Tommy John: The Role of

Product and Industry Feasibilty

Analysis in Launching a
Consumer Products Company

Prepared by:
Asuncion, Dominick
Del Mundo, Edlyn P.
Delos Reyes, Jeannette
Hernandez, Jhessabel
Montenegro, Er
Montenegro, Princess May
 Introduction
• Tommy John is an American apparel company that
produces premium men's underwear, undershirts, socks,
and clothing.
• Headquartered in New York City
• Founded by Tom Patterson
Tom Patterson and His Frustration
with Undershirts
• Tom Patterson grew up in South Dakota, he started to wearing undershirts
when he was 8 years old.
• Wearing an undershirt became part of his everyday life
• Patterson was frustrating in that he found himself constantly tucking his
undershirt into his pants.
• To Patterson, Men undershirts were too baggy, too boxy, and they just
weren't made to fit well.
• Patterson followed up by sketching the type of undershirt that he wanted.
• It solve the frustrations that he'd been having with undershirts since he was
boy.
• Patterson wondered if he had stumbled on business idea.
Product and Industry Feasibility
Analysis
• Patterson went back to the tailor and asked for 15 more shirts.
• Sent them out to family and friends, asking for their feedbacks.
• After Patterson paid for the 200 undershirts, he contacted a patent
attorney and paid $300 and found out that there was no comparable
product.
• He did a lot of research about undershirts and the men’s undershirt
industry
• He also found out that although the industry is dominated by major
brands, a number of small businesses had found success in the
undergarments markets as well.
• He would go to stores and literally spend hours watching people buy
men’s undershirts.
Tommy John Undershirts

• Early 2008, Patterson continued to work on prototypes for

his undershirt and decided on the name Tommy John.
• The design he settled on is made of a soft yet durable
fabric micro modal
• Along with the shirt itself, he felt that the package design
was critical to firm’s success.
• In late 2008, he was laid off from his medical sales job
and decided to commit to TJ full time.
 Neiman Marcus

• To get retail distribution, he first tried men’s specialty stores and

called his undershirts “The Second Skin”
• Neiman Marcus was known for giving new apparel companies a
try.
• From 15 stores, it had expanded its test to 42 stores by its 3rd
month.
• Patterson’s undershirts achieved a 60 percent sell-through rate,
nearly double the national rate for a successful clothing brand.
• Neiman Marcus was the “crack in the door”
 Looking Forward

• Patterson plans to continue to expand market penetration

for Tommy John
• So far, Patterson has resisted expanding into women’s
clothes.
 Discussion Questions

1. Write a concept statement for Tommy John. If Tommy

John was still in the startup stage and Tom Patterson
asked you to whom he should distribute the concept
statement, what would you have told him?
• PRODUCT
-TJ will sell the undershirts for men that is comfortable and easy to fit.
• WHY TJ SHIRTS
-The TJ undershirts will make comfortable for men and will remove the struggles that
men had with traditional undershirts.
• SPECIAL FEATURES
-You will not found yourself constantly tucking with this undershirt into your pants.
-This undershirt are skin fit and tailored.
-The design is made of a soft yet durable fabric micro modal
• STRATEGY
-To introduce first our shirts to first retail stores, and if approved and possible is next to
department stores.
• MANAGEMENT TEAM
-The founder of the team is Tom Patterson, a medical device salesman
The most fruitful potential participants would be:
(1) men who wear undershirts
(2) women who buy undershirts for their husbands, sons, or
significant others,
(3) store clerks and / or owners who sell undershirts
2. What type of gumshoe research did Tom Patterson
benefit from when he was developing Tommy John, and
what additional gumshoe research could he have
conducted while he was investigating the feasibility of his
business?
• Went to several department stores and asked sales clerks if they carried men’s
undershirts that would solve his problem.
• Sketched the type of undershirt that he wanted, and took it to a dry cleaner that he
was familiar with that employed a tailor.
• Hired the tailor to make a prototype.
• Sent the initial Tommy John undershirt out to family and friends asking for feedback.
• Paid for a preliminary patent search and after finding out that there was no patent
on a product comparable to the one he envisioned, filed for a provisional patent.
• Via internet research, found that a lot of small business had found success in the
undershirts market.
• Went to store and literally spent hours watching people buy undershirts.
• Studied undershirts currently on a market.
3. Make a list of people whom Tom Patterson talked to
about his product during the design phase. What insight(s)
does this list provide you about the nature of that Tom
Patterson used to get feedback about this product that you
think were particularly clever?
• Patterson talked to a number of people during the design phase of Tommy
John’s including:
- Store clerks
- Tailor
- Friends and family members
- Garment maker
- Patent attorney
- People who were buying undershirts in stores.
• By talking to people at all steps in the value chain of making undershirts.
Patterson gained a very detailed perspective of how undershirts are made, how
they’re purchased and what people liked and didn’t like about undershirts on the
market. This knowledge invariably aided Patterson in designing and making the
Tommy John undershirts that he eventually brought to market.
4. Complete a First Screen analysis for Tommy John, What
did you learn from the analysis?
 Application Questions

1. What types of insights did Tom Patterson pick up by

spending hours in stores watching people buy men’s
undershirts? What role did these insights play in the final
design of the product? In what ways do you think Tommy
John products might be different today if Tom Patterson
hadn’t spent the time watching people buy men’s
undershirts that he did?
To Patterson invariable picked up insights spending hours watching people buy men’s
undershirts and talking to undershirt shoppers, that he wouldn’t have been privy to in any other
way. There are two insights in particular that he obtain: First, people either brought quickly a
little confused when they look at the alternatives. When he stopped people who brought quickly
and politely asked them how they picked their brand, they would normally say that it’s the brand
of undershirts they’ve been buying for years. The second thing he found out was that men only
buy undershirts for about 17 years of their life. From age zero to 17 their mothers buy their
undershirts , and from 34 (or whenever they get married) their wives buy them. So the majority
of people who buy men’s undershirts are women. Patterson willingness to spend time watching
people buy undershirts was instrumental in the way his undershirts were eventually designed
and made. It’s doubtful that Patterson would have gleaned that insights he did in any way other
than observing people buying undershirts.
 Feedbacks

• “I found the most perfect undershirt. It is made by a

company called Tommy John. It has changed my life.” –
Andrew Sorkin –NY Times (quoted on the Tommy John
website)
• “It is the most brilliant underwear on the planet, and I’m
not kidding. Tommy John has saved and changed my life.”
– – Howard Stern (quoted on the Tommy John website)