Members Only
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| 200px | |
| Industry | Retail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975 |
| Headquarters | New York City, U.S. |
|
Key people
|
Jaggi Singh |
| Products | Clothing |
| Parent | JR Apparel World |
| Website | membersonlyoriginal.com |
Members Only is a brand of clothing that became popular in the 1980s with its line of jackets.[1] The brand was created in 1975[2] and introduced to American markets in 1980 by Europe Craft Imports.[1] Members Only racer jackets were distinguished by their narrow epaulettes and collar strap and their knitted trim; they were manufactured in a wide variety of colors. Their advertising tagline was "when you put it on, something happens".
Revival
The brand was licensed in 2003 by Maureen Regan of Kirtie Regan,[1] who resurrected it and developed a new line of apparel after the bankruptcy of Aris Industries. At first, the brand was strictly for males with their tighter fitting bomber jackets.[2] Maureen Regan relaunched the brand in 2004 introducing a women's line and added both men's and women's sportswear. The brand is currently owned by JR Apparel World, whose CEO is Jaggi Singh.
In popular culture
Due to its faddish adoption in the 1980s, the Members Only jacket appears in later popular media as symbol of outdatedness. Examples include Sheryl Crow's song "Members Only," the "Members Only" episode of The Sopranos, and the film Shallow Hal, where a character wearing the jacket is teased as "the last member."
Communication scholar Todd Kelshaw[3] has interpreted the brand's popularity surge as part of a broader American ideological shift in the early 1980s from participatory communities to materially-based communities represented in the purchase of consumer products.
References
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Kelshaw, Todd (2015) "Wearing Members Only jackets: Baby boomers and the shift from sharing in to buying into community," in Baby Boomers and Popular Culture: An Inquiry into America's Most Powerful
