The Glossy 50 honors the year’s biggest changemakers across fashion and beauty. More from the series →
The Accelerators: These drivers of a growth-fueling change made a big impact in-house.
Six years after starting NYC-based Rowing Blazers with fashion industry veteran David Rosenzweig, designer Jack Carlson is seeing his dreams for the preppy apparel brand come true.
“Before even launching the brand, I knew I wanted to do a lot of collaborations,” Carlson said. “We wrote down a list of who we would want to collaborate with, and so many of those collaborations have come to fruition.”
Rowing Blazers’ three biggest collaborations to date, in terms of “moving the needle,” rolled out this year, he said. Among them was a 100-plus-piece collection with Target that launched in the retailer’s nationwide stores in September. Covering categories from menswear and childrenswear to homeware and pet products, it was two years in the making. The brand also teamed with Gucci’s experimental Gucci Vault on a clothing line spanning gym shorts to tailcoats that debuted in May. And in October, it released a collaborative, vintage-inspired watch style with luxury timepiece brand Tag Heuer.
The fact that most of its partnerships have been sparked by the other brands approaching Rowing Blazers, versus vice versa, “shows that if you put the right energy into the universe, you attract the right people,” Carlson said.
Rowing Blazers’ vibe is best described as a new, streetwear-inspired take on “preppy,” a fashion segment that has long been defined by brands that are “stuffy, not inclusive, less fun and less interesting,” Carlson said. He added, “You don’t see Ralph Lauren doing a lot of collaborations.”
Carlson has also made other, significant moves to further build on Rowing Blazers’ success. In March, he announced his formation of the Blazer Group, putting more structure and intention behind his practice of acquiring and resurfacing heritage brands. Under the Blazer Group so far are tennis and lifestyle brand Arthur Ashe, originally created by the American tennis star of the same name; royalty-beloved British knitwear brand Gyles & George; and Warm & Wonderful, originally birthed in 1979 and best known for its Sheep Sweater. In September, the Sheep Sweater worn by Princess Diana became the most valuable sweater in history when it was sold at auction by Sotheby’s for $1.14 million.
“I worked with the original [Warm & Wonderful] founders to revive that brand two years ago,” said Carlson. “We’ve played a big role in bringing it back into people’s consciousness, and I’d like to think we played a small part in that sweater becoming as valuable as it was.”
Nostalgia is decidedly trending, which is working to Rowing Blazers’ advantage. But according to Carlson, who formerly worked as an archaeologist, he’s just doing what he loves.
“There’s something in the zeitgeist that we are somehow plugged into,” he said. “But there’s not a lot of science behind what we’re doing.”
He added, “With the Warm & Wonderful [deal], I wasn’t thinking about ‘The Crown’ or Megan and Harry, or any of that.”
Rowing Blazers’ sales are projected to grow 50% this year.
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