Jack Carlson (rowing)

Carlson grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and Hampstead, England.[4][5] He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where he studied Chinese and Classics.[6] At Georgetown, he was a member of the Philodemic Society and captain of the rowing team. Upon graduating from Georgetown, he was awarded an Allbritton Scholarship for graduate study at Oxford University.[7]

He earned a doctorate in archaeology at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was also awarded a Clarendon Scholarship.[8] His dissertation, supervised by Dame Jessica Rawson and R.R.R. Smith, was a comparative study of the Roman Empire and the contemporaneous Qin-Han Empire in China.[9] At Oxford, he was a member of the Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club and 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.[10][11][12] His other research interests include heraldry and vexillology, and he is the author and illustrator of the book A Humorous Guide to Heraldry.[13]

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.[14] The book launched with events at the Ralph Lauren flagships in New York and London.[15]

Carlson is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, the Royal Asiatic Society, and The Explorers Club, as well as a life member of the Archaeological Institute of America.[16]

Carlson is the founder of the New York-based apparel and accessories brand Rowing Blazers. Carlson and the brand have been featured in Vogue, GQ, Esquire, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times, among other publications.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] GQ described it as "the brand that's saving prep by kicking down its walls,"[27] and Men's Journal as "classic British and Ivy League iconography with a post-modern, punk twist."[28]

The London Times referred to it as a "cult streetwear brand, worn by Timothée Chalamet, inspired by a young, sporting Prince Charles."[29] The brand also counts many celebrities among its clientele, including Dwyane Wade, Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Bieber, Macklemore, Mindy Kaling, Pete Davidson, Ezra Koenig, Ashley Graham, Tan France, and Chloe Sevigny.[18][30][31][32]

The brand's blazers, rugby shirts, casual clothing, outwear, and accessories are made in Europe and in New York City's Garment District using vintage patterns, details and construction techniques and ethically-sourced materials.[33] Rowing Blazers has launched pop-up shops and events in Soho, New York, as well as Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Nantucket, London, Paris, and Tokyo, and has been carried by Beams, Fred Segal, Murray's Toggery, and Selfridges.[21][34][23][35][36][37]

Rowing Blazers has become well known for its wide-ranging and unexpected collaborations, all designed by Carlson, including collections with Barbour, FILA, Umbro, J. Press, Noah, Sperry Top-Sider, Eric Emanuel, Babar the elephant, Harry's New York Bar, Slim Aarons, and the NBA.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]

In 2020, Carlson launched the brand's first women's collection by partnering with Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir, founders of Warm & Wonderful and designers of the iconic "black sheep" sweater famously worn by Princess Diana on several occasions in the 1980s. Together, and to great international acclaim, they released the original sheep sweater for the first time in thirty years.[49][50][51][52]

In July 2021, the brand released three limited-edition watches in collaboration with Japanese watch manufacturer Seiko, which sold out in a matter of minutes.[53]

Carlson has 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.[54]

He won both Henley Royal Regatta, with Taurus Boat Club, and the Head of the Charles, with Cambridge Boat Club, in 2013.[55][56] At Henley, his crew won the Britannia Challenge Cup, equalling the record time to the Barrier, which has stood since 1993.[57]

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 served as chief coach for Oriel College Boat Club, Oxford, in 2011-2012 and 2013–2014. Oriel finished Head of the River in Summer Eights in both seasons; defending the Headship in 2012, and bumping Christ Church and Pembroke to recapture the Headship in 2014.[58] He also rowed bow seat in the Brasenose College Boat Club 1st VIII, The Childe of Hale, in 2010; and coxed Brasenose to victory in a 2015 re-enactment of the first ever collegiate rowing race, contested between Brasenose College and Jesus College two hundred years earlier.[59] Prior to Oxford, Carlson rowed and coxed at Georgetown University, 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.