Peterman: Jeffco alliance is right fit for 'special' brand
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, February 24, 2003
New York — While most associate J. Peterman with apparel and accessories, founder John Peterman said furniture is the right fit for his first licensing effort.
"What we do in apparel is very special, but with apparel, you get locked into mass merchandisers, and that's not the direction I'm taking the company," he said. "The J. Peterman brand by definition is special, and whatever we do has to be special. We're not going for the low-end mass market for furniture."
Peterman, who just signed a licensing agreement with Jeffco Furniture for a line to be introduced in October, first considered a furniture license a few years ago.
"We'd been selling furniture for 10 years in the catalog, and when we had our stores, furniture was an important component of the business," he said.
J. Peterman's product positioning — unique items from around the world — also gives its furniture venture a broad style vocabulary.
"I have this wonderful job of traveling around the world meeting whomever I want to meet, and buying whatever I want to buy — it's hard to get tired of a job like that," Peterman said.
"J. Peterman has the ability to draw on the world and not be limited to a particular area. If you go to someone's house in Argentina, and it's an interesting house, it's not all Spanish. If you go to an apartment in Paris, is it all Parisian or does it have pieces from all over the world? In my viewpoint, interest comes from around the world."
Peterman founded his business in 1987, selling items from around the world through a catalog illustrated in a distinctively drawn style and accompanied by stories lending the products a sense of time, place and adventure.
The long-running "J. Peterman" character on the TV comedy "Seinfeld" reflected and expanded Peterman's status as a cultural icon of the 1990s.
A cash flow crisis as the company expanded its store operations in 1998 forced it into bankruptcy, but John Peterman persevered. He wrote a candid memoir, "Peterman Rides Again," and reacquired rights to his brand, including a 4,000-item archive of clothing and home furnishings designs.
In 2001, he successfully re-launched his catalog.
Jeffco's furniture collection will include some adaptations of pieces in Peterman's home, found during his travels.
While he hopes people would aspire to the J. Peterman brand, he doesn't necessarily want the furniture in every home.
"J. Peterman is a brand that sells adventure and romance, and if you're really an individual, not everyone can have it," he said. "It's going to be a lot of fun because we're willing to take risks, and we're not trying to please everyone.
"The sameness that you see in the marketplace is a wonderful opportunity, because American consumers are individuals at heart. I think the consumer wants a chance to be an individual."
