Dive Brief:
- Underwear brand Tommy John has appointed Cheryl Abel-Hodges as its new chief executive officer, according to a Wednesday press release. The new executive succeeds co-founder and CEO Tom Patterson.
- Abel-Hodges joins the company after serving as CEO of Calvin Klein from 2019 to 2022, per her LinkedIn page.
- Co-founders Patterson and Erin Fujimoto will work closely with Abel-Hodges as the brand continues its wholesale expansion and product innovation.
Dive Insight:
Tommy John brings on a new chief executive in order to help expand the brand’s reach.
“When we founded Tommy John 15 years ago, we had a simple goal of creating more comfortable solutions and building a business that will be around for the ages,” Patterson said in a statement. “Cheryl shares that very same vision, and with her extensive experience building and growing iconic heritage brands, she will be invaluable to Tommy John’s continued expansion.”
Abel-Hodges brings nearly 30 years of experience in underwear and apparel to the new position, with previous roles including president of wholesale sportswear at Izod, vice president of sales and planning at Ralph Lauren and president of the PVH Underwear Group.
Tommy John — which celebrated its 15-year anniversary in April — is focused on wholesale growth.
“We actually started out online, but the majority of our business was wholesale for the first four or five years, starting with Neiman Marcus,” Patterson told Retail Dive in April. “And then our online business really started to take off in 2013 and 2014.”
The underwear brand expects to increase its retail presence by 40% before the end of the year and has doubled its wholesale footprint since 2022. Under its new leadership, Tommy John will further invest in wholesale.
The CEO shift comes after Tommy John in 2022 announced a partnership with LNK Partners in which the private equity firm made a minority investment. With the deal, former PVH Chairman and CEO Manny Chirico as well as co-founder and Managing Partner at LNK Partners David Landau joined Tommy John’s board of directors.
