Jeffrey Rudes launching men's luxury label

Jeffrey Rudes is plotting his comeback, and he is not being subtle or quiet about it either. The man who brought you J Brand jeans 10 years ago has pulled something from up his sleeve, and now plans on introducing a luxury men’s line called Jeffrey Rüdes. The label will be headquartered in Los Angeles with design and production taking place in Bologna, Italy.

What’s most impressive about this endeavor is that Rudes is financing the entire thing himself, no Series A or other funding attempts for him. When you’ve certainly made a fortune off one of the most popular jeans brands in high end department stores you’re sure to have some cash to spare. Rudes could bring in more investors if the pace of the expansion were to warrant it, though.

Whereas his original beloved child J Brand focused on a wholesale model, Jeffrey Rüdes will focus more on a retail model. The first step in this endeavor will be a two story-store, 5,800-square-foot store, located in the prime retail neighborhood of Soho in New York City at 57 Greene Street. The street is home to many other high-end retailers such as Diesel Black Gold. and Etro.

Former J Brand CEO launches luxury menswear label

The store is poised to open July 1st, right in the middle of the summer shopping period. The brand’s website will also be launching at the same time, and is expected to have a heavy social media presence. The duration of the brand’s lease at 57 Greene Street has not been specified, but, assuming the line is successful it could be there for a while.

While Rudes reputation and success has come from the women’s business, he always had his heart set on eventually doing luxury menswear. “I knew five years ago that I would finish my career doing luxury men’s wear, and my vision for this goes back 10 years,” Rudes said to Women’s Wear Daily. Last May, Rudes resigned as CEO of J Brand following its sale, and the sale of his remaining stake, to Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. acquired control of 80.1 percent of J Brand for 300 million dollar in December 2012.

For a man who made his name off of denim, Rudes actually intends to keep a very small jeans selection. Instead most of the line will focus on and consist of blazers, jackets, and leather outerwear. The line of blazers will range from everything, including peak and notch lapels in both single and double-breasted models.

Rudes already has plans on adding footwear, expanding the shirt selection, and adding suiting. One of the major perks of the label is that they will offer same day delivery in Manhattan, as well as custom tailoring. Rudes plans to see how well the brand does in Manhattan before he decides to expand anywhere else, but, with New York being home to a very high number of luxury spenders he could be making plans for expansion very soon.