refresh the product regularly, which he did at Rowing Blazers.
The problem is that people will buy new unknown stuff sight unseen if it's cheap (ala Temu), but not if it's expensive. People want to try on quality items, or at least have tried it on in the past and know that what they're purchasing hasn't changed from the last time they bought one (ala O'Connells). In order to sell things that are both new and expensive, you need brick and mortar retail, which isn't exactly the trend in 2025.
In sum, his challenge is: expensive, online, unknown product. Pick two.
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ReplyDeleteI do not think is good news at all. The J Press website completely changed in a mainstream pop culture direction and it is likely the end of one of the last greats...
ReplyDeleteso, take the ground ceded by Brooks Brothers's decline, slice off a piece of Ralph Lauren's bread and butter, and bring the hip/cool Rowing Blazers vibe. It could work, though i'm not sure if it will. It will hopefully have more impact that Press doing made-to-measure and custom. It's worth the effort to keep a decent brand thriving. When I was in college, Hillhouse and Harvey Ltd. were the local places to go; it would be fun if J. Press could do that on college campuses and in cities where graduates flock afterward. Perhaps preppy is due to become cool and popular again.
ReplyDeleteBeing older and wiser, I'd much more likely buy oxford cloth button downs from Proper Cloth or Mercer & Sons, Shetlands from Scotland, and blazers and suits from Oxxford, but I'm not the target audience for this effort.
I’m all in with Jack at Press. He showed with his tenure at RB his support for quality and creative traditional pieces. He’ll do the same at Press to their benefit.
ReplyDeleteYes, he will strangle the last breath out of JP. Quite sad.
DeleteA lot of the post-OPH preppy vibe is based on (and driven by) lifestyle-centric advertising/marketing. Whereas the WASPy Old Guard of a bygone era were naturally Anglophile (sans all the excessive Sloane Ranger kitsch), recent and present generations are being spoon fed luxe/posh imagery that extends transatlantically — from Nantucket/Hamptons to Oxbridge, with bits of Adirondacks and Cotswolds added for good measure. It’s all slightly ridiculous and so quickly&easily spirals downward into neo-prep ostentation. Grateful for Mercer & Sons, my local tailor, and Alden Shop on Madison. And the hundreds of online makers and manufacturers (many of them family-owned) that render overpriced retailers … superfluous.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written !
DeleteI think/know sort of what your are writing/setting forth (although I am uncertain which of each of the 13 slash choices to use each time).
Delete@4:56, that's been a good description of the preppy style going back to the Reagan years. Despite JC saying he's not really preppy, he's basically the definition of prep: child of first gen strivers in the 80 and 90s who was served well by the private educational system all the way along and can now do something interesting and creative with his time. You could hardly write a more prep bio.
DeleteI can’t help myself, but to comment. Prep or the thing before prep is not a style. Repeat, it is not a style. It is not clothing.
DeleteOne can only imagine!
ReplyDeleteWe are getting to the point where having your own tailor seems to be about the only way to get proper clothing.
ReplyDeleteAhem, don't all of Muffatola's readers have their own tailor?
DeleteMuffatola ?
DeleteYes! And finding a tailor or a seamstress is harder than finally finding that primary care physician you’ve been looking for.
ReplyDeleteI design / sew many of my frocks from French cottons imported by a little shop in NC ... appointed with pearl buttons from the Sea of Japan . I grew weary from searching high and low for that certain verve. Collars up !!!
ReplyDeleteI’m still searching for the connection between your post and J Press /Rowing Blazers ?
DeleteWhere is Ferd when you need him?
ReplyDeleteIf you want the Financial Times' take on it, they published this on Tuesday: https://www.ft.com/content/ff9b5278-c46d-4991-bbc1-bad12ffb00b3
ReplyDeleteThanks. Muffmeister placed the same link in her post several days ago. Your contribution is nevertheless noted.
DeleteMy apologies, I saw the subject of the post, read the FT article separately a couple of days later and didn't connect the two, as I'd seen the news covered quite widely in a range of other publications and mistakenly assume that the source of the original post was one of those other publications and not the FT.
DeleteI am here, dear friends, alive in the heart of the beast. My fond memories of the JP store on York in the 1970's aside, Japanese Press, today, is an abomination, a cultural screwdriver in the eye to those of us formerly proud to wear a buttondown with a pocket patch. One might suppose that graduates from Cambridge Community College smirk at this news, knowing that the Andover Shop has avoided the vulgarity into which JP has tumbled. Let them be; their education, manners and appearance are third-rate and always will be. As for Mr. Carlson, I am informed he attended Georgetown. That is all that needs to be said about him. In many respects, the current JP reminds me of Hooters Restaurants, all color, labels, exposure and performation. I am done.
ReplyDeleteWhile there is no denying Mr. Carlson’s success with Rowing Blazers, the product line seems like it is always trying to get attention. J. Press on the other hand has a tradition of being unobtrusive. It will be interesting to see how opposite objectives will mesh. I will be a spectator but not a participant.
ReplyDeleteThe original Rowing Blazers store in Manhattan was filled with tacky, loud overpriced clothes, in a word clownish. Noah does a much better interpretation of prep in early 21st century menswear.
ReplyDeleteWhat is past is prologue
ReplyDeleteThat is too heavy. Thanks Bro.
DeleteJ Press left us 6to8 years ago.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I have critiques of Rowing Blazers and skepticism around Carlson taking on J Press, I'd like to counter some of the critiques I'm seeing, which are variations of "Carlson is an obnoxious young upstart" and "besides, J. Press hasn't been great since (insert the years I was 18-30 and our entire culture was catered directly to my demographic)". These are complaints via nostalgia, rather than discourse on the nature of what prep/trad is or should be.
ReplyDeleteRelatedly, from a business standpoint, J Press is dying. As is Andover Shop. Their base clientele is shuffling off this mortal coil. I'm 35 and am consistently the youngest person in the Andover Shop every time I walk in. It's inevitable to me that J Press would pass the baton to a younger generation (one that is now entering middle age, I might add: we Millennials are no spring chickens and we have experience to inform us). I believe the clothing quality and general lifestyle that J Press aims for has an audience in folks under the age of 60 as much as it has in those entering retirement.
I'm curious as to the financial structure of this (specifically what cost/benefit strategies Mr. Carlson has available to save the firm), but for now I'll breathe a sigh of relief that they've brought on someone who's proven that there is interest in saving these cultural markers and getting them in front of the next generation. It's clear he believes there's value in continuing the conversation of what these clothes mean to us; as evidenced by his single-handedly reviving The Princess Di Sheep Sweater at RB, his signal to FT that he wants as much made in USA clothing as he can source, and that he's even angling for a new Massachusetts store.
Plenty of worries, but life is about change and I'll sleep easy knowing for now, Press won't be stripped for parts by some Italian billionaire in a bankruptcy restructure like Brooks Bros.
I've enjoyed Jpress over the years, but I'll stick with O'Connells and the Andover Shop.
ReplyDeleteDid it occur to the gentleman in question that Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren sell almost nothing but junk?
ReplyDeleteI share the concerns of most people here. I do love the references to O'Connells, who are brilliant and have kept me in vintage-yet-new Sero work shirts for years. As for the J. Press news, I am hoping that we do not witness a transformation which brings memories of Brooks Brothers and J. Crew to mind.
ReplyDeleteI woke early this morning and opened my email to find an offering from J Press for custom made scarlet evening tails.And more than that it referenced that they were to worn to Hunt Balls. What a shocking advert. I rarely wear my tails as there are fewer and fewer Balls these days. I found it gave me a warm comforting feeling. Ahhhhh but the end is likely near for J Press.
ReplyDelete“Scarlet If Convenient “
ReplyDeleteI think the general tone here misses the mark. A venerable institution has brought in a very successful entrepreneur and student of the history of prep. One can be a praiser of days gone by all one wants, but the company which is nearing its 125th anniversary needs to adapt to endure. I think it is coup that J Press got him and kudos to the Japanese parent company for making the investment.
ReplyDeleteAs a 31 year old, fit, Ivy League graduate, in finance, I love the J Press look and style. It just happens to be cut for someone close to the average American - ie obese. I would love to buy more J Press staples, but find myself sticking with accessories due to fit issues. The OCBDs are great once I have them tapered down. I tend to think that J Press will retain their classic fit garments and cater to their long standing audience, but in order to bring a younger, affluent demographic, they will need more than fleeting attempts at slim and tailored fits of their classic garments.
Let us not forget the preppy ethos (and the thing before it) is based in large part around a fit, active, outdoor, athletic lifestyle. People like garments that fit them.
You are far off the mark my friend. There are many places to buy your trim fit clothes. But unfortunately, one of the last places for others to buy their traditionally tailored clothing is now disappearing even more rapidly.
DeleteAt some point, it becomes a matter of apples and oranges. The apples are retailers like O'Connell's, Cable Car Clothiers, The Andover Shop, and a few others. Stores where you can buy clothes that will last a lifetime and still look stylish and appropriate in fifty years. The oranges are everything else: more or less cheap and synthetic fast fashion. Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic completely changed from apple to orange. Brooks Brothers is midway through its transformation from an apple to an orange. And Press is, I'm afraid, in the early stages of becoming an orange.
DeleteIt looks and smells like an orange to me
ReplyDeleteWell, there goes J Press. Another one crossed off the list. Sad.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't one thing stay the same? - exactly the same! When every August rolled around each year, father would take me to the New York City J Press for back-to-school clothes. Nothing off the rack and nothing that was launderable. I can still hear him rattle off the order,: "Five grey flannels, two-inch cuffs, lined to the knee, plain front, five blazers, no shoulders, no darts and single hook vent and five white and five blue oxford shirts - my son wants the pocket flap. Two pairs of loafers with stacked leather soles, full strap." Then we'll get to what I need"
ReplyDeleteNothing ever stays the same. Nothing.
DeleteYou’re right. Almost. Almost nothing stays the same. Except; Mad River Glen, Shakespeare & Company, Louis Lunch, The Oyster Bar at Grand Central, Roseland Apizza in Derby Conn, the traffic on the Van Wyck coming out of JFK… for starters.
ReplyDeleteI bet you a nickel all of that will change. Give it a little time
DeleteThe only constant is change.
DeleteI’ll double you. Mad River Glen will never change unless global warming really decimates our winters.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that everything ends. Everything changes. It’s just a matter of time.
DeleteYes, the Earth, the sun and the universe will end.
DeleteThat’s heavy man
Delete