JILL McGOWAN
Founder, Designer, Owner
Founded in 1994, the first line of clothing from Jill McGowan, Inc. was a series of white shirts. This line was inspired by Jill’s work as a patternmaker for the famed menswear manufacture, Hathaway. After comparing her work on men’s shirts to women’s clothing of equal price, she realized the genuine need to improve the standard of women’s clothing.
Jill’s shirts and seasonal collections are now available in over 300 speciality stores around the country and her work has been featured in several publications including Women’s Wear Daily, Harper’s Bazaar, the New York Times, Victoria, Real Simple, Rescue and More magazines, and the online fashion site: Daily Candy.

Jill has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and Martha has blogged about her visit to the studio. Her shirts have been worn in many feature length films, and the television shows SportsNight, What Not To Wear and Martha Stewart. Jill McGowan was selected as one of the fashion innovators for the television show, Main Floor, sponsored by Cotton, Inc.

JOLENE McGOWAN
Sister, Partner, Director of Sales & Marketing
Jolene joined Jill McGowan, Inc. in 2000 after working nine years with L.L. Bean where she specialized in Public and Community Relations. Jolene is responsible for all Sales and Marketing for Jill McGowan, Inc.
Jolene writes a bimonthly column in the Portland Press Herald, called Port City Post. She is an Advisory Board member of Bates Dance Festival and for many years worked and performed in Portland’s Arts community.
View video from the event below:

Video Recorded May 9, 2017

Mary Pols writes primarily about sustainability for Source. She came to the Press Herald in late 2013 to work on Source after a long career writing about movies. She has almost, but not quite, broken the habit of waking pre-dawn on Oscar nomination day. Mary was born in Portland and raised in Brunswick, but was away for 25 years so it’s been a thrill for her to learn about her state in the 21st century. She studied art history at Duke and her masters in journalism is from UC Berkeley. She’s happiest reporting a story in Maine’s great outdoors, whether she’s watching seaweed farmers plant a crop or eating fresh caught perch with an ice fisherman while a hungry eagle hovers nearby. History really floats her boat as well (once she wrote an entire story about the life of a very old and rare apple tree in Freeport). She lives in Brunswick with her hockey-obsessed son and their dog, a foster-fail kitten and an elderly Maine Coon.