John Varvatos worked for Polo Ralph Lauren in 1983 then worked at Calvin Klein in 1990, where he was head of menswear design. John Varvatos returned to Polo in 1995, where he was VP of menswear design.

In 2003, John's company became part of Nautica Enterprises, Inc., which was subsequently acquired by VF Corporation, which also owns JanSport, Wrangler, Lee, Seven for All Mankind and many more brands.

In 2005, John Varvatos entered into a partnership with VF Corporation to create a new partnership, John Varvatos Enterprises where he is the CEO and president of the company.