Jack Carlson (rowing)

Carlson grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and Hampstead, England.[6][7] He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where he studied Chinese and Classics.[8] At Georgetown, he was captain of the rowing team. Upon graduating from Georgetown, he was awarded an Allbritton Scholarship for graduate study at Oxford University.[9]

At Oxford, he used his background in Chinese and Classics to begin comparative work on Ancient Rome and early Imperial China. He was awarded a Clarendon Scholarship, and his dissertation, supervised by Dame Jessica Rawson and R.R.R. Smith, was a comparative study of symbols, images, and imperial power in the Roman Empire and contemporaneous Qin-Han China.[10][11][12] At Oxford, he was a member of both the Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club and its heavyweight counterpart, Oxford University Boat Club.

Carlson worked as a field archaeologist in Italy at the Etruscan site Poggio Colla, in the Mugello Valley. He is the author of a wide range of academic articles, and his work has appeared in Antiquity, the New England Classical Journal, and Foreign Policy.[13][14][15]

His other research interests include heraldry and vexillology, and he is the author and illustrator of the book A Humorous Guide to Heraldry.[16] He is also the author of the book Rowing Blazers, an illustrated book about the jackets traditionally worn by rowers on such occasions as Henley Royal Regatta and their history and traditions.[17] The book launched with events at the Ralph Lauren flagships in New York and London.[18]

Carlson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Numismatic Society, the Royal Asiatic Society, and The Explorers Club, as well as a life member of the Archaeological Institute of America.[19][20][21]

Ralph Lauren discovered Carlson through a pre-publication copy of his book Rowing Blazers and hosted a series of launch events and parties for the project.[22] This served as Carlson's entrée into the fashion community, and inspired him to start his own apparel and accessories brand and design studio, which he also named Rowing Blazers.[23][24]

He began by designing blazers for rowing clubs and other teams and organizations, but the brand quickly expanded beyond blazers and beyond the world of rowing. Today, the brand is known for its celebrity clientele, including Timothée Chalamet, Pete Davidson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Russell Westbrook, Justin and Hailey Bieber, BTS, and Mindy Kaling.[25][26][27][28]

Carlson is known for combining elements from the worlds of tailoring, sportswear, and streetwear in unusual ways, and the brand has been featured in Vogue, Esquire, The New York Times, and other publications.[29][30][31] GQ described it as "the brand that's saving prep by kicking down its walls,"[32] and Men's Journal as "classic British and Ivy League iconography with a post-modern, punk twist."[33]

Carlson has been tapped for frequent and eclectic design collaborations, most notably his watch designs for Seiko and Zodiac.[34][35][36] He has also designed footwear collections in partnership with Sperry Top-Sider, Hunter, and K-Swiss,[37][38][39] and capsules with J. Crew, the NBA, Barbour, Umbro, and FILA.[32][40][41][42] In 2022, American handbag brand LeSportsac tapped Carlson to create its premium Arc En Ciel line.[43][44][45]

In 2023, Carlson collaborated with Gucci, designing a capsule collection branded "Rowing Blazers for Gucci Vault." The pieces in the capsule ranged from a formal white tie tailcoat to a pair of mesh gym shorts.[46][47]

Beyond his work with Rowing Blazers, Carlson has led the revival of several heritage apparel and accessories brands, including two British knitwear brands famously favored by Diana, Princess of Wales, Warm & Wonderful and Gyles & George, and American tennis and lifestyle brand Arthur Ashe. In 2023, Carlson launched Blazer Group, an overarching entity for the family of four brands (Rowing Blazers, Arthur Ashe, Warm & Wonderful, and Gyles & George), serving as creative director across the portfolio.[48][49]

Carlson represented the United States in rowing as a coxswain for the U.S. team at the 2011, 2014, and 2015 World Championships. His highest finish came in 2015 with a bronze medal in the lightweight men's eight.[50]

He won both the Head of the Charles and Henley Royal Regatta in 2013.[51][52] At Henley, his crew won the Britannia Challenge Cup, equalling the record time to the Barrier, which has stood since 1993.[53]

At Oxford, Carlson raced in the winning Lightweight Blue Boat at the 2011 Henley Boat Races and the losing Isis crew at the 2010 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, before switching allegiances to Oxford Brookes University Boat Club, where he coxed from 2011 to 2014. Carlson also served as head coach of Oriel College Boat Club in 2011-2012 and 2013–2014, winning the Summer Eights Headship in both seasons.[54] Prior to Oxford, Carlson rowed and coxed at Georgetown, where he served as team captain in 2009, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his rowing career began on the Charles River.

In 2023, Carlson trekked to the South Pole with his seventy-two-year-old father.[55]