Two hundred people turned out last Wednesday night to hear retailer Jay McLaughlin give a fascinating talk at The Moorings Club that ranged from formative childhood events to the growth of his eponymous company.
“When you work so hard for so long, you don’t have a lot of time to reflect on what you’ve done and how you got there,” said McLaughlin, who with his brother Kevin founded the iconic clothing brand J. McLaughlin in New York City in the 1970s.
“My brother Kevin and I had no idea we’d be here today. And I certainly would not be here without my wonderful wife Joan by my side,” McLaughlin said.
His parents played a crucial role as well. “I believe genetics play a part in who you turn out to be,” McLaughlin told the audience, many of whom showed up in J. McLaughlin threads.
“My mother was a housewife with excellent taste. She hand-sewed much of our clothing so at an early age she had us feeling special in our clothing.”
Jay and Kevin got their first taste of retail working as stock boys at a department store while in high school. “We took our first paychecks and went straight to Brooks Brothers and bought Peal tassel loafers. It was an important statement we wanted to make about ourselves. We would always add little tweaks to our outfits that set us apart from what everyone else in high school was wearing.”
McLaughlin attended Fairfield University in Connecticut and then went on with his brother to business school at New York University. “I met Joan around that time while we worked as lifeguards. We married in 1974.”
While McLaughlin was renovating homes that his father owned in Brooklyn, Kevin McLaughlin worked in a boutique clothing store in Manhattan. One day, said McLaughlin, “Kevin approached me and said ‘Why don’t we pool our resources and open up a store?’ ”
In 1977, with no formal retail training, the brothers began operations as Sea Island Clothiers in Manhattan.
McLaughlin said they got the idea to private label all their clothes from Paul Stuart, an established men’s store that only sold Paul Stuart products.
“We followed suit and decided to only sell our brand. That made us a much stronger retailer and is one of the strongest attributes of J. McLaughlin today.”
In 1979, the brothers became J. McLaughlin. “You’re probably wondering why it became J and not K for Kevin,” McLaughlin said. “Very simply, at the time we were Joan and Jay, and Kevin and Julia (Kevin’s first wife). So three J’s won over the one K!”
In 1999, the first store outside of the New York area opened in Naples, Florida. It was designed by a young architect who subsequently designed every J. McLaughlin store since then. Each shop is different, reflecting the individuality of the region, the town’s character and architecture. By 2006, the company opened its 25th store. Today the company has more than 100 stores in 23 states, including 21 stores in Florida.
In 2013, the McLaughlins bought the Village Shops in Indian River shores and began a visionary redesign of the quaint plaza. “For the last two years we have been trying to create this terrific environment for shopping,” McLaughlin said.
