As far as fashion-savvy professional athletes go, Karl-Anthony Towns can compete with the best of them.
Before meeting with top-tier customers at Bloomingdale’s Thursday night to talk about his style, the NBA player brought WWD up-to-speed on his interest in fashion. Having a designer girlfriend, Jordyn Woods, who joined him at the flagship, has led to other insights about the design process. Towns dressed the part in a loose-fitting unbuttoned black suit and white T-shirt with a giant “J” diamond pendant. As knowledgeable as Towns is about the infrastructure of the apparel industry, his priority is playing for and training with the New York Knicks.
On a typical practice day, he leaves his home around 6:30 or 6:45 a.m., arrives at 7:30 a.m. and trains until 1:30 or 2 p.m.
He said consumers’ outlook on the worlds of fashion and pro sports aren’t so far apart. “They see the piece of clothing and say, ‘Man, this is so easy. I could do this.’ It’s just like basketball. You could go to a New York City park, a YMCA or a Boys and Girls Club to play basketball, and think, ‘I can do that too,’” Towns said. “But there’s a certain art that goes with being an expert at what you do — the cuts, patterns, sewing, the piece of fabric, how can you source that and get enough to appease your market and your clients?”
Having signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015 before being traded to the Knicks last year, he said: “Basketball also needs years and years of practice to even prove to people that you’re this good. Fashion in a way is the same thing [gesturing toward a nearby sweater]. You may just sees lines on a sweater like this, but there are hours and hours of talking to [teams in] factories that are needed. And minimal tweaks can make the absolutely perfect garment. Some might not recognize what is put in to make something like a sweater.”
The New Jersey native has worked with Burberry and appeared in a Kith campaign last year, which he said “was apparently loved by the fans, and I appreciate them.” (There may be more to come with Kith this year.) He’s also teamed up with Rag & Bone, “another New York brand, and we’ve done really well together.” The 10-year NBA veteran has also connected with Hermès and attended Paris Fashion Week, including a Dior dinner, last year.
On his first trip to Paris Fashion Week, he said: “Paris, first off, is beautiful, so shout out to that. What intrigued me so much was the art. I just see the craftsmanship that goes into making these jackets, sweaters….I can only imagine how long that one article of clothing took to make and how many samples, tweaks and conversations they had to go through.”
He added: “It’s truly fascinating to go to Paris Fashion Week and to see these designers’ brains and their emotions being put into clothing. It’s beautiful to see something as simple as this button-up shirt have so many stories to tell in terms of the sewing, the cut, the fabric choices.”
Towns, who said he is “very fortunate to now be instilled in the fashion community,” was only somewhat interested in fashion growing up.
“I say that because I never had the money to be able to shop somewhere as elegant as a Bloomingdale’s. I’ve always been a person who lived off of vintage clothing and hand-me-downs, and the church providing my clothing,” he said. “My family provided me with so much love. That was the only currency that I ever needed in my life, as I was able to live out my dreams. It allowed me to truly explore my fashion sense and to have the ability to find who I was in the fashion world and how I liked to dress.”
With a wingspan of 7 feet, 4 inches, Towns favors baggy styles like wide-leg pants, just as he did years ago. “As my mom always said, ‘You’ll fit into it later.’”
That make-it-your-own style has its upsides for children, who are swayed by the heavy influence of social media, according to Towns. “Where we’re at right now in the fashion world is not about how you put it on, but what you put on, in the eyes of young kids these days.”
Towns spoke highly of Woods, the founder of Woods by Jordyn, and how she has enlightened him about the design process.
”I’m very fortunate,” he said. “To have one of the most fashionable women in the world in your household is something special. I can’t tell you how many samples we have in our house. The most minute thing can change everything. It’s a testament to what she’s done with her brand, and how she’s approached her clothing, bags and shoes. Every last detail matters to her. It’s about producing the very best thing that she can from her soul and for her fans and her community. I’m just so proud of her. I’ve always told her since Day One, ‘Make sure you do it for the right reasons.’ From Day One, she’s been providing the most affordable luxury for people with the most intricate eye.”
Having considered doing his own line, KAT, Towns said he has even done his own designs to learn the business. When someone he loves is involved with something that they love, whether that be his father, sister or Woods, he wants to understand their interest “and meet them where they’re at,” he said.
“With Jordyn, when she was doing her brand, I wanted to go through the process so that I could understand what she’s going through personally so that I can help her everyday in the house, on the phone call, a text or whatever that might be. I help as much as I can — I’m a free worker for the brand.”
All in all, style is key.
“When you feel good, you play good. When you feel good, you move differently,” he said. “A late friend, a brother really, [rapper] Mac Miller, said, ‘Your whole day could be chosen by the T-shirt that you put on.’ I take that seriously every day with whatever piece of clothing that I pick that sets the tone of my day and the energy that I present to the world.”
Towns recalled how a pastor in Minnesota once advised him: “‘What you do gets more attention than who you are. But who you are is much more important than what you do.’ I’ve lived that saying before I knew the saying, and that’s engrained in who I am as a person. Every day I‘m just trying to show the world who I am, because they are very aware of what I do,” Towns said.
