JS Sloane

JS Sloane is a New York men's grooming brand built around classic barbershop products reworked for modern use, best known for a water-soluble brilliantine pomade. It was founded by Joann Kuno, a former New York broker with a degree in fashion design, together with her partner, rockabilly musician Smutty Smith (Smutty Smiff). The brand's own website does not state a founding year, but grooming-trade coverage places its market launch around 2012 [5], and a founder interview was published in September 2013 [5]. Its name combines the founders' first-name initials with "Sloane", taken from the Sloane district of London's Chelsea [5].

The brand appears to be dormant. Its website remains online and listing products, but no new launches or press have been recorded since roughly 2020, the year stamped in the site's footer copyright [4]; substantive reviews and profiles cluster in the 2013-2015 period.

According to a 2013 interview, the idea came as traditional haircuts and barbershops were regaining popularity. Kuno said that she and her partner "thought of developing the perfect old school men's product that was different from the rest" [5]. Kuno, described as a businesswoman who moved from finance into the beauty industry, is named as the company's owner and president; Smith is credited as partner and co-developer. The two were reported to have been friends since the late 1980s [6], and shared a fondness for Hollywood's Golden Age and the look of its leading men, a sensibility reflected in the brand's vintage-haberdashery styling.

JS Sloane frames grooming as a ritual. The company says it "wanted to bring back the sensibility of grooming as a ritual and the notion that being well-groomed was a prerequisite to social interaction," with the stated goal of creating "a modern-day version for the gentleman's classic grooming products." Its central project was to take brilliantine, an old hair-styling product also known as pomade or hair grease, and reformulate it to keep the hold and shine while removing the greasiness and difficulty washing out. The company describes the result as offering "superb holding, styling ease, an unbeatable hold that's soft to the touch, and best of all, washing out with nothing more than water" [1]. The brand positions itself, in its own words, around "bespoke gentlemen's grooming products" for "the Modern Gentlemen," under the tagline "The quest for the perfect grooming product."

The line launched with a trio of styling products: Heavyweight Brilliantine, Mediumweight Brilliantine and a High Gloss Top Coat [6]. The signature pomade was described as a pearlized retro-pink formula with a cloud-like texture, sold in heavyweight and mediumweight versions and packaged in low-profile amber jars with tin lids and cigar-band labels. The range later broadened beyond styling into wider grooming: a beard oil featuring Vitamin E and lavender oil, a gentlemen's shave cream, aftershave products including the "1947" After Shave Splash, and a cold-pressed bar soap made with ground oatmeal. The "1947" name is a decorative period reference rather than a date tied to the company's history.

Coverage appeared mainly in men's grooming and lifestyle media. Men's Health included the brand in a feature on old-school grooming products, describing one as "sturdy but flexible" and free of "gloppy residue," and Men's Journal featured its beard care. A 2015 profile in Long Island Pulse traced Kuno's path from finance into the beauty industry, and the grooming publication Twenty First Century Gent ran a 2015 piece, "Grooming With Tradition," noting that the range "brings back the traditional values of male grooming" [7]. The brand's launch event, attended by Smith and others from the rockabilly scene, was noted by Paper Magazine. A documented partnership with grooming expert Kyan Douglas, known from Queer Eye, was covered in editorial interviews.

JS Sloane appears to be dormant. The website is still live and lists products, but there is no recorded new activity, product launch or press after about 2020, the date in the site footer's copyright notice [4]; the brand's most visible period was 2013-2015. It remained a niche, single-market US brand based in New York. Sources consistently locate the company in New York [5]; an assumption that it was based in Los Angeles is not supported by any located source. The brand site never publishes a head-office address or country-of-origin statement.