J. Press, founded at Yale, plans brick-and-mortar expansion

J. Press, the clothing retailer founded at Yale over a century ago, has announced plans to expand its customer base to a national scale.

Per an October strategy document authored by Onward Holdings, the Japan-based parent company of J. Press, the brand aims to increase its revenue to $100 million by the 2030 fiscal year, a “tenfold” increase from the $10 million brought in during the 2024 fiscal year.

To accomplish this growth, J. Press will pursue the “aggressive opening of brick-and-mortar stores,” from just three in 2024 — including one on New Haven’s Elm Street — to 20 in the US by 2030, per the document.

The vision is centered around Jack Carlson, a former member of the U.S. National Rowing Team who took over as J. Press’ creative director and president in the fall.

“This role feels like coming home in many ways,” Carlson wrote in an email to the News, adding that many of his first suits, shirts, ties and belts came from J. Press.

When asked about the brand impact of the business’s scaling, Carlson wrote in a statement to the News that maintaining the tradition of J. Press is his primary goal. The “best way to make the brand resonate with new audiences and with younger generations is, in my opinion, by staying as authentic and true to the brand’s history as possible,” he wrote. “That’s what makes it cool.”

Carlson wrote that, in addition to planning to grow the business, he “has brought the brand more in-line with its DNA.” He wrote that J. Press is producing more clothing in the U.S. and that its campaigns have a renewed focus on traditional “Ivy style.”

Carlson said he prefers “Ivy style” over the term “preppy,” which he said came into use in the 1970s and was popularized by the 1980 publication of “The Official Preppy Handbook,” a satirical book.

“To some people, the word is synonymous with J. Press, but to others it evokes brands like Vineyard Vines or Southern Tide. Some people think that any jacket and tie combination is ‘preppy,’” Carlson wrote. “There’s a bizarre movement on TikTok to redefine the word to mean neon pink, sparkles, Lululemon, and Stanley water bottles.”

Matthew Longcore GRD ’18, editor of the fashion blog Ivy Style, wrote in an email to the News that, as the “preppy aesthetic” has grown to include more than “old money WASPs,” J. Press has adapted to represent a more diverse cohort.

“J. Press is democratizing preppy style by featuring models who are ethnically diverse and by hosting popular events at its New York City store that attract young people,” Longcore wrote. “It is very much an ‘if you build it, they will come’ strategy, and from what I can see it is working.”

Carlson also contrasted J. Press, with its Yale roots, to the menswear brand Brooks Brothers.

“Brooks Brothers was founded in New York, and it has always been more mainstream and more business-oriented,” he wrote. “Most people probably think that the historic American presidents always wore Brooks Brothers. And a lot of them did.”

“But many — especially the ones who went to Yale and Harvard — wore J. Press,” Carlson wrote. “J. Press traditionally is more genteel, tweedier, more academic and more intellectual, and sportier than any of its rivals. A bit more British in style and inspiration — and a bit more of a sense of humor. In all of these ways, J. Press derives much of its character from Yale, its home.”

As much as J. Press derives its character from Yale, it is also inspired by global textile traditions, said Kathleen Quaintance GRD ’28, a doctoral candidate researching craft and material culture in Yale’s art history department. She pointed to fabrics like Madras plaid, which J. Press and other similar clothing brands helped popularize in the U.S.

The fabric, named for the city of Madras — now Chennai — in India, has been woven for centuries using natural dyes that early European manufacturers often attempted to replicate.

Vignesh Harikrishnan ARC ’22, who has researched Madras plaid, the “bleeding Madras” — as it was often called due to its tendency to create a unique, faded look upon being washed — was imported into the United States in the mid-20th century and became a staple of Ivy style.

The New Haven location of J. Press is at 262 Elm St.