Former Nike execs join Tommy John to lead wholesale and product strategy

Underwear brand Tommy John has tapped two former Nike executives to lead product and sales.
Melissa Ohm and Beth Brown will help Tommy John on its road to becoming a billion-dollar brand.
Both new hires said they will leverage their years of experience at Nike in their new roles.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Two former Nike executives have traded in their sportswear for underwear, departing the Beaverton, Oregon, based retailer in favor of Tommy John.

Tommy John, founded in 2008, has tapped both Melissa Ohm, Nike’s former global vice president for women’s apparel, and Beth Brown, a senior sales director for department stores at Nike, to help turn the company into a billion-dollar brand.

Ohm will start as Tommy John’s chief product officer on April 1, while Brown already began her new role as Tommy John’s vice president of sales earlier this month after an 18-year career at the Swoosh.

Tommy John sells both men’s and women’s underwear and loungewear. According to a March NPD Group report, the men’s underwear market grew by 2% in 2020 amid a general decline in men’s apparel. Meanwhile, Tommy John’s sales grew 20% in 2020 compared to the year prior, highlighted by its loungewear category which skyrocketed by 130%.

Leaving Nike

Both Brown and Ohm arrive at Tommy John with a rich retail background from Nike, a company that netted $10.4 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter. For each, the chance to hop onto a smaller yet growing brand was too exciting to pass up.

“I’ve worked for three very well-established brands,” said Ohm, who previously also held roles at Adidas and Nordstrom, in addition to Nike. “And so to come in and help put a brand on a rocket ship is really exciting.”

Both Ohm and Brown said their previous experiences at Nike are informing — and will continue to inform — how they work at Tommy John. As an example, in her role as Nike’s global vice president of women’s apparel, Ohm said she learned about the importance of innovation when it comes to addressing the needs of the consumer.

“Innovation ultimately should be something that makes it easier for consumers to live their life,” Ohm said.

She believes this concept rings true at both Nike and Tommy John. At Nike, product innovations like Lunarlon foam cushioning and the self-lacing Nike Adapt sneaker have set industry standards for footwear innovation. At Tommy John, the same can be said about material developments like the quick draw fly and the hammock pouch.

Building a billion-dollar brand

Tommy John founders Tom Patterson and Erin Fujimoto

Tommy John was founded by the husband and wife duo of Tom Patterson and Erin Fujimoto. Though still a privately held company, Tommy John’s lifestyle and comfort-focused products are sold in over 1,300 retail locations across stores like Nordstrom, Dillard’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Men’s Wearhouse, as well as at four brand-owned Tommy John stores in the US and via its website.

According to a company representative, Tommy John has been profitable every year since it was founded. Now, the goal is to become the next billion dollar brand. To do this, Ohm and Brown will focus on the key areas within sales and product innovation.

Part of this involves fine-tuning the brand’s omnichannel capabilities. For Brown, this means leveraging nearly two decades worth of sales experience to strengthen key relationships with wholesalers, a far contrast from her former employer’s current customer acquisition strategy.

In an effort to pivot to a mostly DTC model, Nike has turned its attention to its e-commerce business and has ended partnerships with various wholesalers in recent months, including Zappos, Dillard’s, DSW, Urban Outfitters, and more. These changes led to what Brown described as a “reduction of the sales force” and served as an impetus for her making a professional change.

“There was definitely some changes going on there,” Brown said. “This was an amazing time to start a new adventure.”

To Brown, developing and growing strong wholesale partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers is a crucial part of owning the omnichannel experience. However, she noted the importance of DTC and e-commerce sales as well, especially given that a third of Americans bought underwear online for the first time in 2020, according to February ROIRocket commissioned research that Tommy John shared with Insider.

“We have a mission to become a billion dollar brand,” Brown said. “And I am hoping that I can bring the wholesale business to be a big lever in pulling us in getting us there.”

Another potential growth area is Tommy John’s women’s business, which currently represents one-third of Tommy John’s overall sales but is on track to get to 50% over the next couple of years, a company spokesperson said.

Having worked in women’s apparel at Nike, Ohm is especially excited about the potential of this line of business. Ohm sees an opportunity to create a more “versatile and inclusive assortment” of products at Tommy John, which could potentially include offering a wider range of product sizing.

“This is going to allow us to invite more consumers into the brand and really expand on who that target consumer is for Tommy John,” she said.