[1] J.Jill was founded in the Berkshires, specifically in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, as a specialty store, by Karl Lipsky (1914—2009),[2] in 1955, which he named for his wife, Jenifer, and daughter, Jill.
[3] Prior to J.Jill, Lipsky had previously founded Jenifer House, a catalog fashion retailer.
[4] Despite the high sale three years before Golden Gate Capital acquired the company for a devalued $63 million in 2009.
[6] In June 2019, its shares took the biggest percentage decline since its 2017 IPO, plummeting 53.5%, which analysts blamed on design and color issues surrounding its inventory, and a premature move from its catalog model to a digital sales platform.
[7] In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, J.Jill donated $50,000 to First Responders First, through its J.Jill Compassion Fund, and launched a campaign for National Nurses Month, offering a shopping voucher for its newest collection to nurses, first responders, and healthcare workers.