Jarman was born on May 10, 1904, in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of James Franklin Jarman and Eugenia Maxey. His father, a devout Southern Baptist, was a partner in the J. W. Carter Shoe Company until he founded the Jarman Shoe Company in 1924. The elder Jarman left the Carter Company because he was disturbed by the "un-Christian" behavior of his business associates and wished to operate his own company along different lines. The strong religious convictions that motivated the father were also characteristic of the son throughout his life.
Education
After attending public schools in Nashville, Jarman spent three years studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he had a good record there, he left in 1924, at the end of his junior year, to join his father's newly organized Jarman Shoe Company.
Career
The Jarman Shoe company began with a capitalization of $130, 000. Highly successful in producing low-priced, high-quality shoes, the firm had $1 million in sales in 1925. Jarman was named secretary-treasurer of the firm that year, a post he held until he became president of the company in 1932. Also in 1932, the company was reorganized and renamed General Shoe Company. Jarman's father remained as chairman of the board and chief executive officer, but because of failing health he turned over increasing responsibilities to his son. By the time of his father's death in 1938, Jarman had assumed full control of the affairs of the company. General Shoe was listed on the New York Stock Exchange the following year, and Jarman began an expansion program that would make the company a leader in the manufacturing and retailing of shoes and apparel. He acquired a number of shoe companies and expanded operations into Mexico (1942), Peru (1946), and Israel (1950).
By the mid-1950's, General Shoe had become a major importer and exporter of shoes and related products, with direct investments in six countries and licensing arrangements in seventeen others. Jarman also led the company into acquiring retail outlets for shoes and apparel. Jarman's ambitious growth plan for the company attracted the attention of the Justice Department. Between 1950 and 1955 General Shoe had acquired nineteen shoe companies and was faced with antitrust violation charges. In 1956, Jarman was obliged to sign a consent decree that effectively prohibited further expansion in the shoe business until 1961. His response was to continue the expansion thrust in another direction.
In 1956, General Shoe made a major move into the high end of merchandising with the acquisition of Bonwit Teller, a department store, and Tiffany's, a prestigious jewelry firm, both in New York City. Jarman had been introduced to the New York scene in 1953, when his company had acquired I. Miller & Sons, a high-priced women's shoe concern, and Whitehouse & Hardy, a high-end retailer of men's shoes and clothing. With these acquisitions, Jarman began spending a great deal of time in New York, usually flying back and forth from Nashville on a weekly basis. In many respects, the acquisition of Bonwit Teller and Tiffany's marked a high point for Jarman and General Shoe. The company continued to grow, acquiring additional retail and manufacturing companies, and was renamed Genesco in 1959 to reflect its new status.
By 1961, Genesco comprised sixty-five companies making and retailing men's, women's, and children's shoes and apparel. Jarman was widely known and respected, and his company was growing larger, if not more profitable. He was noted regularly in the business pages of the New York Times, was featured in Fortune magazine, and spoke frequently on business and political affairs. By the time Jarman retired from active management in 1969, Genesco had peaked in terms of growth and profitability. The price of its stock in 1968 had exceeded $58 per share; it had plunged to less than $3 per share by 1974. Jarman's son, Franklin Maxey Jarman, who had also studied engineering at MIT, succeeded him as chairman of the board and attempted to reorganize the company in the face of declining sales and profits. The economic climate of the 1970's, coupled with the debt load of Genesco, left little margin for error, and Franklin Jarman failed in his efforts. He was ousted by the Genesco board in a bitter confrontation in 1977. These were difficult years for the elder Jarman. He was not in agreement with his son's direction of Genesco and often opposed him publicly. After leaving the board of Genesco in 1974, he was no longer actively involved in the affairs of the company he had worked so diligently to create and was obliged to observe its decline from the sidelines. He died in Nashville on September 9, 1980.
Achievements
Jarman is best known as the co-founder and later president of Genesco, one of the largest footwear manufacturers of the day.
Religion
Jarman's strong religious convictions seem to have sustained him in these trying years. Beginning as a teenager, when he helped his father in a program to distribute free Bibles by mail, and despite a consuming business career, he had actively practiced his faith. He read the Bible regularly, taught Sunday School classes, supported the Moody Bible Institute and the American Bible Society, and published two books on the Bible: O Taste and See (1957), a compilation of Scriptures, and A Businessman Looks at the Bible (1965). In his last years he became increasingly involved in the Southern Baptist Convention and served a term as vice-president of the organization. He also helped to establish the Christian Bible Society in Nashville, to promote Bible reading.
Membership
Jarman served as President of Genesco (then Jarman Shoe Company).
Connections
On October 10, 1928, Jarman married Sarah McFerrin Anderson; they had three children.
