Jewogle - Nakash Family

The Nakash Family is a Sephardic Jews (Joseph, Avi, and Ralph) who founded and own Jordache Clothing Company.

Brothers Joe, Ralph, and Avi Nakash opened a store in New York City that sold brand-name jeans at a discount. Within a few years, their business had expanded to a four-store chain. In 1977, however, the brothers' largest store was looted and set ablaze during a city-wide power outage in 1977. When they collected $120,000 on their insurance policy, they incorporated their business (in 1978) and entered the jeans manufacturing business. They had long been interested in the European denim market, where jeans were more body-conscious and fashion-forward.

The Nakashes' timing was right. At this moment, consumers tastes in jeans were shifting from established brands like Levi's to designer jeans like Gloria Vanderbilt and Calvin Klein. Jordache jeans themselves, however, were barely distinguishable from other designer jeans on the market. To set their brand apart, the brothers plowed one quarter of their annual sales volume ($300,000 of their own money and $250,000 in loans) into an aggressive 1979 ad campaign. Jordache produced a television commercial starring an apparently topless woman in tight Jordache jeans riding a horse through the surf. The ad was rejected by all three major television networks, but independent New York stations aired it, and Jordache surged to popularity. One million dollars more was spent on advertising after this, including full-color ads in national magazines.

In the 1980s, the company expanded its reach with expansive licensing that generated up to $300 million/year in wholesale volume. In 1989, the company had 100 licensees, manufacturing products as varied as children's socks, women's outerwear, jewelry, dresses, luggage, and umbrellas.

In the 1990s, this strategy appeared to have backfired, and Jordache products slid in popularity. The company's jeans "lost their cachet, appealing mainly to inner-city youths and blue-collar workers and typically selling at discount stores."[1] When Jordache designer diapers were manufactured by a licensee in 1994, they "seemed to symbolize Jordache's descent in the marketplace to mass-merchandise stores and discount outlets."