J.CREW will have a huge help

Brendon Babenzien Named Creative Director of J.Crew Men's

Co-founder of Noah and Former Design Director at Supreme to Redefine Iconic Menswear Brand

NEW YORK, May 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- J.Crew Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Brendon Babenzien, Co-Founder of Noah and former Design Director at Supreme, as Creative Director of J.Crew Men's.  Babenzien will work alongside J.Crew Group CEO Libby Wadle to redefine the iconic brand, merging the vitality and creativity of today's style subcultures with an innovative appreciation of classic menswear.  

Babenzien will lead J.Crew Men's design, instilling the brand with the free-thinking point of view and visionary focus on responsible business models that have earned him critical acclaim throughout his impressive career. Babenzien's vision as Design Director at Supreme elevated a niche skate wear brand to the global stage, while his founding of Noah earned him further international renown for building a brand with a high standard of quality menswear while challenging the status quo by seeking to further positive change within the industry. As Creative Director of J.Crew Men's, Babenzien will for the first time turn his focus towards the evolution and reimagination of a true American classic.   

"J.Crew has always been a part of my life - quietly, subtly in the background, slowly becoming the platform from which to build my personal style. I'm excited to join the team and build a positive future that meets the interests of the thoughtful consumers that exist today, satisfying not just their sophisticated taste level but their demands for responsible business practices," said Babenzien. "J.Crew is in the unique position to help men achieve the confidence we all seek both stylistically and as consumers. I look forward to working with Libby and the rest of the J.Crew family to achieve these goals."

"Brendon is a singular talent in the fashion world. He's a true storyteller, and it's that depth of vision and creativity that have led to his proven ability to build beloved brands that customers obsess over.  His unique point of view, willingness to take risks and insider status will be invaluable to J.Crew's commitment to step outside ourselves and disrupt our brand and the industry in a progressive way," said Wadle.  "Brendon has always had an innate ability to pursue meaningful creative with integrity and is obsessively engaged with what is happening in the industry. His authentic connection to the brand serves as a perfect foundation upon which to drive the future of J.Crew Men's, and I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome him to the team." 

Babenzien will begin his work with J.Crew Men's effective immediately, reporting directly to Wadle.  His first full collection for the brand is scheduled to debut in the second half of 2022.

source by PR Newwire

The fact

Erika Inoue, 24, who works at a research group in Tokyo that consults on projects for local governments and businesses, said she was envious of friends in the United States who had received their shots.

“Among my friends’ group, I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten vaccinated,” said Ms. Inoue, who is hoping to attend a friend’s wedding in Tunisia. “I cannot wait.”

Japan, South Korea and Australia have all fallen far behind the vaccination timelines they laid out months ago.

Some wards in Tokyo began administering shots to those over 65 just this past week. In South Korea, where the authorities initially said they would be able to vaccinate about one million people a day, they have averaged closer to 27,000 in the first three months vaccinating. This month, Australian health officials dropped a goal of vaccinating the country’s entire population by the end of the year.

In Australia and Japan, the authorities have blamed supply problems from Europe for the slow rollout. Australia has said the European Union failed to deliver 3.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. A spokesman for the European Commission said that only 250,000 doses had been withheld from Australia by Italy in March, but officials in Australia say the reality is that the rest of the doses, blocked or not, simply have not arrived.

Australia has faced further complications as it has advised against giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 50 after reports of very rare blood clots.

In Japan, Taro Kono, the cabinet minister overseeing the vaccination program, has complained that the European Union grants approval on a shipment-by-shipment basis rather than approving multiple shipments at once. “We could get our vaccines stopped by the E.U.,” he said, citing the withheld doses to Australia.

The European Union has authorized shipments of more than 39 million doses to Japan, Patricia Flor, the union’s ambassador to Japan, said in an interview. “I would totally and absolutely reject any statement which would say that the way the vaccination campaign in Japan is going is related in any way to delays or problems in deliveries from the E.U.,” she said.

Supply issues or not, other factors have also led to delays. Japan requires domestic clinical trials of new vaccines, and in both Japan and South Korea, officials have proceeded carefully to persuade people who say they are reluctant to get vaccinated right away.

Kim Minho, 27, a researcher at the Institute of Engineering Research in Seoul, said the government had depended too heavily on measures like social distancing to curb infection rates. “Korea was late to the vaccine party,” he said.

A similar dynamic is true in Japan. Experts said the country might simply have failed to negotiate contracts requiring early deliveries of vaccines doses. In a statement, Pfizer said it would deliver on its commitment of 144 million doses to Japan by the end of 2021. Japan has yet to give regulatory approval to the Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines, although it has contracted with both companies to buy millions of doses.

Health ministry officials “are professionals about public health,” said Dr. Hiroyuki Moriuchi, a professor of global health at Nagasaki University. “But when it comes to business or contract writing, they are not professionals or experts in this area.”

“If Japan had a firm consciousness that this is a sense of crisis,” he added, “they would not have relied only on health ministry officials” to negotiate such contracts.

Mr. Kono, the cabinet minister overseeing the vaccine campaign, projects that the country will distribute enough doses for the country’s 36 million older people by the end of June. In a news briefing, he gave no projections for when the rest of the population might be inoculated.

Although overseas spectators have been barred from the Olympics, the Games’ organizers have said they will not require athletes, Olympic officials or foreign journalists to be vaccinated in order to enter Japan. On Friday, Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the Tokyo organizing committee, said that unlike other nations, Japan did not plan to prioritize its athletes for vaccination.

Organizers of the Tokyo Summer Olympics are proceeding with the event despite Japan’s low vaccination rates. Credit...Issei Kato/Reuters

In public polls, more than 70 percent of Japanese respondents say the Olympics should be postponed or canceled because of the pandemic. Media surveys have found that close to three-quarters of the public is unhappy with the vaccination delays.

text by The New York Times