Photo: Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
Friends and family call ’em Jen and Tanya, but you know these knitting couturiers as the geniuses behind JAK, today’s go-to label for knitted scarves and wraps. Founders Jennifer Armstrong and Tanya Alsberg are the West Coast women who turned the art of knitting and purling into a ready-to-wear knit fashion empire. Their designs are hot. From knitting needles to hand-looming, made-in-the-USA designs in the JAK line have gathered fans faster than these women can knit. Now that's a success story.
You Don’t Know JAK
Just about every success story starts out with cramped headquarters and a bigger-than-life dream and so it was that Armstrong and Alsberg rented a tiny rooftop studio in the Mission District of San Francisco to launch their first collections of hand-knit fashions in 1997 – not long after they met serving sandwiches at a San Francisco eatery. Jen, an Ohio native, is the fiber maven who understands, from an artist’s perspective, how art and clothing are one. She knows how to keep it simple, understated and sleek in a world filled with an overabundance of glitz and glam.
Knit Your Ordinary Clothing
OrganiJAK or JAK Naturals? Both collections are filled with wraps, scarves, coats and jackets that make up each season’s JAK library. Both are equally stunning and inspired by the natural Earth movement. Scarves and wraps from both collections are knit for comfort and beauty. Choose vivid scarves if orange and bright blue flatter your skin tones or opt for earthy knitwear designed for girls who need no bright colors to make a statement. Jackets and coats in both lines are figure flattering because they’re knit to wrap the body gently and if you’re a tall girl, you’re going to fall in love with some of the longer garments.
Yarns and Lifstyles Stress Sustainability
OrganiJAK knits are crafted of 66 percent sustainable bamboo and 34 percent organic cotton in four sizes: small, medium, large and extra large. The JAK Naturals line features muted and bright wraps and scarves made from Merino wool, linen and hand-dyed silk. Artisan-loomed in the USA, knitwear from both types of JAK designs are meant to be hand washed in cold water and dried flat to maintain their shape and color. Sustainability is given more than lip service when it comes to the JAK owners: they create their masterpieces in an uber-green environment where recycled yarn, remnants and even recycled office supplies are always the order of the day.
JAK Focuses on the Art of Knitwear
In addition to making women’s wraps and scarves, Jen’s fiber art appears in gallery collections and catalogs from coast to coast. Dancers appearing in Julliard School of Dance and New York Lincoln Center live performances have worn JAK knits as costumes. Women Around Town, an online publication, profiled their creations in their 2010 shopping column. It’s not often that you can prove that you’re wearing a legitimate piece of art, so do brag about the fact that the creators of your JAK fashions are represented in both boutiques and art galleries.
