296. Tom Patterson: Tommy John, 9-Figure Brand & Turning a $5K Idea Into an Apparel Empire
Trading Secrets
Audioboom Studios
4.9 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
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Summary
Tom shares the full story behind Tommy John — from walking away from a stable six-figure career in medical device sales to betting everything on a simple idea: fixing a problem he personally experienced with men’s undershirts. With no background in fashion, no industry connections, and just a few thousand dollars, he set out to create a better product — one that would eventually disrupt the entire category.
He breaks down the early days of the business — spending roughly $5K to create his first 200 shirts, selling on consignment, getting rejected by retailers, and relying on sales skills to get in the door. From folding inventory himself to traveling store-to-store training sales associates, Tom shares what it actually looked like to build the business from the ground up.
Tom also dives into the financial realities of entrepreneurship — funding the business with savings, 401(k) money, and credit cards, going years without paying himself, and navigating the constant pressure of cash flow in the early stages.
The turning point came when Tommy John landed in major retailers and later experienced explosive growth through non-traditional marketing — including a breakthrough moment on the The Howard Stern Show that led to record-breaking sales and ultimately shaped the brand’s entire marketing strategy.
Tom explains how the company scaled from a startup to a nine-figure business, including the importance of product innovation, brand differentiation, and building a loyal customer base in a highly competitive space. He also shares how strategic partnerships, celebrity endorsements, and a diversified marketing approach helped fuel long-term growth.
Beyond the business, Tom opens up about the personal side of the journey — including the stress, burnout, and panic attack that forced him to reevaluate his leadership style, priorities, and overall approach to building the company.
From burning the boats and betting on himself to navigating growth, risk, and long-term scaling, Tom gives a raw and honest look at what it really takes to turn a simple idea into a category-defining business.
Tom reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. |
| 0:15.0 | Today we're joined by a founder who walked away from medical device sales to reinvent one of the most overlooked |
| 0:22.3 | categories in apparel? What is it? Men's underwear. Tom Patterson is the co-founder of Tommy |
| 0:28.7 | John, the brand that turned comfortable basics into a premium, high-growth business. Tom and |
| 0:34.5 | his wife Aaron built Tommy John from scratch, navigating early cash |
| 0:38.6 | constraint, retail skepticism, product development risk, and the challenge of convincing men. |
| 0:44.5 | To care about something, maybe they just couldn't see or they were feeling, though. |
| 0:48.9 | Today we are diving into the real numbers, the real risk in the mindset it takes to leave a traditional career path and bet on yourself. Tom Patterson, thank you so much for being on trading secrets. Thanks for having me. Excite to be here. I'll tell you what, the group's going to hear this. We call them the money mafia that listens. And they're the first thing they're going to be thinking about is that shoot we did for Tommy John. So this is in connection to that shoot. We had the best time doing it. And I'll tell you what, I'm wearing Tommy John right now. This stuff is like butter. So if you guys don't own any Tommy John, you got to get on it. But we got to get the story behind Tommy John. Before we do that, I want to start in 2026. Let's, for anyone that hasn't heard of the company, |
| 1:28.4 | talk to people a little bit about the size scale today. How many employees do you have? What does revenue look like? What is the company today? Where is it selling? Give us the overall profile. Yeah, so, you know, we turn 18 years old in April, which is kind of crazy to think about. I think I read some more. |
| 1:43.5 | Only 4% of companies make it 10 years or more. |
| 1:46.2 | Wow. |
| 1:46.5 | So we're less than only 4% of companies make it 10 years or more. |
| 1:46.2 | Wow. So we're less than the 4% right now. So, you know, but it's taken a long time. And I think anything |
| 1:51.6 | that's worthwhile takes a while to build and build the right way with the right infrastructure. |
| 1:56.9 | So, you know, 18 years seems like a long time, but it goes by really quickly. So, you know, now we've been a nine-figure business for some time now. Like a lot of brands, we're, you know, been challenged with tariffs and just, you know, a lot of uncertainty the last year and a half like anybody in the clothing industry. We're around 100 people. We're based in New York City. We've got warehouses |
| 2:18.0 | in Texas and California and just a great team, great, great brand. For many of you who may not know the brand, my middle name's John. People have been calling me Tommy since I was a little kid. That's how we got the name Tommy John. I've not had elbow surgery. I have no relation to the baseball pitcher. |
| 2:34.9 | It's a nice reference, but yeah, it's, you know, it's been a lot of fun. |
| 2:37.9 | We've had elbow surgery. I have no relation to the baseball pitcher. It's a nice reference, |
| 2:36.3 | but yeah, it's, you know, it's been a lot of fun. We've had so many great people that have came into the company and impacted it. There's no one that's self-made, and Aaron and I are certainly not self-made people. I don't believe in that. There's people around you that help you become self-made. And I think a lot of it's just the right people came into the business at the right |
| 2:52.7 | time and God certainly had a hand in our around you that help you become self-made. And I think a lot of it's just the right people came |
| 2:51.7 | into the business at the right time. And God certainly had a hand in our growth for sure. There's |
| 2:55.9 | nothing else that explains what it's become. I mean, nine-figure business, 100 plus people, |
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