Pursuits

Whatever Happened to Jordache?

The eccentric Israeli family that launched a denim craze now owns hotels and airlines. They probably make your jeans, too

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Matthew Boyle and Lauren Coleman-Lochner

July 26, 2012 at 10:25 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

BusinessWeek Cover Image (12_31, portrait_2x)

This article is part of the July 30, 2012 issue of businessweek.

This past November, Steve Nakash, 34, headed down from New York to Miami in his family’s Gulfstream IV to take a look at the Versace mansion. Despite being the site of Gianni Versace’s 1997 murder by serial killer Andrew Cunanan and a baroque monument to bad taste, the Versace mansion has maintained some value. It features frescoed ceilings and a 54-foot-long pool lined with 24-karat gold. It’s also next to a hotel the Nakashes own, the Victor.

Traveling with family and friends, Nakash wore a white waffle-knit shirt, black loafers, and a pair of Levi’s. He made the jeans, and not in a Brooklyn, artisanal I-made-it-myself way. The Nakash family, headed by Steve’s father, Joe, runs Jordache Enterprises, a billion-dollar empire built on those tight jeans from the 1980s. Though the fad is over, the fortune has rolled on. A Jordache factory now sews jeans for Levi’s.