Following a childhood passion for fashion that began at the age of nine, he spent the next few years visiting Saks 5th Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Marshall Fields and Company, and Bigsby & Kruthers with his mother, Clarence Jones never for once doubted himself or how far he could go. After spending the next few years into his adult life honing his skills and creating a fashionista persona throughout college, he got his big break when Chicago clothing icon Barbara Bates contracted him to make custom shirts for Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and other notable personalities. He soon followed that up with handcrafting a couple of shirts for Tim Hardaway, and Shaquille O’Neal, which landed him total access into the pool of a clientele made up of NBA players. It’s been 25 years since Jones decided fashion was his niche, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Clarence Jones founded CJ Custom Clothiers in 1994 to cater to professional athletes, celebrities, and individuals’ clothing needs for every occasion. He is popularly known as the “Elite Stylist” of the stars. In CJ’s twenty-seven years of existence, he has designed and outfitted some of the most noteworthy athletes and coaches in the NBA and NFL, in addition to comedy stars and influential executives across the world. CJ Custom Clothiers is a customer-focused establishment known for delivering the best hand-cut and custom-made outfits, currently operating out of its corporate headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee.

Regardless of age, gender or social status, fashion is universal, and everyone deserves to wear the best attire affordable for them. And although Jones’ clientele is primarily made up of athletes, he is open and, in fact, currently has a lot of non-athletes on his roster. The company offers custom-made suits, jackets, pants, vests, overcoats, linen suits, shirts, cargo pants, and short-sleeve shirts and neoprene tracksuits/suits. All custom-made products are made from the latest seasonal fabrics of the best quality, and anybody from the everyday business people, doctors, lawyers, and bankers request a service.

What sets CJ Customer Clothiers apart from its competitors is the company’s personalization, which stems from building relationships with each client and giving them a sense of uniqueness. According to Jones, an essential part of CJ’s operational policy is traveling to meet clients to designed custom-tailored attires, and the mission of CJ Custom Clothiers is to cater to the client by having a personal professional clothier available to fit the client at the their convenience as well as personally hand-delivering the merchandise to the client within the space of four weeks.

CJ Custom Clothiers mode of operation also includes attending NBA, NFL, and college basketball and football games, something Jones refers to as “peak times” for the brand. By attending top events in professional sports, CJ Custom Clothiers has been able to design suits for some of the notable names in the game, including athletes and coaches like Milton Williams, Tyre Phillips, Donald Parham, and Austin Mack, among several others. As a result, Clarence Jones has been recognized for some of the best-dressed athletes in both the NBA and NFL drafts. Most recently, Jones designed the suit worn by NBA Rookie Christopher Duarte of the Indiana Pacers in this year’s NBA draft.

On where he sees himself and his brand five years from now, Jones said, “CJ Custom Clothiers has a reputation of being known as a company that caters to their clients and provides top-notch customer service you will not be able to obtain elsewhere.”