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 ...
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
This is a bold move in my opinion. Not sure if I agree with it.
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.
ReplyDeleteA 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 !
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