J. Press

J. Press
Private
Industry Clothier
Founded New Haven, Connecticut (1902)
Headquarters New York City, New York, U.S.
Key people
 Jacobi Press (Founder)
Yuki Okita (Current CEO)
Paul Press (Past President and CEO)
Products Men's Clothing
Parent Onward Kashiyama Co. Ltd.
Website www.jpressonline.com

J. Press is a men's clothier in the United States. Founded in 1902 on Yale University's campus in New Haven, Connecticut, by Jacobi Press, the company now operates stores in three additional locations: New York, New York, Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, Massachusetts. J. Press formerly had branches in San Francisco, California and Princeton, New Jersey. The original New Haven location remains the company's largest store. In 1974, the Press family sold the rights to license J. Press for the Japanese market, making it the first American brand to be licensed in Japan.[1] In 1986, J. Press was acquired by the Japanese apparel company Onward Kashiyama, who had previously been his licensee for 14 years.[2] Japanese licensed distribution is roughly six times larger than the American-made J. Press.[3]

History and style

Founder Jacobi Press in New Haven, CT.

Jacobi Press immigrated to the US from Latvia in 1896 and founded the company six years later.[4]

Since its founding, J. Press' clothing has remained much the same. For example, the company produces the vast majority of its off-the-rack jackets in the traditional "three-button sack" style rarely found today in America, and for the most part, only produces plain-front trousers, for which the company suggests a traditional 13⁄4" cuff. Fabrics are generally subdued, except for traditionally bright-colored items such as casual trousers and sweaters. Its neckties bear traditional repp stripe, foulard, and paisley motifs. They also carry scarves and ties featuring motifs and colors for Ivy League schools, including Yale's Skull and Bones Society. J. Press dress overcoats are of lambswool, cashmere, or camel hair, or of herringbone tweed with a velvet collar in the Chesterfield style. In 2000, J. Press expanded its sales to the World Wide Web, through which it offers most of its line, as of 2007.

New Haven Store
Ties from the J. Press spring/summer 1962 catalog

J. Press is said to carry on a traditional Ivy League style of men's clothing.[5] J. Press caters most to an old-fashioned preppy subculture that eschews popular culture trends. The company makes an effort not to outsource the production of its clothing to developing countries or to use synthetic materials in its line. In May 2007, J. Press opened a new flagship store at 380 Madison Avenue in New York City,[1] which closed temporarily in 2014.[6] According to The Preppy Handbook, the former store, on 44th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, was chosen because it was equidistant from the Harvard Club and Yale Club.

J. Press opened another store in New York on March 1, 2013, located at 304 Bleecker Street, which carries a younger subset of its line named “York Street,” called by the New York Times “a faint outline of the original.”[7]

In February 2013, the New Haven store, built in the French Second Empire style as a residence for Cornelius Pierpont, was irreparably damaged by Winter Storm Nemo, but will be rebuilt. The company is temporarily renting a store at 260 College St., across from the Shubert Theatre.[8][9]

On 24 February 2014, Ariel Ovadia and Shimon Ovadia, who were designing clothes under the J. Press "York Street" brand, left the company.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 New Flagship Updates J. Press DNR, 2007-5-7. Retrieved on May 30, 2007.
  2. ↑ Belkin, Lisa (October 27, 1986). "J. PRESS CHAIN IS BOUGHT BY A JAPANESE CLOTHIER". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  3. ↑ Colman, David (June 18, 2009). "DRESS CODES; The All-American Back From Japan". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  4. ↑ "Family Guy: The Richard Press Interview". Ivy Style. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  5. ↑ "J. Press has catered, since 1902, to the ultraconservatives of the Old Guard who feel Brooks Brothers is too trendy and women's departments are an abomination." Lisa Birnbach, ed. (1980). The Official Preppy Handbook. Workman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89480-140-2. p. 152.
  6. ↑ Jian Deleon. "J. Press Temporarily Pulls Out of NYC Retail Scene; York Street Stores Unaffected". GQ.
  7. ↑ Jon Caramanica. "Preppy Gets a Tweak". New York Times.
  8. ↑ Paul Bass. "J Press Plans Demolition". New Haven Independent.
  9. ↑ Carole Bass. "J. Press will tear down building". Yale Alumni Magazine.
  10. ↑ Yi, David (24 February 2014). "J. Press, Ovadia Brothers Parting Ways". WWD. Retrieved 25 February 2014.

External links