Jack Carlson is a designer, author, archaeologist and former member of the U.S. rowing team. He is currently president and creative director of 123-year-old American menswear brand J. Press. Previously, he founded the brand Rowing Blazers and served as its creative director until selling the company to Tory Burch co-owners Burch Creative Capital in 2024.
Known for his wide-ranging collaborations, Jack has designed collections with Gucci, Target, Tag Heuer, Seiko, Tudor, Zodiac, Umbro, Barbour, FILA, J.Crew, La Veste, Noah, Lands’ End, Tracksmith, Beams Plus, Eric Emanuel, SEGA, Paddington Bear, Babar the Elephant, The Yankees, ’47, New Era, K-Swiss, Puma, Hunter, Globe-Trotter, LeSportsac, La Martina, Harry’s Bar, Café de Flore, Mt. Joy, The Grateful Dead, and the NBA.
His Target collection spanned men's, women's, and children's clothing, pet accessories, games, and home furnishings. The apparel included extended sizing and adaptive styles. The collection debuted at New York Fashion Week, and launched in over a thousand Target locations across the United States, with many styles selling out within the first several hours.
Jack has also led the revival of several heritage brands, including Warm & Wonderful, a British knitwear label famously beloved by Diana, Princess of Wales. As part of this revival, he helped to bring Diana’s sweater to auction at Sotheby’s, where it set a record as the most valuable sweater in history — selling for $1.14 million.
As a designer, Jack has received industry praise for his work across apparel, watches, footwear, luggage, and accessories. He combines obsessive historical research with a slightly subversive, inclusive take on “the classics.” Jack and his work have been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, GQ, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The London Times, Air Mail, Monocle, Rolling Stone, Hodinkee, Hypebeast, Foreign Policy, The New England Classical Journal, Antiquity, and The Financial Times.
Jack’s designs have been worn by Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, David Byrne, Chloë Sevigny, Justin and Hailey Bieber, Keith Richards, Dwyane Wade, Mindy Kaling, Tom Hardy, Russell Westbrook, Will Ferrell, Venus Williams, BTS, Millie Bobby Brown, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Briney, Josh O’Connor, Cynthia Erivo, B.J. Novak, Maude Apatow, Bill Murray, Suki Waterhouse, Noah Kahan, Dax Shepard, Leo Woodall, Renee Rapp, Jordan Clarkson, Tan France, Adam Scott, Bowen Yang, Lili Reinhart, Tom Felton, Lukas Gage, Randall Park, Ashley Graham, Seth Curry, Christian Pulisic, Laufey, Ziwe Fumudoh, Wayne Diamond, Romeo Beckham, Tracy Morgan, Henry Eikenberry, Joey King, Cam Norrie, Bara Strycova, Andrew Garfield, Devin Booker, Ezra Koenig, Daya, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Joe Locke, Kit Connor, Donovan Mitchell, Alan Cumming, Glass Animals, Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Joe Keery, Charles Melton, Scoot McNairy, Chris Eubanks, Russell Tovey, Sebastian Croft, Serge Ibaka, Jules LeBlanc, Asa Butterfield, Madelaine Petsch, Brent Faiyaz, Whitney Peak, Ronny Chieng, Tom Daley, Vic Mensa, Toro y Moi, Thundercat, Hart Denton, Benito Skinner, Mario Carbone, A$AP Nast, Macklemore, Pete Davidson, the NASA Apollo Program astronauts, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, and Emily Ratajkowski.
Jack has also designed uniforms and apparel for a wide variety of organizations, including British football (soccer) club A.F.C. Wimbledon; Harvard University; Cambridge University, Dartmouth College; the University of Washington; U.S.A. men’s and women’s rugby; and the New Zealand and El Salvador Olympic teams. His pieces have appeared in films and television shows, including Saturday Night Live, Gossip Girl, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Overcompensating, Black-ish, and The Crown.
Jack has a doctorate in archaeology from Oxford, where he was a Clarendon Scholar, and an undergraduate degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. He worked as a field archaeologist in Italy and has written on a variety of topics, from iron age weapons to the Arch of Constantine. His academic interests include the visual and sartorial trappings of status and power; the art and archaeology of the ancient world, especially the Roman Empire and early imperial China; heraldry (the study of coats of arms); vexillology (the study of flags); and the modern history of menswear, from tailoring to sportswear and streetwear. His book Rowing Blazers was published in 2014 by Vendome Press and Thames & Hudson in a global partnership with Ralph Lauren. A revised and expanded edition was published in 2024.
A three-time member of the U.S. national rowing team, Jack won a bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships. He has also won the Head of the Charles and Henley Royal Regatta. He served as chief coach at Oriel College, Oxford, for two seasons, winning the Summer Eights Headship both years. In 2023, Jack trekked to the South Pole with his seventy-two year old dad.
Jack is a member of the Academy of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (the “Oscars” of the watch industry), and served on the Jury for the 2025 Grand Prix. He is also a Fellow of The Explorers Club, the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and the Royal Numismatic Society; and a Life Member of the Archaeological Institute of America, Oxford University Boat Club, and the I.B.F. at Harry’s Bar in Paris. Jack also serves on the board of Row New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young people through the sport of rowing regardless of background or ability.