In 2018, Nick Jones ’23 and his friends were spending a long day cliff jumping under Virginia’s summer sun when they discovered they were near Falling Springs Falls. Locals refer to the waterfall by its nickname, “Trouvaille,” which translates to “lucky find” in French.
Jones, who was fascinated by the name, wrote it down. The friends made their way to the location, discovering breathtaking views of the vast, flowing waterfall.
Two years later, during a visit to Vail, Colorado, Jones revisited the digital note with the French word and spontaneously combined it with the name of the city he was visiting to form the word Trovail.
That was the beginning of Jones’ clothing brand, Trovail Worldwide.
“I thought of it as a lucky find, a lucky moment that I wanted to cherish, and then I just made the word after that,” Jones said. “It was mad unexpected. That’s kind of the point of it, you know?”
Jones, a political science major from Baltimore, Maryland, who hopes to attend law school after he graduates, created the clothing brand inspired by his travels and passion for original art and clothes.
The now lucrative business started small. Jones began with printing t-shirts with a printing press that his dad, Damon Jones, used for his clothing design company, Agape Designs. Nick Jones soon assembled a team of five people before consolidating down to just two who saw things congruently: himself, and his childhood friend Griffin McAdams, an aspiring tattoo artist who creates designs for the clothes based on Jones’ ideas.
“When I come up with a design or he comes up with a design, neither one of us is like ‘No, that’s not going to work,’” McAdams said. “It’s more of a, ‘How can we make this work?’ and then it’s like a puzzle that we both individually have our own pieces that we put together.”
Jones said Trovail began to thrive after he downsized his team, and it taught him that it’s best to trust his intuition instead of doing what a brand owner is expected to do.
Since he opened his online shop in October 2020, Jones has released several styles of beanies, t-shirts, hoodies and shorts, all of which feature mental health quotes and original designs that McAdams creates in the Procreate graphic design app. The clothes are popular among Jones’ friends and students at St. Joe’s, but Jones also ships orders nationally and internationally.
“It makes me more than happy,” Jones said. “It’s hard to explain when you see someone else wearing [our items], especially someone I don’t know that well.”
The brand’s most popular item to date, according to Jones, is a pair of sweat shorts with the Trovail logo on the left leg side and a mountain design on the other. A quote on the back pocket reads, “Wherever you are, be all there.” In 2021, 45 pairs sold out in 20 minutes.
McAdam’s favorite design features the face of Michelangelo’s David sculpture, made up of red, curvy lines similar to those seen in a fingerprint. Drawn over a year ago, the duo decided to put it on the back of Trovail’s most recent hoodie. The black hoodie also includes Jones’ little brother’s handprint in red on the front right chest, the quote “be yourself” on the left and a curved line pattern along the left sleeve.
Jones compared the complexity of these more recent designs to his first drop, which was a simple gray sweatshirt with the Trovail logo on the front that he said took him about “five seconds” to make.
“I’m looking at the new drop right now and it’s like you wouldn’t even imagine how far I’ve come,” Jones said.
Joe Pettinato ’22, Jones’ friend and supporter, advocates for buying locally from friends and said he appreciates the meaning behind the brand. On his recent spring break trip to Cancun, Pettinato made sure to pack his favorite Trovail t-shirts.
“[Jones] was telling me the meaning of Trovail, and he described it as a point where opportunity meets happiness,” Pettinato said. “I think that the model of the brand is so cool. Anytime I’m trying to be in my best mood I put my Trovail on. I associate it with good times.”
Recently, Jones received some extra exposure when Taylor Heinicke, the quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the NFL, posted a picture on Instagram wearing a Trovail t-shirt.
Jones and his friends had DMed Heinicke asking him to make a video for their friend who had prostate cancer, and Heinicke came through. As a thank you, one of the friends sent the quarterback a Trovail T-shirt without Jones knowing. A year later, in the midst of a round of golf, Jones opened his phone to see Heinicke wearing the T-shirt with Jones’ page tagged in the post.
“I remember when I saw it, it was just pure joy,” Jones said. “It kind of gave me that feeling that I might be making it somewhere.”
Heinicke now follows Jones on Instagram, and they stay in touch via DMs regarding new Trovail releases.
But a moment like that was only the icing on the cake for Jones. He said the best feelings come from the support of his friends and the general public, and also proving to himself that he’s capable of turning his vision into reality.
“It makes me so much happier as a person that I can get stuff done like this, and honestly, it keeps me really competitive and driven,” Jones said. “Also, it’s really relieving because the brand can be eternal. I never need to end it for anything because I’m doing it for my own self.”
