The Strange History of the J. Peterman Company

This is odd:

The J. Peterman Company was founded in 1987 by John Peterman. It took up the travel and safari theme originated by Banana Republic that was abandoned by them soon after their acquisition by The Gap in 1983.
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The company grew by offering distinctive lifestyle merchandise within catalogs that differed from other direct marketing at the time. The catalogs use long copy to explain the products, and illustrate these products with artwork as opposed to photographs.

From 1995 to 1998, one of the most popular television series at the time, Seinfeld, parodied the owner and the company with a catalog-company businessman named J. Peterman, played by John O’Hurley.
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Despite $75 million in sales at its peak, the company was forced into bankruptcy in 1999.

The company was purchased by Paul Harris Stores in 1999, without the future participation of Peterman. Paul Harris Stores went bankrupt in 2000. In 2001, Peterman repurchased the name and restarted The J. Peterman Company, with O’Hurley as an investor.
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Let’s review:

1. J. Peterman was a real clothing company
2. Seinfeld made fun of said company, with Elaine working for Mr. Peterman
3. The company was sold, then went out of business
4. Mr. Peterman bought back the rights to use his own name
5. Mr. Peterman brought on as an investor in his rebooted company the actor who played him on Seinfeld.

You can’t make this stuff up. Or, I guess you can, as long as I’m too lazy to check the copious references and the edit history on Wikipedia.