JNCO, short for "Judge None Choose One", is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-based clothing company specializing in boys' and men's

jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...

History

JNCO was founded in 1985 by Moroccan-born, French-raised brothers Jacques Yaakov Revah and Haim Milo Revah. The brand gained recognition in the 1990s with its boys' ultra-wide straight legged

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been pr ...

jeans featuring elaborate pocket logos and a unique street look. The brothers commissioned a local LA graffiti artist Joseph Montalvo, aka Nuke, to design the brand's logo. This street look was popularized throughout the 90s starting in Los Angeles and working its way through the United States. JNCO also manufactures T-shirts, khaki pants and other clothing articles for men and women. Unlike similar California based apparel manufacturers, JNCO manufactured most of its products in the United States, mainly at S.M.J. American Manufacturing Co., a operation also owned by Milo and Jacques Revah. After peak sales of $186.9 million, sales halved in 1999. In the 2000s, the brothers closed the main factory. In 2015, the brand was relaunched, backed by Chinese investment firm Guotai Litian, which acquired it for a reported seven-figure amount. However the new products were reported to be of lower quality, which resulted in increased demand for the original jeans on secondary marketplaces such as

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

. On February 15, 2018, it was announced that JNCO was to cease production and liquidate its inventory. It was later clarified that this applied to the then-current licensed production under Guotai Litian, and that the brand would continue under new management. In 2019, original founder Milo Revah announced he had re-acquired the brand and intended to relaunch it alongside his daughter Camilla. This second relaunch took place on June 28 of that year, along with a new website.

Styles

After JNCOs grew in popularity, department store chains such as

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawai ...

and J. C. Penney as well as mall retail stores such as

Tops and Bottoms Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...

began to carry them. Other stores selling JNCOs were Gadzooks and

Pacific Sunwear Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC is an American retail clothing brand. The company sells lifestyle apparel, along with swim, footwear and accessories designed for teens and young adults. As of 2022, the company operates 325 stores in all 50 stat ...

. JNCO jeans were produced in a variety of styles and lines, ranging from ultra-wide jeans with leg openings greater than to more conservatively-cut styles. Some were so large that younger children often had to sit down while putting them on. After reaching the height of its popularity within the subcultures and becoming more mainstream, JNCOs were known for featuring superfluously large back pockets with

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

-like inspired artwork embroidery that became more cartoonish as the 1990s ended including flaming skulls and the "JNCO Crown" (previously the majority of styles only had a relatively small stylized "J"). Some names of JNCO styles included Mammoths, Crime Scenes, FlameHead (geared for kids and teens), Mad Scientists, Buddha, Tribals and Rhinos, Twin Cannons, and Kangaroos, which had leg openings and extremely large back pockets, featured embroidery of a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

with

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

gloves above the right rear pocket.

References

External links

*
Jncojeans.com (Archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jnco 1990s fashion Clothing brands of the United States Clothing companies established in 1985 Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles Jeans by brand Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1994