J. Crew turns to Carlisle’s reclaimed wood to make its retail stores stand out

The successful clothing company J. Crew wants each of its stand-alone stores to have a character of its own, so when the company’s designer decided what new look he wanted for the retailer’s Madison Avenue store in New York, he looked to Carlisle to provide it.

Peter Switzer, who works in Carlisle’s Stoddard, New Hampshire headquarters, had already helped with the design and installation of a Carlisle floor in the home of one of the J. Crew’s owners. From that beginning, the relationship has grown store-by-store. Carlisle’s wide plank floors now appear in a total of five J. Crew showrooms, with a few more store designs currently on the drawing boards.

Like many of our customers—both commercial and residential—the designer’s key concern was the color of the floor. J. Crew’s store designer, Brandon Matthews, had seen that company owner’s home and really wanted to recreate the silver-gray tone of that floor and put it in the store at 1034 Madison Avenue. He also wanted to use reclaimed wood as a sustainable option and knew that Carlisle specialized in it. After visiting the Carlisle website, J. Crew’s crew settled on the Antique Hickory, and Peter sent then sent Brandon many samples of the various finishes on that wood. “They were looking for an unfinished yet hand-rubbed look,” Peter says, “where it didn’t feel like any finish at all was built up on it.”

Finding innovative cost-saving solutions
That look could be achieved with a WOCA white oil, which is not a very common choice. On the Antique Hickory, it reproduced that silver-gray tone perfectly. However, the project was now going to be over budget, so both parties had to re-think things. Carlisle’s Peter suggested that they choose a mix of Antique Hickory and Old Growth Hickory, which would cut down on the costs some. Brandon

Posted on November 3, 2009 at 03:16 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

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