Jack Gross knows how to build a business.

For close to five decades Gross has worked at brands ranging from Bobbi Brooks and Leslie Fay to Cherokee and Gitano Group.

Ever since he had his dream of becoming a professional baseball pitcher shattered in college, Gross set out to be the best apparel industry executive he could be. As he puts it: he may not have been the smartest person in the room, but he was the hardest working — and it has paid off to the tune of 75 million pairs of jeans sold since 1993 and $800 million, the estimated sales volume for New York-based One Jeanswear Group.

He has survived ownership changes, bankruptcies, pandemics and a myriad of everyday challenges since he started in the Kaufmann’s executive training program after college. And for the past 32 years, h

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