This exclusive story appears in LEAGUEFITS VOL. 1.
If you know LeagueFits, you know that Jordan Clarkson has been doing this for a minute. The Utah Jazz point guard has influenced players in the NBA and WNBA, college and high school, and plain old casual fans of the game worldwide.
We sat down with the perennial LeagueFits All-Star to get his thoughts on how NBA fashion has evolved, where he gets his unique pieces and what’s next.
LEAGUEFITS: When you joined the League, fit pics as we know them were just becoming a thing for the first time. You had the kilt, which was one of the first-ever internet viral looks from the basketball world. The LeagueFits Era [of NBA fashion] is really just the internet era, right? How has the NBA fashion scene evolved in your eyes since you were drafted?
JORDAN CLARKSON: I think it’s just a lot more attention paid to it. Guys have been, you know, putting on different stuff, different looks and illustrating their own vibe when they come to the arena. Like you said, with the internet and these outlets that are covering the NBA, it’s like…I’ll never say I’m the first one to do something, because I think guys have been legendary through this whole period. You look at guys like Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan—who’s, like, iconic to me—I say that a lot of times when I speak on lifestyle because that was him. Dennis Rodman, like, all down the line, but [the internet] was the turning point for us because I feel like everybody is paying attention to what they’re wearing and how they come to the game now.
LF: In that early era of LeagueFits, there were, like, 25 guys who dressed. When we did our end of season awards, only, like, 10 cool guys were getting left off. Now, everyone is dressing up and it’s impossible to pick these awards. You have 12th men on rosters who are LeagueFits regulars knowing they will get attention. In your early days with the Lakers and Cavaliers, the attention and media wasn’t quite there yet. Why were you dressing up?
JC: My thing was, I just always wanted to be fresh. I’ve been this way since I was a kid, just always trying to be the first to wear something different, finding a way to express myself in my love for fashion and clothes. That’s been there forever. So I think I came into this organically…I’m really what I’m about, and that’s looking fresh, looking clean. That’s why people, I think, sh-t, I think that’s why a lot of people are f-cking with me, because it’s organic, honestly.
LF: So it started from a point that’s lowkey kinda wholesome, but now, it’s grown so much, right? You have endorsement deals. You’re going to Fashion Week. Brands are paying you to wear pieces. Was there a moment when you realized that not only did you care about what you were wearing, but a lot of other people did, too?
JC: I would say after Paris Fashion Week. For me, that was super eye opening.
LF: Your first?
JC: It was right after Covid had ended [2022] and I went to [Paris] Fashion Week. I had done Milan before, but yeah, the first time I went to Paris, I was just, like, “This is crazy.” I didn’t personally think that people f-cked with what I was doing to that point of everybody just f-cking with me. So I thought it was cool. That was my first time seeing it. People cared about what I had on. Now I know people are paying attention. So, you know, I’ll never be trying to get caught slipping on my fits, that’s for sure.
LF: That wasn’t that long ago. You had been going viral for years. What was it specifically in Paris that made you realize fashion wasn’t just a hobby but something bigger?
JC: It was being with designers. I sat down after the John Elliott show—[I’ve] been cool with John Elliott for a long time, but just getting a chance to talk to him was next level, and seeing his process, how he did his runway show. It was a love of the art, seeing how deep it goes and [it] made me have better insight and gave me more reason to love it and go out there and do my stuff.
LF: I’ve always wanted to ask about this. The first viral moment in LeagueFits history was when y’all pulled up in the Thom Browne suits [the 2018 NBA postseason]. I feel like it was the moment that introduced a lot of casual fans to NBA fashion. Everyone had the same suit, but a lot of you put your own twists on them. How did that happen?
JC: So we have Bron and K-Love and got everybody together and they were doing the suit thing, got the custom suits from Thom Browne. We would all have a set we wore to each game, and when we got to The Finals, we were wearing the same suit. I was like, “Man, let’s switch it up. We are on the West Coast. Like, I’mma just cut my pants, is that cool?” But I’m still going to wear the suit because I didn’t want to make it too different from the team. Next thing you know, Bron cuts his [shorts], everyone starts cutting theirs.
LF: So you were the first one to cut [the suit pants into shorts] then?
JC: [Laughs] Yeah, yeah.
I’m really what I’m about, and that’s looking fresh, looking clean. That’s why people, I think, sh-t, I think that’s why a lot of people are f-cking with me, because it’s organic, honestly.
LF: Did you realize it was a big moment as it was happening?
JC: Nah, I feel like, when you’re in it, you don’t really know what’s really going on, especially during the playoffs. But after it all, I saw the media coverage and everything that was going on, it was pretty dope for sure.
LF: You’ve been doing this for basically the entirety of the LeagueFits and internet era. I won’t say names, but there are a lot of guys who have been in your position, and they’ve flamed out of the fashion stuff a bit. They’ve hit a wall. Planning 82+ outfits a year at minimum plus Fashion Weeks and other events created burnout. That hasn’t been the case for you.
JC: I can’t stop myself from doing it. I’m organically doing this. Like you said, on an NBA team, you now have 15 guys coming in fresh. But me, I’ve been doing it a long time. This is just me. This is who I am. I don’t care if I’m going to the grocery store, I’m putting something on like if I were getting photographed. If I went to CVS or Walgreens to get a bag of chips, or a corner store, I’m in something. Even when I’m wearing sweats, majority of the time, they might be different than what your normal sweats are. I’ll cut them in a different way, just trying to make something out of nothing.
LF: You realize that’s unique, right? Like, even guys with stylists who are dressing up all the time, they take the occasional day off to wear team-issued gear or whatever.
JC: Yeah, yeah. That’s just me. I just do it because it’s me going somewhere. I change three, four times a day and forget. “Oh man, baby, let me try this. I’m going to throw this jacket on.” My boys know I keep clothes everywhere. There’s clothes in my trunk, my whole house is a closet. I don’t have a little area sectioned out, clothes is everywhere.
LF: Your collection has got to be in the hundreds or thousands. How are you getting all this stuff?
JC: I’m always looking for different brands, designers, seeing how they make pieces different than others. This is art at the end of the day. I don’t scroll on Instagram…I’m scrolling through people’s sites and seeing what they have.
LF: So you’re saying the way people casually scroll social media on their phone, it’s the same for you, except you’re scrolling, like, retail sites?
JC: Yeah, I’m for sure on Grailed, just seeing what people are seeing or what people are reselling stuff for. Like, seeing if somebody’s selling something for the low, just trying to get off of it, I’m like, “Oh man, that’s kind of fresh.”
LF: Do sellers on Grailed know they’re interacting with Jordan Clarkson?
JC: Yeah, they do. Sometimes they hit me up, like “Yo, we about to send you some more stuff,” and I’m like, “Alright, that’s cool.”
LF: Do you have any pieces that you had to take a tough route to get, something that was tougher than liking a mannequin’s look at H Lorenzo?
JC: It’s my [Marithé + François] Girbaud jeans. I found those on Grailed, for, like, $20. I was trying to find Girbaud jeans for the longest, and I was waiting because people were selling them for crazy prices on Grailed. Then I saw one that was right there, and I was like, “Nah, no way you’re selling them for this cheap,” and just snagged them. Snagged ’em. Got two pairs now.
LF: I’ve seen your closet in San Antonio, and it was insane, and I know that was just a sneak peek. I haven’t seen Utah, the trunks of your cars, etc. Some guys wear things once and that’s it, but you’re not afraid to wear pieces you love. Like, I know exactly which Girbaud jeans you’re talking about. So you have pieces you get attached to and aren’t afraid to wear over and over?
JC: Yeah, for real. I’m the king of recycling. I’m gonna get a cool 100 different looks off this one jacket, pants, whatever it is. I’m able to piece different things together. People go, like, full designer, and I throw in vintage pieces with it, switch it up. And like you said, I do get attached to pieces. Right now, I’m super attached to my Balenciaga bomber with the hoodie stitched in. I’ve worn that for like two years still, and I switch it up with so much different stuff, I don’t even think people notice it.
LF: I’ve noticed it, but I guess that’s my job to notice it.
JC: [Laughs] Right!
LF: You’ve done Paris, Milan and New York Fashion Weeks. You have hundreds of tunnel pictures, millions of likes, big endorsement deals. Have you beaten the game? Or is something up next?
JC: My own brand. It’s called Seventy-Eight Studios. Seventy-eight is the address of the street I grew up on. As the owner and creative director, I’m super hands-on with [the brand], we’ve been working on it for three years now, you know, finding the factories, putting my foot in that door, understanding what it is to make a brand and have these clothes. It’s a lot tougher than people think. I’m on phone calls, random texts late at night with people that are going to the factory the next day. I’m all the way locked into it. I’m always changing something, looking for something new to put in. Like, we ain’t only just doing clothes. We’re getting into furniture stuff, different every-day stuff. There’s pottery, different creative stuff that’ll fall under Seventy-Eight Studios.
We took pictures with some of the stuff we’re gonna have coming out soon, so that’s probably
my biggest focus in terms of clothes: giving people a product that’s for me and a brand that’s for me…I love who I work with, but being able to curate my own brand, design, that’s the next step.
Portraits Jalin “Hype” Morgan
Assisted by Bryan Chow
Creative by Jordan Clarkson and SeventyEightKen
The post Jordan Clarkson Talks NBA Fashion, Wearing Thom Browne Suit Shorts (First) and Starting Seventy-Eight Studios appeared first on SLAM.