{"id":457325,"date":"2026-02-13T23:44:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457325\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T23:44:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:44:49","slug":"a-fashion-brand-suiting-up-the-nhl-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457325\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fashion Brand Suiting Up the NHL and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHL is having a bit of a red-carpet moment\u2014and it\u2019s not just because of the success of Heated Rivalry<\/a> and hockey romance novels.<\/p>\n

Like their counterparts in the NBA and NFL, pro hockey players have been upping their fashion game, arriving at arenas in custom suits and flashy accessories that fuel sports fans\u2019 growing obsession with \u201ctunnel walk\u201d style.<\/p>\n

For their sartorial swagger, many NHL players and coaches turn to Tom Barnett New York<\/a>, a Buffalo-based custom design and tailoring house with additional locations in Manhattan, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>Alex Ovechkin showing off the custom suit Tom Barnett New York made to commemorate his record-breaking 895th goal scored. Photo courtesy Washington Capitals<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>John Carlson greets fans in a Tom Barnett New York suit. Photo courtesy Washington Capitals<\/p>\n

Ever since founder Tom Barnett designed a suit for Buffalo Sabres owner Seymour H. Knox III<\/a> more than two decades ago, the brand\u2019s reputation has spread throughout the league. Lately, it\u2019s been aided by a healthy sense of one-upmanship among players, says Tom\u2019s son Oliver Barnett \u201914, the company\u2019s brand strategist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys are competitive. They see themselves now on the team\u2019s Instagram page and think, \u2018Man, I\u2019ve gotta clean up my act,\u2019 or \u2018Maybe I need to go in a different direction here,\u2019 or, you know, \u2018I saw another guy wearing this. Is this something we can do?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re willing to push boundaries,\u201d says Oliver, who earned a degree in finance from Fordham\u2019s Gabelli School of Business<\/a> in 2014 and joined the family business two years later, after attending graduate school at Georgetown and working briefly for the Washington Capitals. \u201cIf someone has an idea, we will find a way to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping NHL Stars \u2018Own Their Moment\u2019<\/p>\n

Among the players Tom Barnett New York has outfitted are Alex Ovechkin<\/a>, the NHL\u2019s all-time leading goal scorer. For the Washington Capitals\u2019 star forward, they designed a jacket commemorating all the goals he scored on the way to breaking Wayne Gretzky\u2019s record in April 2025.<\/p>\n

They also made veteran defenseman John Carlson<\/a> a suit honoring Navy football legend Roger Staubach and the U.S. Naval Academy, where his Capitals played the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone that works with us is family,\u201d says Oliver, whose mother, Lisa, and brother, Cloogie, also work for the company. \u201cWe take so much pride in [the players\u2019]\u00a0moments, in their accomplishments. You watch a game differently when you know somebody personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The suit honoring the Naval Academy that Tom Barnett New York created for John Carlson. Photo courtesy Washington Capitals<\/p>\n

This spring, the brand will launch a series of customizable ties, pocket squares, and scarves. They\u2019ve also been developing some more casual, ready-to-wear items like polos and hoodies, says Barnett, who helps source materials for the company. <\/p>\n

Whether outfitting NHL stars, business people, or those just looking for a wardrobe refresh, Oliver says that Tom Barnett New York\u2019s mission has always been \u201cto understand the client\u2019s vision and bring that to life\u2014to help them own their moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business\u2014and People\u2014Skills Honed at Fordham<\/p>\n

Oliver says the business acumen and personal touch he brings to his work with Tom Barnett New York is tied directly to his time at Fordham.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Christian McKernon \u201914 surprises his bride, Kalene McKernon, with a custom Tom Barnett New York suit featuring photos of the couple. Photo by Andy Buscemi<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a great campus in the Bronx, and you have everything you could ever imagine at your disposal,\u201d he says, recalling his classes in accounting and real estate, plus \u201cgreat internships<\/a> in finance\u201d at places like Merrill Lynch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found out pretty quickly what made sense for me and what didn\u2019t\u2014where my strengths were, where my weaknesses were, things that maybe I could get a little bit better at.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while those lessons were instrumental to his career, the connections he made on campus have proven even more powerful. <\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly didn\u2019t know that the friends I made day one at Loschert Hall, I would be in their weddings or that I would be working with them years after graduating, making them tuxedos or helping them get ready for their job interviews,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL is having a bit of a red-carpet moment\u2014and it\u2019s not just because of the success of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[426,5737,13159,55511,5,281,4,55512,55513],"class_list":{"0":"post-457325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-alex-ovechkin","9":"tag-fashion","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-gabelli-school-of-business","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-john-carlson","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-oliver-barnett","16":"tag-tom-barnett"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116065989676359918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}