Oxford Pennant co-owner Dave Horesh, once describing himself as a conduit to American history, is now writing his own page with the brand.
The company, which manufactures and sells mid-century and vintage T-shirts and pennants out of their storefront at 731 Main St., Buffalo, closed the deal on a history-making partnership with the iconic brand of American athletic prep, J. Crew.
The partnership was announced last week to the delight of the businesses’ friends and customers.
“A lot of them have started sending us photos of them wearing gear or taking photographs inside of J. Crew and tagging us in them on social media. It’s been awesome,” Horesh said.
J. Crew was a great fit, not only because of its national and international footprint, Horesh said, but also because its style and vision aligns with the major retailer.
“We tend to gravitate toward a throwback vibe. Our product is obviously new and old at the same time,” Horesh explained.
Oxford Pennant’s exclusively designed line is available for purchase on the J. Crew website. Customers can choose from either logo script graphic or pennant tees and hometown banners and pennants.
Horesh believes that having a selection of their apparel for sale, in addition to the pennants, is a huge accomplishment for the Buffalo-grown brand.
“The pennants sell quite well, but I was surprised because they basically wanted us to design product for them,” Horesh said. “That was pretty remarkable for me.”
But the partnership didn’t happen overnight. A few years ago, during the holiday season of 2016-2017 and at the beginning of Oxford Pennant’s story, J. Crew requested a small order of their dorm-inspired pennants. Since that time, the company has kept close contact with the retailer, even popping into headquarters on trips to New York City.
This year, that persistence paid off.
“We just kept hammering the door, we just kept on making ourselves available and showing them we were excited about it,” Horesh said. “And after a while, it might have been the right place and right time, they actually came to us and said, ‘Yeah, we want to work with you.’”
And in working with Oxford Pennant, J. Crew chose to place Buffalo on a larger stage.
“I think it lends credibility to the brand in a way that we haven’t yet had,” Horesh said.
Having an influential style giant like J. Crew on a company’s side is a sign that it’s on the up and up, but as for the future of Oxford Pennant, it means flexing its muscle while staying loyal to Buffalo patronage and the retelling of the Buffalo story in whatever new and exciting ways it can.
“I think the company has legs,” Horesh said. ”I think what we’re focused on right now is making as much of this stuff in Buffalo as we can, and finding ways to continue to partner with folks who are aligned with us philosophically.”