Continuing our Los Angeles fashion adventure, Charles speaks with two men who are changing how boxers and MMA fighters dress for work.

Will Hoover is a veteran designer who knows downtown L.A. fashion like few others. He is the founder and designer at Paul Dunne, a co-founder with J.R. at I.G.M.O.B. Clothing, and teaches at Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM). Hoover discusses what L.A. fashion is all about, the impact of runaway real estate development in the Los Angeles fashion district and surrounding areas, and how fashion students are learning their trade on the West Coast.

The FIDM campus is downtown, and in the face of this real estate pressure, they are still expanding. FIDM has been providing associates degrees for some time but is now introducing bachelors degree programs and adding a menswear track as the school expands.

Also in the studio, J.R., whose I.G.M.O.B. label stands for I Got My Own Back. The brand that started as a personal trainer’s basic marketing approach now produces high-end high-performance clothing for the world’s top MMA fighters. J.R. entered fashion sideways after finding himself drawing looks in his real estate office. A very interesting story.

https://www.instagram.com/igotmyownback_fighter/

https://www.instagram.com/pauldunnestyle/

http://www.igotmyownback.com/

http://fidm.edu/