Some people look to fashion retail as leisure, therapy, or simply just joy. For retail vets like Jeffrey Kalinsky, however, it’s an art form, one the fashion visionary has been mastering for three decades and counting..
“When I was a freshman in college, I started selling shoes part-time to make extra money and then basically sold the rest of my life ,” Kalinsky, today the Chief Merchant and Creative Officer of Theory, said. “I always wanted to make the customers feel special. I think if you enjoy making other people feel special, then the rest of it is all very easy.”
Kalinsky is no stranger to the fashion stage – far from it in fact. He’s been a prominent industry fixture since the 1990s and is credited as the first to pioneer luxury retail in New York City’s Meatpacking District via the groundbreaking Jeffrey New York boutique. It’s in his genes: Morris Kalinsky, his late father, elevated the Bob Ellis Shoes in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, into a high-end retail force.
Kalinsky’s love for retail extended beyond the family business. At age 28, Kalinsky founded the Jeffrey luxury boutique in Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked closely with clients
“For me, I enjoy catering to people,” he said. “The other part is that I love both aspects of retail; I love buying and I love selling. I like taking the customers on a journey, so I was constantly trying to stimulate my clients, season after season.
“I have sold people what I wanted them to have instead of what they might have come asking for,” he added. “The key is making customers feel that they actually made a better choice.”
Relationships are key— a lesson he has taken to heart throughout his career path which took him from the namesake boutiques to Nordstrom, where he was Vice President, and Theory to Jeffrey Fashion Cares, his fundraiser for breast cancer and LGBTQ+ causes.
“It’s all important. In 2020, my boutique closed permanently. I learned it is important to maintain and build relationships with anyone who walked through the front door,” he said. “Whether people made a purchase or looked around my store, I treated them well. I do not know how to do it any other way.”
In 2022, Kalinsky landed a dream job at Theory.
“Throughout my life I have always gone for what I wanted. I believe in accomplishing goals that I want to do but have not done before. It is who I am,” Kalinsky stated. “I am not necessarily trying to amplify Theory’s aesthetic as much as I intend to be very loyal to what the brand is. But you have to think about new ideas to move the brand forward. Theory is very unique. I cannot think of another brand that is doing what we do at our price point, which is making modern and classic clothing that suits a man or woman for all aspects of their life in this very clean and polished space.
