Fade In Fade Out With Nantucket Reds

When J. Press was a family business it was calumny for anyone close to Irving and Paul Press to dare wear an outside brand.

Irving Press broke his own rule with wife and sons spending a long summer vacation on Yale classmate and pal Chasey Kuehn’s 100-acre ranch outside Casper, Wyoming. Kuehn, long time benefactor of the Yale School of Forestry, rancher and devoted patron of the J. Press custom department for years, challenging fitter Felix Samelson to camouflage his 300 lb. frame. Irving and his sons followed Kuehn Ranch protocol wearing Levi’s secured by a Kuehn Ranch brass ring leather belt. Irving appropriated the belt for J. Press where it became a best seller throughout the 1960s and ‘70s.

My own away game from J. Press wardrobe protocol began in the early 1970s on summer jaunts to Nantucket. Nantucket swells knocked off gin and tonics at the Yacht Club flaunting Murray’s Nantucket Reds. I never made it into the Yacht Club, but for years thereafter nobody stopped me from wearing Murray’s Reds in the lowbrow bars I favored with my pals on the island.

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s clothing manufacturer Gordon-Ford tailored warm weather wear for J. Press. Irving Press implored its co-owner, dynamic mover and shaker, Norbert Ford, to secure the fabric from the mill that produced Murray’s Nantucket Reds. The mill’s loyalty to Murrays proved unbending and Norb Ford was unable to find a resource to replicate the Murray’s fabric. Hence our imperfect “brick red” imitations that more truthfully should have been labelled “Second Hand Rose.”

The wishbone has come full circle. J. Press is pleased to partner with Murray’s Toggery Shop on an exclusive merchandise collection this summer. In addition to the fabled trousers and shorts the assortment includes a signature navy blazer, Island sweater, OCBDs, and seasonal ties, all made in the USA.

Now I can sip dirty Martinis at JG Melons, fading in and fading out after my second cocktail proudly togged in my Murray’s/J. Press Nantucket Reds likewise guaranteed to fade.

RICHARD PRESS