Growing up in New Haven, the Yale Co-Op was an Ivy Heyday version of Target or H & M. Besides books and Yale paraphernalia the “Koop” offered lower price menswear mimicking J. Press and the multitude of upscale competitors in the York Street neighborhood. The Harvard Co-op and others popping up on campuses across the country followed the fold. Today they mainly feature books and college souvenirs.
Back in the late 1980s a couple of Dartmouth pals bought the Dartmouth Co-Op and we discussed the possibility of opening a branch in the grandiose basement space of our 16 East 44th Street J. Press store. The deal died, but the gleaming new J. Press Pennant Label store on Madison Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street realizes a 21st century vision of our earlier dream (minus the Dartmouth Co-Op affiliation).
During my premier visit to the new shop, I continued my alumni cheer sporting a Dartmouth J. Press Pennant Label windbreaker off the rack. Store Steward Chris Morris bears witness balancing his J. Press baseball cap affecting a more sober delineation of Pennant Label navy blazer over a blue OCBD. The J. Press Pennant Label offers a modern take on Heyday classics with a trimmer fit and broken-in feel along with a wide range of Ivy campus garb.
Press fills the Co-Op void with Pennant Label shops in our Washington, DC store and our 262 Elm Street headquarters adjacent to the Yale campus.
Without enough space to accommodate the Pennant Label collection, our NYC flagship store adjacent to the Yale Club on Vanderbilt and 44th continues thriving in its undisputed role as the Temple of Ivy tailoring, clothing and furnishings.
Eight blocks apart, dressed up or dressed down, the beat goes on.
RICHARD PRESS
3 comments
Congratulations to J. Press on the success of the new Pennant label. I quite recently bought the Pennant label’s corduroy sport coat and it’s quickly become one of my favorites. Even though it’s letter-sized, it fits perfectly and looks terrific. It’s an Ivy staple at a very, very reasonable price. Here’s to the continued success of Pennant and J. Press.
My patroness during New Haven days, Mamie Bush House, sister of Senator Pres. Bush, aunt and great aunt of Pres. HW and W Bush, respectively, gave me a brown silk knit Yale Co-op tie which I still have, a cherished momento of a great lady. A few years ago one end of the label came undone and I carefully (awkwardly) sewed it back on. It’s a bit worn and I no longer wear, but still treasure, it.
New Haven for decades until, roughly, the mid 1970’s, with Press and Gentree’s, White’s for women, Rosenberg, Gamer, Barrie’s Shoes,Hunter-Haig, Fenn-Feinstein and so forth — New Haven was a sartorial paradise, now — like Atlantis, El Dorado or Shangra-La — gone with the wind.