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 (Onward Holdings, 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] J. Press is currently part of the Onward Group (Onward Holdings, Ltd.).[4]

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.[5]

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 1 3⁄4" 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.[6] 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.

New Haven

The New Haven store was originally built in 1863 in the French Second Empire style as a residence for Cornelius Pierpont. It was irreparably damaged by Winter Storm Nemo in February 2013; the company is temporarily renting a store at 260 College St., across from the Shubert Theatre.[7][8]

New York

In 1912, the company opened a store in New York “appropriately equidistant from the Yale and Harvard Clubs.”[9] In May 2007, J. Press moved to 380 Madison Avenue in New York City,[1] which closed indefinitely[10] in 2014.[11]

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 initially named “York Street,” called by the New York Times “a faint outline of the original,”[12] and later renamed “J. Press Blue.”[13]

Designers

On 24 February 2014, Ariel Ovadia and Shimon Ovadia, who were designing clothes under the J. Press "York Street" brand, left the company.[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 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. ↑ http://www.onward-hd.co.jp/site/english/project/apparel.html
  5. ↑ "Family Guy: The Richard Press Interview". Ivy Style. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ Paul Bass. "J Press Plans Demolition". New Haven Independent.
  8. ↑ Carole Bass. "J. Press will tear down building". Yale Alumni Magazine.
  9. ↑ . GQ. 2014-01-08 http://www.gq.com/story/j-press-madison-avenue-store-nyc-closing. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ "J. Press Stores". Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  11. ↑ Jian Deleon. "J. Press Temporarily Pulls Out of NYC Retail Scene; York Street Stores Unaffected". GQ.
  12. ↑ Jon Caramanica. "Preppy Gets a Tweak". New York Times.
  13. ↑ Joshua Espinoza. "J. Press York Street Has Come to an End". Complex.com.
  14. ↑ Yi, David (24 February 2014). "J. Press, Ovadia Brothers Parting Ways". WWD. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
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