MANIFESTO

Hi. Here at JF & SON we do things a bit differently. Our goal is to produce well-designed, well-priced clothing in a socially responsible way. Thus, we came up with the principle of VERTICAL/HORIZONTAL.

+JF & SON is VERTICALLY integrated. We own the whole process - from production to sales. We have three studios - Delhi, New York, Shanghai - where we produce all of our clothing and accessories; and we have one store - 19 Kenmare Street, NYC - where we sell our pieces. This means a couple of things:

(1) We can ensure that everything is being produced in a fair and equitable environment. This means full-time work, health-care, and a living wage.

(2) Because we ship directly from our studios to our store, there's no middle-men/women to raise the price. This way we can offer our customers what is the wholesale price at retail.

(3) Keeping it all in-house allows us to be responsive to our customers. We offer custom-orders based off of existing styles, and alterations so that everyone can feel their best in our clothes.

+JF & SON is HORIZONTALLY operated. We eschew the Fordist model of production. We think that mass-production is generally dehumanizing, wasteful, and uncreative. Instead, we believe that everyone should participate in the design process - from our beaders in India, to our customers in New York. This too means a couple of things:

(1) All of our sewers, beaders, embroiderers, and tailors are recognized as creative individuals, and are directly involved in the conception of each and every piece.

(2) We encourage our customers and community to get involved. In addition to custom-orders, we are rolling out opportunities for customers to design pieces and styles either as one-offs or part of our permanent collectionn.

(3) Because this studio model is contingent on having the best craftspeople and sewers around, we're able to produce new and unique styles at a faster rate than regular factories. In our store, you won't see more than 10 of any given item, and every other week we receive a delivery of brand new designs.

(4) Being this facile means we can pursue different projects, like our artist collaborations. Every month we produce a mini-collection with local New York artists. Our goal is to be like Printed Matter, but for textiles and clothing; getting artists to document their work through apparel and fabrics.

THE FUTURE: JF & SON is committed to making design as transparent as possible. Just like the food industry, we all want to know where the things we buy come from. We believe that it is our responsibility as designers to connect those people making the clothes with those people buying the clothes. Not only does this ensure that everyone is being treated honestly and fairly, but it forces better quality and better designed pieces.

In this way, we hope to open up more studios in different parts of the world. We chose India, because it has the world's most vast and diverse history of hand-work design. We chose China, because many of the materials we use, like silks and cottons, are being produced there, and they too have an extraordinary history of tailoring and sewing. We chose New York, because it's one of the design capitals of the world. Currently we're planning to open up a studio in Georgia, US. Alongside that we hope to open up more stores, so that more people can become a part of this design revolution.

As this is a grand project, we appreciate any and all feedback and questions. Feel free to contact me (Jesse) at [email protected].

XOXO

JF & SON