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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -
(Accessed September 21, 2018)
John Peterman (born 1941)[1] is an American catalog and retail entrepreneur from Lexington, Kentucky, who operates The J. Peterman Company. He grew up in West Nyack, NY as the son of a banker and secretary.[2] He is known for founding the J. Peterman Company after finding a cowboy duster on a business trip.[3] Peterman was also a professional baseball player, Kentucky rancher, and an author.[4]
Early Life
John Peterman was the third of four children born to Charles and Sally Peterman. He had two brothers and a sister.[5] Charles Peterman became a loan officer and, later, the assistant vice president[6] of the Irving Trust Co. after working his way up from the mailroom. John Peterman grew up in Van Houten Fields, an agrarian commune in West Nyack, New York. Those who were part of the community built their own houses and grew a portion of their own food. Peterman learned to garden, tend chickens, and participate in other physical labor.[1] His mother worked as an administrative assistant after her children started school.[5]
As a high schooler, John Peterman attended Clarkstown High School and participated in basketball, baseball, and football. He was recognized in the local newspaper for his performance in all three sports.[7] In baseball, he played second base and was voted All-P.S.A.L Baseball first team selection as a second basemen.[8] He graduated from Clarkstown High School in 1960.[7]
Education and Baseball Career
Peterman graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, MA[2] in 1963 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics.[5] He played third base on the Holy Cross baseball teams that went to the College World Series in 1962 and 1963. As a junior in 1962, he had a 0.362 batting average and as a senior in 1963, he had a 0.291 batting average as well as leading his team with 17 runs batted in.[9] He also played baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization for three years as a second baseman.[10] In 1963, Peterman had a one-day tryout with the Bronx Bombers at Yankee Stadium where he played next to Micky Mantle, Roger Maris, and Tony Kubek, but did not sign with the team.[11] His dream of becoming a major league baseball player ended in his early 20’s after a leg injury[12] and after he was unable to displace Bill Mazeroski’s place as second baseman.[13]
Career
Sales
John Peterman had a career in sales for 20 years after his baseball career ended. He worked as a regional sales manager in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama for General Foods and Castle & Cooke.[3] During his time in sales, Peterman sold dog food, cereal, pineapple, tuna fish, and inspirational tapes. In 1981, he was managing fertilizer accounts but was dismissed.[2]
Corporate Consultant
Peterman became a corporate consultant after deciding “that was the first and last time I was going to be fired.”[3] As a corporate specialty-foods sales[1]consultant, he helped people make deals with other companies, and it allowed him to travel. During a meeting to help a client find an advertising company, Peterman met Donald Staley and they began to work closely together. They agreed to collaborate on any entrepreneurial ideas they envisioned, which led to several businesses.[3]
Entrepreneur
Together, Peterman and Staley started a mail-order company to heal sick houseplants as well as a manufacturing business making beer cheese; both were successful.[3] The beer cheese business was originally Hall’s Beer Cheese and Peterman bought half the company. While he was selling beer cheese, he found a horseman’s duster that would propel him into the retail business. The beer cheese was being sold downstairs and the retail business was upstairs until Hall’s was eventually sold.[14]
The J. Peterman Company
The J. Peterman Company is a retail company that sells clothing and fashion accessories primarily through catalogs and the Internet.
History
The J. Peterman Company was founded in 1987 by John Peterman, an entrepreneur who was formerly a minor league baseball player.[16] It took up the travel and safari theme originated by Banana Republic, which they abandoned in 1989 soon after their corporate parent, The Gap, parted ways with Banana Republic founders Mel and Patricia Ziegler.[citation needed] The J. Peterman Company's first product was an original horseman's duster,[16]promoted with a small ad in The New Yorker. The company grew by offering distinctive lifestyle merchandise (including reproductions of antique clothing and clothing worn in specific films) within catalogs that differed from other direct marketing at the time. The catalogs use long copy to explain the products, often expanding into exotic stories of how the catalog writer came across the product, or how it will make the wearer irresistibly attractive, such as
When a man puts on this authentic French farmer's shirt he may very well find that his hands look bigger....Is that woman over there giving him the eye and nodding toward the haystack? Yes, and he knows what to do.[17]
The products are also depicted in drawings rather than photographs.
From 1995 to 1998, Seinfeld, the most popular television series at the time, parodied the owner and the company with Elaine Benes working at the catalog under eccentric businessman and world traveler J. Peterman, played by John O'Hurley.[18]
In 1997, the company made a deal with 20th Century Fox to sell both original and authorized replica costumes and props from their upcoming film Titanic.[19]Most analysts expected the film to be a costly flop, and J. Peterman chose to feature it simply because it fit their brand as a period piece. When Titanic proved to be the biggest financial hit of all time, J. Peterman found themselves with a lucrative line of collectibles. The best-selling product was the only authorized replica of the film's iconic Heart of the Ocean blue diamond necklace. The company sold over $1 million worth of the necklaces, priced at $198 each.[20]
Flush with the success of their Titanic bonanza, the company raised private equity to expand. The company opened up 10[16] retail stores in several markets, including New York, Detroit, and San Francisco.[21] The stores were moderately successful but the growth was too fast for the company's small operations. Despite $75 million in sales at its peak, the company was forced into bankruptcy in January 1999.[16][21]
The company was purchased by Paul Harris Stores in 1999, without the future participation of Peterman. Paul Harris Stores went bankrupt in 2000. In 2001, Peterman repurchased the name and restarted The J. Peterman Company, with Seinfeld sitcom Peterman portrayer O'Hurley as an investor.[16][18] With the help of a core group from the original company (creative director William McCullam, marketing director Jonathan Dunavant, merchant Paula Collins and director of manufacturing Kyle Foster), the company was relaunched.[22] Tim Peterman, one of the founder's sons, left E. W. Scripps in 2008 to become president of the company while John Peterman became Chairman.[23]
On November 24, 2010, the company was the first to use the marketing term "Red Wednesday Sale," referring to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as "Black Friday's Impetuous Cousin."
In January 2011, the J. Peterman Company received a Job Creation Tax Credit incentive from the State of Ohio valued at $122,000 over a six-year term. The headquarters was moved from Lexington, Kentucky to Blue Ash, Ohio.[24][25]
On April 11, 2016, the company launched a Kickstarter campaign[26] to raise money for new product development such as the Urban Sombrero from Seinfeld.
Personal Life
John Peterman has been married to his wife, Audrey, for about 54 years and they have four children.[2] His daughter Robyn Peterman Zahn, a popular writer and former actress, is married to the actor Steve Zahn. They have two children, Henry James Zahn and Audrey Clair Zahn.[27] His son Tim Peterman was the CEO of J. Peterman Co. from 2008 until 2014 and helped build the company’s web presence.[28] Around 2014, Matt Peterman started working at the J. Peterman Company as the Creative Director after spending time in Los Angeles, CA in the film business.[4] In July 2015, Peterman’s son Sean Peterman was tragically killed in a farming accident in Lexington, KY.[29]
John Peterman owns a cabin on a 550-acre parcel of land in Lexington, KY that was formerly farmed by his son Sean.[1]
In 2001, John Peterman presented a lecture titled “The Painful but Essential Art of Failing” to his alma mater, College of the Holy Cross. Peterman spoke to the pre-business program at the invitation of Nancy Baldiga, the pre-business advisor and associate professor of economics.[30]
Works
After the J. Peterman Company filed for bankruptcy and was bought by Paul Harris Stores, John Peterman wrote a book titled “Peterman Rides Again.” It is a memoir that explores Peterman’s life, from his early baseball career to finding products for the catalog while traveling.[31] It also chronicles the rise and fall of the J. Peterman Company and Peterman’s “hard-won lessons in entrepreneurship.”[32] The book was published November 6, 2000 and has 225 pages.[33]
· Peterman, John (2000). Peterman Rides Again. Paramus, N.J.: Prentice Hall Press. ISBN 0-7352-0199-4.
References
1. Vinjamuri, David (2008-03-31). Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 22–49. ISBN 9780470282083.
2. "Suburban Cowboy John Peterman Rides the Long Coattails of His Dude-Ish Duster to Catalog Success". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
3. Witt, Karen de. "A Legend in His Own Ad Copy, and on 'Seinfeld'". Retrieved 2018-08-17.
4. "In search of the real J. Peterman". Retail Dive. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
5. Jurgelski, Susan. "Putting on the ritzy / The man, the myth, the legend, the catalog and the new line of furniture". LancasterOnline. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
6. "Rockland County Times 21 October 1971".
7. Basson, Sam (1960-01-14). "Spice of Sports" (PDF). Orangetown Telegram. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
8. Basson, Sam (1959-06-18). "Lions Share to Rams, Suffern, Bucs in All P.S.A.L. Baseball Selections" (PDF). Orangetown Telegram. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
9. "Bio - John H. Peterman". goholycross.com. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
10. "John Peterman Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
11. Walters, John (1998-11-02). "YANKEE STADIUM FOR SALE HOME PLATE AND OLD SEATS AT J. PETERMAN'S AIN'T CHEAP". Sports Ilustrated. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
12. "The real J. Peterman turns to a Texas company for a baseball product in his spring catalog". Dallas News. 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
13. "John Peterman Has 40 Million Reasons To Smile". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
14. Ace (2016-04-26). "How J. Peterman Is Resurrecting Retail". Ace Weekly. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
15. Privacy policy of The J. Peterman Company
16. Greenwald, John (August 12, 2001). "Peterman Reboots". Time. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
17. French Farmers Shirt at jpeterman.com
18. Jong, Mabel. "J. Peterman catalogs his success: Yada, yada, yada", Bankrate, 6 June 2003.
19. https://www.racked.com/2017/12/13/16752938/titanic-heart-of-the-ocean-j-peterman
20. https://www.racked.com/2017/12/13/16752938/titanic-heart-of-the-ocean-j-peterman
21. Fornoff, Susan. J. Peterman is back / This time the catalog king is writing the 'adventures' of his new furniture line San Francisco Chronicle, 12 June 2004.
22. "The Real J. Peterman". racingtotheredlight.com.
23. The J. Peterman Company (25 March 2008). "Founder's Son Named to Lead J. Peterman" (Press release). Lexington, Kentucky: PRNewswire.com.
24. "Job Creation Tax Credit Report" (PDF). Ohio Development Services Agency. p. 24.
25. "Blue Ash Economic Development News". Blue Ash Advance. City of Blue Ash, Ohio. March 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-10-18.
26. "J. Peterman Kickstarter Campaign". Kickstarter.com.
27. "Robyn Peterman". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
28. Schiller, Kristan (2012-07-06). "Bouncing Back from Bankruptcy to Reinvent a Brand". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
29. "J. Peterman's Son Killed In Farming Accident". Retrieved 2018-08-23.
30. McNamara, Katharine (Spring 2001). "The Single Most Important Job"(PDF). Holy Cross Magazine. 35: 41.
31. "Nonfiction Book Review: Peterman Rides Again by John Peterman, Author Prentice Hall Press $25 (288p) ISBN 978-0-7352-0199-6". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
32. "College of the Holy Cross | Holy Cross Magazine". www.holycross.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
33. "Peterman Rides Again". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
Selected Sources from UK
Libraries:
Peterman, John. Peterman Rides Again : Adventures Continue with the Real "J. Peterman" through Life & the Catalog Business. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. Print.
Special Collections Research Center Closed Stacks - Ask at desk on 2nd Floor for assistance (HD31 .P3838 2000 )
McCourt, Matthew J. Selling Subjects : Retail Practices of J. Peterman Co. Lexington, Ky.: [s.n.], 2000. Print.
Young Library Theses 5th Floor Stacks (Theses 2000 ) and other locations
J. Peterman Co. Catalogues. 1990. Print.
Special Collections Research Center Closed Stacks - Ask at desk on 2nd Floor for assistance
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