Life & Work with John Thomas of Downtown Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Thomas.

Hi John, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
During my time as a USC baseball player, I got very interested in fashion design. I was lucky enough to meet an ex-NBA player, turned menswear designer named Patrick Christopher. I started shadowing Patrick during any downtime I had between school and baseball. I quickly realized the passion I had for designing clothes.

Once I finished at USC, I started making custom pieces for WNBA players. I wanted to work with them specifically because the way they used their platform for good really resonated with me. To me, those women are real leaders, and that is who I wanted to invest my time and talents into.

Once I started creating pieces for a few players, word started to spread and I quickly worked with a long list of WNBA athletes. That turned into partnerships with the WNBA, March Madness Women’s Basketball, TOGETHXR, and many more. The March Madness partnership lead to learning a good deal about the sports licensing world, which is where most of my work is today.

While the pieces are now mostly retail as opposed to custom, women’s basketball remains our home base. We try our best to always work with female athletes on the marketing campaigns for our products. Most recently, we put out a Fall/Winter collection for USC, UCLA, and Stanford.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
This is a tough industry to break out in, especially when you have no teaching. It’s not like a corporate job where there is a road map for how to be successful. Everyone’s path in fashion is so unique, so it is hard to find a contact that can always give you the right advice.

So many things go into a clothing brand, especially when all of your pieces are cut and sew, like we do. I have made the wrong choice a million times when trying to figure things out running the brand, just because I did not know any better. But I have learned to embrace those mistakes, and I don’t make the same mistake twice. I’ve never been one to run from failure.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a fashion designer, and right now my clothing brand specializes in licensed apparel for universities and professional sports teams. I am known for my work in the women’s sports space, designing for dozens of WNBA players, head coaches, agents, media members, front office, etc.

What sets me apart from others in that space is our commitment to cut and sew manufacturing for our product. Most other brands rely heavily on graphic t-shirts and hoodies, which is a necessary part of sports merchandise. But as the eyes on women’s sports continues to grow, the merchandise options must follow suit.

I am most proud of my discipline. It takes more than I could describe to start a clothing brand from scratch. I work 18-20 hour days just about every day, because I understand that this brand is only going to go as far as I take it.

How do you define success?
I grew up idolizing athletes like Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods. The common thread between those two is that they were never satisfied and always wanted more.

I embrace the fact that I am chasing ‘success’ or ‘greatness’, but I have no interest in defining either of those terms. Because I never want to get to a place where I feel like I have achieved those things and in turn stop chasing them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jtmadethat.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jtmadethat/?hl=en

Image Credits
Emma Sharon
Blake Becton