Tommy John (apparel company)

Tommy John is an American apparel company that produces premium men's underwear, undershirts, socks, and clothing. Headquartered in New York City, it was founded by Tom Patterson and his now-wife Erin Fujimoto in 2008. Tommy John has been noted for its patented undershirt design, its fabrics, and its candid approach to the topic of men's underwear.

History

Tommy John was launched in 2008 by Tom Patterson, a former medical device salesman who was laid off in the Great Recession. Patterson was frustrated with his undershirt bunching and coming untucked, which led him to create a fitted undershirt with a longer, tapered design. Having found the right fabric in the Los Angeles garment district, he took it to a local tailor to sew 15 undershirt prototypes. After receiving positive reactions from friends, Patterson had a California manufacturer make 200 undershirts, and set up the company website together with his wife Erin. The company was launched from their apartment in San Diego.

To get his patented stay-tuck-guaranteed shirts into department stores, Patterson added underwear to the product line. In 2009, the Tommy John line was picked up by department store Neiman Marcus, the company sold 65 percent of its inventory in 30 days. Within nine months, the product was in 85 percent of Nordstrom locations. The company moved to New York City in 2010.

Tommy John grew two and a half times in 2014 and 2015. Celebrity endorsements from Howard Stern, Mike & Mike, and Kevin Hart helped the brand gain mainstream awareness. Hart invested an undisclosed amount into the company and became a partner in 2016. By the end of 2016, Tommy John had sold two million pairs of underwear, was in 500 stores, and had 57 employees, including a seven-person design and development team.

Products

Tommy John claims the company has several innovations in order to create problem-solving products. Patterson claims the Air underwear, made from an antimicrobial fabric of nylon mesh and spandex, is the lightest men's underwear ever created. The Air underwear and undershirt weighs an average 1.5 ounces and 2.0 ounces respectively, and can air dry in two to four hours. Tommy John also carries a collection of pima cotton and modal fabric. Their modal "Second Skin" fabric claims to never pill, while their pima cotton “Cool Cotton” fabric claims to be two to three times cooler than traditional cotton.

The company is also known for its candid approach to men's underwear. Instead of using euphemisms to describe comfort, its founder Patterson claimed that their products had a "no wedgie guarantee." Under the tagline "No Adjustment Needed", the company launched a video in 2015 about men adjusting themselves in uncomfortable underwear, which garnered 2 million views on YouTube.