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. He has also led the revival of several heritage brands, including Warm & Wonderful, a British knitwear label famously beloved by Diana, Princess of Wales.
As a designer, he has received industry praise for his work across apparel, watches, footwear, luggage, and accessories. Jack is known for his wide-ranging collaborations, and he designed collections and capsules for Gucci, Target, FILA, Barbour, Umbro, Noah, Tag Heuer, Seiko, Tudor, Zodiac, J. Crew, Lands’ End, La Veste, Tracksmith, Beams Plus, Eric Emanuel, SEGA, Paddington Bear, Babar the Elephant, The New York Yankees, New Era, ’47, K-Swiss, Puma, LeSportsac, Globe-Trotter, Hunter, La Martina, Harry’s Bar, Café de Flore, Mt. Joy, The Grateful Dead, and the NBA.
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, Chris Briney, Josh O’Connor, Carmelo Anthony, Leo Woodall, Tan France, Cynthia Erivo, Randall Park, B.J. Novak, Ashley Graham, Maude Apatow, Lukas Gage, Seth Curry, Renee Rapp, Bowen Yang, Jordan Clarkson, Christian Pulisic, Wayne Diamond, Ziwe Fumudoh, Romeo Beckham, Tracy Morgan, Henry Eikenberry, Joey King, Cam Norrie, Bara Strycova, Devin Booker, Vampire Weekend, Noah Kahan, Glass Animals, Daya, Adam Scott, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Joe Locke, Kit Connor, Donovan Mitchell, Alan Cumming, Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Joe Keery, Charles Melton, Scoot McNairy, Chris Eubanks, Russell Tovey, Sebastian Croft, Serge Ibaka, Jules LeBlanc, Asa Butterfield, Lili Reinhart, Madelaine Petsch, Tom Felton, Brent Faiyaz, Whitney Peak, Ronny Chieng, Tom Daley, Thundercat, Dax Shepard, Toro y Moi, Vic Mensa, Hart Denton, Andrew Garfield, Benito Skinner, Mario Carbone, A$AP Nast, Suki Waterhouse, Bill Murray, Laufey, Thundercat, 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 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, Overcompensating, Black-ish, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 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 is a World Championships bronze medalist, and he has won both the Head of the Charles and Henley Royal Regatta. In 2023, Jack trekked to the South Pole with his seventy-two year old dad.
Jack is a Fellow of The Explorers Club, the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Asiatic 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.