Everyone Is Replaceable

Everyone Is Replaceable

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The
show is sponsored by G three of Parol. The views
expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor
and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor or iHeartMedia.
Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made business executive
here to help you find your success from the New

(00:21):
York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His
global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational.
He's gone from clerk to CEO twice. Mark is classic
proof that the American dream is alive. And well, here's
your host of always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Mark Weber, Everyone's replaceable. Corporate rules say everyone can be replaced.
Have a question, then, whyrah corporate office so highly paid.
Let's come back to in another time. One lesson I
learned the first time I demanded a race that was
really ugly. I learned quickly you don't make demands. But

(01:04):
that's not the point. My exact quote to the executive
vice president of the company at the time, I'm as
good as anybody in this company at their job. And
he looked at me and said, is that right? Mark?
As executive VP of this organization. I'm in the position
to know that you're not. I don't know where you
get off even saying it. I suggest you regroup, come

(01:28):
back to me when you're ready to act intelligently. I
remind you mark, no one's irreplaceable. Ooh, yikes, that's a threat.
I learned my lesson on demands. More importantly, it taught
me to think. Taught me to think about everything I
said in the future. Anyway, it's so easy to second guess.
Everyone could be a Monday morning quarterback, know the right

(01:50):
moves after the game is played. Everyone has answers once
it's done. However, being out front and understand what needs
to be done, that's a different question. That takes visionaries
to know what's happening in the future. It takes a
visionary to look around quarters. It takes very talented people

(02:11):
to understand where is the future? Where is it going?
One has to wonder at the moment, do we see
around corners, do we understand where we're going? Do we
envision the unintended consequences of our actions. I've often explained
the law of unintended consequences, and the way I do
it is very simple. Picture yourself standing in front of

(02:33):
a body of water, and you throw a pebble into
the water, which the pebble disappears immediately, which is the
decision you make the pebble, But the ripples go on
and on and on, which is the outcome of you
throwing that pebble in the water. The decisions being made
here and now as relates to the future are a

(02:54):
big question mark in our lives. One thing, current events,
the tariffs, the future of our country will have many
unintended consequences. The key, the key is to think through
the decisions we're making before you make them, and we
understand what will affected by the situation. I can tell
you the power, retail and luxury world is in chaos

(03:17):
and there's a probable now. This approach to life creates
a situation where business life is always unfinished. One of
the great choices in life. You never really know where
you're going. There's always surprises, some good and some bad.
But planning and understanding of the outcome what you decide
is critical. Jack wallsh famous CEO of General Electrics, said,

(03:40):
and I plan for the worst and I hope for
the best, because whatever you plan by the nature of
the word plan is unfinished. Ah. Yes, they say everyone
is replaceable. I've always wondered whether that's the truth, in
spite of the norm understanding, the collective wisdom. Sure is
everyone replaceable? Sure? At the moment again current events, the

(04:04):
president stands at the precipice to be the greatest president
in modern times. President Trump, you looked invincible. You're unreplaceable. However,
you're blowing with the tariffs. It's an unforced errup. You
have to straighten things out with China. Please talk to China,
talk to g privately. Get this behind us. You're right,

(04:26):
you need to hear it. You're right. However, the execution
is horrible. Now I'll get back on point because I
don't want to talk about that anymore. There are some
people I believe that are irreplaceable. I know you could
argue it. It's the correct business approach. I tell you,
when I was CEO or a president, I always said
everyone who's repriceable. You have to take that position. It's

(04:49):
the only logical place to make your stand. Anything else.
You sound a full But when you lose a good person,
when you lose someone who's special, when you lose someone
who has a spe skill set. When you lose someone
who makes a contribution, a difference, a light goes out,
a star goes doc. Something is missing. Yes, you'll find

(05:11):
someone else. You'll find someone to do the job differently,
and yes they may do it well. You find a
person in life who might suppress the person that left.
But you can't take the idea that everyone is replaceable.
It's just not true, even though it's the common law,
the unspoken word, those things you need to say in
front of your board or other management people. Everyone is replaceable,

(05:35):
and it's true, but it doesn't mean that the new
person is of equal value. Tonight, I'm going to evaluate
irreplaceable versus replaceable. I can talk about the beginning with
the LVMH in mind when I started my role there,
or the men's industry position at COVID, or the reaction
to Trump on the Campan Trail, but it comes down

(05:57):
to the idea of replace versus Irraoble I have something
to say now, I, for one, have developed a purchasing
sickness over time. I used to be very careful of
every purchase I bought. I remember one day I was
working at a company. I was working with a team
of people. It was casual Friday, and I was wearing khakis,

(06:18):
black swede loafers, white T shirt, black sweater, and I
commented to myself, you know, I like the way looking funny.
I go into a design meeting and one of the
women says that look is great for you. I said, well,
thank you. I bought the sweater at the Gap. I
really liked it. I'm concerned that I'll get it spoiled.
I'll get something on it. And she looked at me.
She said, you only have one? I said yeah. She said, Mark,

(06:40):
you can afford more than one. Why don't you go
back to the Gap and buy more of them? I
said why, she's just for the reason. You said. If
you spoil it, what are you going to do? Got
me thinking, and sure enough I went back to the
Gap and I had five of black sweaters in my sides.
I bought all five, and from there, everything I purchased
that I liked I bought more than one. I recently

(07:01):
saw a pair of Levi collection I forgot what they
were called, white cargo pants five pair, five pair. Ralph
Lauren had a beautiful cardigan sweater and black and I
tell you it's extremely expensive. In the Purple collection, I
bought two in black, one in khaki color. I bought
everything they had in crew NECKX two of each gap

(07:22):
jeans jacket. I now have five. They have a great
spring one for summer. Here Altho has white shoes. Bought
two pair. I bought two white off white sport coats
from Ralph Purple label, including a third one which is
a white dinner jacket. I bought Ralph black double breasted
sport coat than a navy double breasted sport coat. Even

(07:43):
got crazy last week and bought it off white double
breasted sports coat. I don't want to be without. And
if you get me started on black cargo pants. For
the last two years, I have more black cargo pants
than most stores have. And white, forget it. If I
told you the number of white pants I have, you
wouldn't believe it. And why am I saying this? And

(08:03):
why am I doing this? Because my wife one day
said to me, I can't believe they discontinued the makeup
I buy, and she was crazed. She went online started
to try and find it everywhere, eBay, here, there, and
she was not She said, you can't afford to lose
products now from evermore, I'll always buy more than one
and that's what I did. So you can say that

(08:26):
products are irreplaceable. You get comfortable with something, you like something,
you stay with it. You don't want it to go out,
you don't want it to be discontinued. I have underwear
styles that I had from Ralph or from Calvin Klein
that were discontinued. I was really lost and upset about it.
So if products can be irreplaceable, are people irreplaceable? When

(08:50):
we say that everyone is. I have a great story
to tell you. It has to do with COVID has
to do with dress shirts. I'd love to talk about ties,
but there and I don't know, and if you're seeable
future with the ties will come back. Although there at
certain times I wear them. I fear it completes the
outfit and I like the way it looks. But COVID
dress shirts, the dress shirt business disappeared completely during COVID.

(09:16):
I remember right before or right after COVID, I went
into Macy's to look for dress shirts because I'm always curious.
I spent time in the dress shirt business. It was
a very important part of my background. Nothing on the
floor zero heretofore, if you would go on Macy's thirty
fourth Street, half the main floor and men's were, maybe
more than a half was dress shirts from every brand,

(09:37):
every color, every design you can manage, because it was
a staple of men's dressing. Dress shirts are worn with ties,
or they're worn casually. They're a great, great compliment to
casual dressings or for fine casual dressings, or even pulled
out of your pants and war on tuck. Dress shirts
were always a major, major staple, and now all of

(10:00):
a sudden, because of COVID, they disappeared. The retail community
decided that because of COVID, because of the nature of
the business, they didn't need dress shirts on the floor anymore,
and they had a few at most in Macy's going forward,
but they forgot how I replaceable dress shirts were. You
go into a store right now, and half the floor

(10:21):
at Macy's again in the first floor is dress shirts
because they are such an important part of the business.
Which also gets me to believe and think about Donald
Trump and dress shirts. I think I've told you that
the President and I met before he was president. He
wanted to venture into the shirt business to suit business,

(10:42):
the tie business before he became president. A big part
of Donald Trump's net worth is licensing a lot of
what you see. A lot of the golf courses he owns,
they're licensing his name that not necessarily Trump owned golf course.
Same thing for buildings. While I'm sure certain buildings he
owns outright he developed them, there are buildings that are
made that pay him a license for the use of

(11:03):
the name. His job in those circumstances to make sure
they look like Trump buildings, behave like Trump build a service,
but they not necessarily so. Donald Trump came to me,
his people came to me and asked us to do
dress shirts. I've talked about this with the largest shirt
company in the world. He wanted to be with us.
I said, we don't need it. Next day, I know

(11:23):
Donald and his entourage are in my offices convincing me
to do dress shirts. Don't need him Donald. The more
I said no, the more he pushed. The only thing
I'll tell you about it if you read my book
Always in Fashion, chapter seventeen, Negotiating with the Master Donald
Trump was very convincing, and I could tell you Donald
Trump that I know the Donald Trump that I knew
honored every obligation that he had. Now after I left

(11:48):
Van using the Donald Trump issiness for nine years in making,
I had left, and I remember reading one day Donald
Trump had become president. I think he was a candidate.
He was a candidate at the time. Not long after,
he came down the stairway and he said at that time,
I want to eliminate illegal immigration. Everyone already went crazy.

(12:10):
You can't eliminate immigration where a country of immigrants, blah
blah blah. They didn't listen that he said illegal immigration.
But furthermore, what he said was these people coming in
a rapist, murderers, They're the worst of the worst. We
don't want them. The entire Latino community, the entire Hispanic community, erupted.

(12:31):
He's a racist, he's a racist. He's this, he's that,
he's this and that, and Macy's after nine years of
successful relationship with Donald Trump, Apparell discontinued it immediately. You
couldn't give away the shirt, you couldn't sell any more product.
The business was over. It was probably one of the
first interruptions in his income that he's had to live
with since becoming a candidate. And then President twice. It

(12:54):
was really sad because nobody anticipated that, because in the
end it was true, there were a lot of problems
with the immigrants, illegal immigrants coming into this country. I
don't think he made it as a racist comment. I
know he didn't. Well, it turned out there are a
lot of problems in that migration here. But I'll keep going.

(13:14):
I spent, as you know, many years at the Venues
and Shirt company developing shirts. It was a major love
of my life. It was an exciting love of my life.
When you consider shirts, how important they are to a
men's wardrobe, how much volume sales are done in shirts,
how they're of interest to men and women, how they

(13:36):
correctly frame a man's face, make him look better, make
him look elegant, make them look drushy, just look right.
I always thought a great deal about it. I always
appreciate it, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. When
I joined LVMH as CEO of the LVH Group in
the United States, I was given the responsibility for the
oversight of the Thomas Pink luxury shirt business that exists

(14:00):
that around the world. Thomas Pink was in many countries,
many real estate stores, many many shops everywhere, impressive as
can be, twenty one stores in the Greater Area in
London in the UK, and I used to go back
and forth so many times managing or overseeing a luxury
shirt business. I'll never forget the first meeting I had

(14:21):
when I met the CEO of Thomas Pink. I flew
to London. I met with the president of LVMH who
introduced me to the then CEO of Thomas Pink. His
name was Jonathan Heilbron, who had become over time a
great ally and I suppose a business friend that I
really admired and trusted. Here he is the reigning CEO
of a shirt company getting a new boss out of nowhere,

(14:44):
Mark Webber from the United States. That in itself is
a problem, but I remember there was a certain degree
of respect on his side because my reputation preceded me.
But it was an awkward meeting. I was the second
in command there, so we focused on the president of
LVM eates citing the rules, explaining why I became the
guy I became, why I was now in charge. He

(15:05):
was reporting to me, and it went as best to
go an awkward situation. The second meeting The next day
I came alone to meet with Jonathan, and in that
meeting I told him how impressed I was with his background.
I understood his resume. He was the chief financial officer
Thomaspink before he became the CEO. He had spent many

(15:26):
years from the onset of the company. He understood retail,
he understood the finances, he started to learn the operations
of the company. By the time I was there had
a staff of people from all over, very diverse group
of people. The interesting thing I noted right away on
a cultural side that there are so many different dialects
of English spoken in the UK. I guess from the

(15:49):
Scottish side to the best neighborhoods, the lords. I did
so many fun things when I was UK working with them.
But on the second day, at the end of meeting
all the people, at the end of me telling them
that I view my management role as wanting to have
the best people that I could possibly have working with
that I want to be in a position to struggle

(16:11):
to be valu added, so the better you are, the
more I appreciate you, and I'll find a way to
give input, make my contribution. Felt if in fact I
could now, between you and I, I would always find a
way to make myself valuable to the people I work with,
but in the spirit of anyone replaceable or replaced so

(16:33):
that the story gets interesting. Because the next time I
met with Jonathan privately and I asked him what he
thought about yesterday, I said, listen, I have to report
to someone, and I'm fine reporting to you. I think
it's a great opportunity for a collaboration. I know who
you are, I know your background. I'm excited to be

(16:54):
involved with you, and I'm looking forward to seeing what
we can do together. I looked at him and I said,
I can't tell you how happy I am that you're
saying to me, Because Jonathan, I as I said, I
like what you represent. You live here, You're the day
to day guy. I can never spend the kind of
time that you do, so we have to forge your
way to do business. And what I'd like to suggest

(17:15):
to you is you and I have an agreement that
I could say anything I want to you any way
I want, and you won't take it personally. That I
could be completely honest. If you show me something that's great,
I'll tell you I think it's great. If you show
me something that isn't I'll tell you. If you give
me a concept, I'm either excited about it or not
excited about it. But I can help. We'll find a way.

(17:39):
And he in turn said, I promise I could do that.
But I said, the same goes for you. I want
you to feel comfortable telling me whatever it is you can,
whatever things bother you. Let's have that kind of business relationship.
Let's call it a friendship. Let's agree that together we'll
make it work no matter what. And we did after
the course of call it a years. Him and I

(18:01):
worked so well together in Thomas Pink. I loved the brand,
I loved going there. I'd never been involved in true
luxury goods. Yes, I was involved in designer goods at PVH.
We had Calvin Klein, we had Donna Karen, we had DKY,
but never Thomas Pink. These were dresser. It's the least
expensive one at the time, going back to twenty fifteen

(18:21):
or one hundred and seventy five dollars apiece, where most
of them were in the two hundred to two hundred
and fifty dollars area. But we forged this relationship in
this working relationship. Now, as I studied the business, those
of you who were familiar with Thomas Pink, you would
have noticed that they had big stores. The biggest store
in New York was on fifty third Street and Madison Avenue,

(18:41):
actually on Madison at fifty third. They had stores on
Wall Street, they had stores in sixth Avenue, had stores
all around the city. It was a great place to work.
But the store on Madison was huge. And when I
got into it, I realized that they had women's product,
and that had a twenty five percent of the store
averted to women's wear. Now, success is a funny thing.

(19:03):
Sometimes a little success can cause a lot of problems.
In the case of Thomas Pink, it did. And I
want to talk to you about that because when people
thought of Thomas Pink, the question is did they think
of women's shirts. I want you to hold that and
put it aside. I like doing this. I like being
in a position of coming back to things when I

(19:25):
find them interesting. I'm working at van Usen. I am
now in addition to the president of the company, I'm
the head of marketing of the company. And when it
came to van Usen, we always struggled with the advertising.
We had some great advertising over the years. One of
my favorites had a guy on two pages in a magazine.
One shirt is thress, shirt and tie, completely made up,

(19:48):
close personal, beautiful look, and the next page he's pretty
much the shirt is being taken off. His back is
showing he's taking his shirt and tie off, and it said,
what a changing America is changing into van use it cool,
cool concept, but here we are. Van Usen at the
time had outlet stores. Fifty percent of the outlet stores
with women's product. We was selling men's belts, men's ties,

(20:11):
men's underwear, men's sports, and men's dress shirt, men's pants,
men's outerwear, men's everything. And I was sitting in the
boardroom one day. I was on the board and I
was waiting for the entire board to come in for
our presentation, and I was with a woman. May she
rest in peace. Her name was Estella Els. She was
a marketing girl at the time. She was in the
company shoes in her eighties. She was a contributor. She

(20:33):
was one of my favorites. She liked me, I liked her.
I liked talking marketing, and I remember sitting there talking
to her about Vanyus and I said, I'm struggling. I'm
doing this great campaign. Let me show you the pictures.
I haven't put them out yet for the magazines or
on television. I'm struggling with what is van Usen. She

(20:55):
closed her eyes, smiled and looked at me and she said,
Mark van Usen is shirts for men. Said that's it,
and she laughed, this is what else you need? I said, well,
we make all these other products. She said, forget it.
Van Usen is a shirt company. You're offering value added
by giving them those other products, but by driving home

(21:18):
shirts for men, you're making a powerful statement on behalf
of the brand. And I remember thinking that coming back
to Thomas pink that Women's in the store because of it.
We had women's designers, we had people sourcing women's product,
we had more space in the store, we had engineers
dealing with women's We had all these things. When Thomas
Pink Win is in effect shirts for men. Ultimately speaking,

(21:41):
that caused this great difficulty on the financial side until
we found a way to extrapolate ourselves for women's shirts.
The point being are products are people disposable? Are they replaceable?
The bottom line. Thomas Pink doesn't exist anymore. One of

(22:03):
the companies I know just put it as an online business.
It's not the same company. It's not based on German
street being, it's not using the greatest European factories that
are ever developed. It's not being made in countries across
the world. It is not the premier shirt brand you
see on the street corners anymore. It's not on anyone's tongue.
No one's looking at us, no one's looking at the press.

(22:27):
And I'll tell you why, because somewhere along the way,
Thomas Pink lost its way. First I was gone, then
Jonathan was gone. The saying is is everyone is replaceable.
However there's no more Thomas Pink, and tomorrow, of course
is everyone's replacements. So the saying goes the truth is

(22:48):
great is often not replaceable. You left with massive companies,
they'll tell you everyone is replaceable. I could tell you
I worked at this company. No one remembers me, no
one even knows my name. That's life. I also know
that I left a vacuum when I left, and maybe,

(23:10):
just maybe I was irreplaceable. Back in a.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Minute, Always in Fashion.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Donna Karen began her career as one of the finest,
most successful, powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed
a collection aimed at the luxury market for women on
the go, women who were powerful in their workplace, women
who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and her
clothes went from day and to night. An extraordinary collection.

(23:40):
But the interesting thing Donna Karen had a young daughter,
and she had friends and they couldn't afford to buy
the Donna Karen collection. And Donna invented DK NY Donna Aaron,
New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection.
The same concept a lifestyle brand. Now we talk about
lifestyle brands, what does that really mean? Simply what they say,
the brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get

(24:03):
up in the morning, you start to get dressed. Donna
Karen dcan why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all
those products. You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,
and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
about DK and Y clothes for work, they work into
the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters,

(24:23):
the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from
day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You
have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna
Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label,
a vast array of casual sportswear that make women look

(24:44):
great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you going
to soccer games for your children, or whether you're going
out to the movies, whatever you want to do, dcn
Y jeans, dcaan Hy sportswear is there for you. That's
what a lifestyle I need to mention DKY activewear, which
is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You

(25:09):
can wear DKY active wear certainly in the gym, certainly
when you're working out at home, and certainly if you
want on the street, because it's that well done. The
quality of DKY is nothing short of exceptional. And why
shouldn't it be because it was born from the idea
of luxury made affordable for women of America. DK and

(25:30):
Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day
and tonight, from the week into the weekend. DCN Why
you can find DCNY and Macy's dky dot com. As
one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld
was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style.

(25:51):
His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through
car Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready
to wear, excess shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagofild
also offers a range of watches I wear in premium fragrances.
You can explore the Carlagophil collection at carlagofilpowers dot com.

(26:11):
But it's more than that. I, for one, love to shop.
I love going around and seeing what's happening and what
catches my attention, what would make me feel good to
wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but
I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you
want to look right, you want to have clothes that
fits you well. You want to look like you're wearing

(26:31):
something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours.
You can find it at very affordable prices at Macy's
Orcarlagofel dot com Paris. The women's ready to wear fashion
is extraordinary, as well as the handbags and the shoes. I,
for one, wear men's clothes unlike my appreciation of women's clothes.

(26:52):
I'm a modern guy. I want to look current. I
want to look the way I want to feel. I
go out at night, I'm in black and carlagof is
my buddy. Calls are great. They fit great, and they
have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on
the sleeve or button at the neck or on the shoulder.
There's a lot of details that go into Carlagafel because
he's always been he always had been one of the

(27:14):
world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and on.
I can't speak enough about it except to say to you,
you want to feel good about yourself. You want to
know that you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that
fits you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Com, welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
Everyone's replaceable. So they say, I kind of like this
subject because I don't agree with it my whole corporate life. Yeah,
I had no choice. I'd have to say everyone's replaceable.
It's interesting phenomena. But here's something I want to think about.
I gave some thought to people who may or may
not have been replaceable, and perhaps what the world would

(27:57):
have been different. First of all, Steve Jobs. What if
Steve's Jobs were still alive? All that thought? Tim Cook
number two to Steve's Jobs operational guy, financial guy, not
a visionary but extraordinary. He's led Apple since Steve Jobs
left to the most successful tech company in the world,
in fact, the first trillion dollar valuated company. Now he

(28:22):
might be irreplaceable, but think about Jobs. He was replaced,
So I guess Steve Jobs was easily replaced. However, it
makes me think what about the invention Steve's Jobs would
have created? What had he created if he didn't pass away,
and didn't he move on with the products he brought

(28:43):
us that we didn't know we needed ever been created?
What is out there that was in his mind that
didn't come through with those ideas he would have had
ever be in our hands, our homes, in our cars,
or linked to our brains. We'll never know. I believe
Steve Jobs was irreplaceable in spite of Tim Cook, who

(29:03):
gets my award for the greatest CEO I've ever seen
in person. I only a stock. I'm thrilled. What a
great company. And then let's get closer to our industry.
Let's talk about fashion, retail and luxury. There's a guy
named Mickey Drexler. Most of you, none of you, probably
all of you, ever heard of him. And he is

(29:25):
and was a genius in retail, fashion and luxury. The
only thing I don't like about is and I try
to get him to come on the show and he
didn't want to. But he's still a genius. And a
little background information. There was a Fisher family, I think
Donald Fisher was his name, the patriarch of a company
investor who began and created a company we all know,

(29:49):
but Mickey Drexler made that company. There was this hippie
jeans company started in southern California, rolling out stores. They
were somewhat successful. They were limited in scope, they were
targeted probably at a small segment of the population until
Mickey Drexel showed up and was hired. See Mickey Drexel

(30:10):
was a merchant prince who brought you what is known
today as the Gap. Yeah, his innovations in style color
products marketing brought gap to the peak and retail. Think
Uniclow now. The gap that he created was the epitome
of the greatest retail stores ever. Think of American Eagle Outfitters,

(30:33):
Think of Uniclo, combined them, improved them by one hundred percent,
and you have what the gap was. It was the
most amazing brand retailer that in the world. No one
in fashion would begin a season without first walking into
the gap for direction for their ideas. I can tell
you years later after he left, I remember sitting in

(30:53):
my favorite restaurant in Hong Kong, in the Intercontinental Hotel
leijinge faudein. I think that's Mandarin rather than Cantonese, but
that's okay, the Lai Jing chowd'em okay, whichever it was.
I was sitting there and I was at my restaurant.
It's a steakhouse. In that hotel, it was usually called

(31:13):
the Region Hotel, then changed the Internet Continental Beautiful, Beautiful
restaurant that was on the water in that hotel, looking
out at Hong Kong Bay, I had the Hong Kong Harbor.
Big boats vessels would constantly be going by. It was
one of my favorite spots in the world to live
those if you have the air me asked the question,
where would you be if you wouldn't be here, I
might be sitting in that hotel, in that restaurant. Loved it.

(31:36):
First time I ever had GROUPA. I never had group
of fish grilled group It's as thick as a steak
with British mustard baked potato. I could eat that meal forever.
It was their greatest place in the world. I walked
in one night and there was a table with thirty
people at it, all Americans sitting around this table, thirty
people and at the time, you know what a trip

(31:57):
to Hong Kong courst of an airplane, to stay at
that hotel, to eat in that restaurant, to bring thirty people.
I remember sitting there and saying to myself to the waiter,
I asked him, do you know what company they're from?
And he says, I'll find out, thank you. I knew
the waiters, of course, because I was there so often.
And I said to myself at dinner, whatever company they say,
if I own the stock, I'm selling it. The following

(32:19):
day I sold the stock in the gap. You don't
send thirty people to Asia, Mickey Drexer would have done
it and anyway, to make a long story short, this
guy was amazing then the most amazing brand retailer then
in the world. No one fels fashion would begin a
season without looking at the Gap and Mickey Drex's rain.
He then does the following. There's a sleepy dying retailer

(32:43):
positioned as a desert gear company with an army jeep
in the center, and they were purchased by the Gap
with Mickey Drexer putting his impurtuur on it, his a
vision of what it would be, and he turned it
into this sleepy company, the most successful, cool, modern men's
style retail in the world at that time, and he

(33:04):
called it Banana Republic. He took the Banana Republic, who
was dying, and made it into one of the greatest
stores ever. They simply became the store for dress up
and refined casual clothes. Everyone shopped them, everyone copying them,
everyone bought there. He wasn't done out of nowhere. Out
of his brain, he invented a store you now know

(33:26):
as Old Navy. He put style and cool into discount retail.
He changed the landscape and made low price fashionable, the
first store to link the associates on earphones and tablets.
Drexler was a genius. He sat on Apple's board. Steve
Jobs knew what he was, and then one day out
of the blue, he got fired. Fired, if I recall correctly,

(33:50):
they didn't think he had the persona and the wherewithal
to be the CEO of a ten billion dollar company,
although he had been. He just needn't do much. You
just built the company. Fast forward. All these years later.
Gap has never recovered from him leaving. They've had fifty CEOs.
They've tried this, They've tried that Old Navy, I'm told

(34:13):
is struggling to exist. Banana Republic is fair at best.
Although I like the way they look. I still like
the way they look. I go in every time I'm
in a mall, I'll shop and on a Republic. But
they're not setting the world on fire. In the Gap,
it's still a wannabe. They don't look as good as
American Eagle Outfitters. They're basics which built them. The core
color programs that built them aren't as good as Uniclo.

(34:36):
They're just not the Gap. By the way, after Mickey
Drexel was fired, he bought Jay Crewe, the three hundred
million dollar company family run, and he turned into three
billion dollar company that you know today. He's no longer there.
J Crewe is not at the precipice of the greatest.
They still look good, look Nikki Drexler Forth. The norm

(34:58):
gap never recovered from him, And all I could tell
you is we can say everyone is replaceable, but he
was irreplaceable. I'll continue to go on and make my
case is that everyone replaceable. I don't think so. I
think a lot about when founders leave companies and they
decide to live the American dream. Hold that thought. I

(35:20):
used to believe and I still do that in this country,
anyone could be successful. I'm not one of those guys
who can tell you go out and follow your passion.
I want to be a singer. I'm not good enough.
I watch American idol. I can't hold a candle with
those people. If I tried to be a singer, maybe
I would do the happy birthdays in the restaurants they

(35:41):
called me over to sing with the group. I have
no talent compared to those people. So following your passion
is not the answer. You have to find something that
you're good at what you could be great at, and
follow that and hopefully, with a little luck, you'll enjoy it.
Because work is work. If it's work, if you like
what you're doing, you're never going to feel like you're working.
But the reality is, what is the American dream? Go out,

(36:04):
find a job, make a success of yourself. It was
I then got into understanding entrepreneurs, and I realized that
entrepreneurs were truly the American dream. That from their own ideas,
from their hard work, their grit, from investing their own money,
they start a business and make it successful. It's incredible.

(36:25):
If you're an entrepreneur and came across me, whether I
was interviewing you, whether I was in the corporate seat,
whether I was a president, CEO, I wanted to talk
about how you became an entrepreneur and whether or not
you were scared, whether or not you lost money. Was
it easy because to me, entrepreneurs or the American dream.
But what I learned was the true American dream when

(36:47):
it came to entrepreneurs, is buying a company and selling it,
selling it, cashing out. That's the American dream. There are exceptions.
There are family held business. For one, hundred years and
families continue to run. And that too, is an American dream.
You start a business, you have a daughter or a son,
you want to leave the business to teach him the business,
Let them carry on for their children, and on and

(37:08):
on and on. Amazing. That's another version of the entrepreneurial
American dream. However, what happens when the founders leave? I
wonder whether founders are irreplaceable. Take Bernard or No, the
founder of LVMH. He's just recently admitted he wants to
stay on till he's eighty five years old. Changed the

(37:29):
corporate bylaws. I forgot what they were, might have been
sixty five, but he changed it. He's going to stay on,
and I'm grateful I still own this stock I had
when I was with the company. Thank god. Company's done great.
Although the luxury world at stock is not very good
right now. There's a problem. Tariffs aren't helping, for sure,

(37:50):
But there's a little bit of a shakeout in luxury
right now. For another day to talk about. But founders.
I think of these two women. I forget their names.
I apologize. Two ladies had a vision on the West coast.
They decided by looking around that they wanted to recreate
the Los Angeles, La lifestyle for young girls and young women.

(38:10):
And they called a brand that they developed, Juicy Couture,
and they built it to a billion dollar empire. Their
advertising was extraordinary. The clothes were better than the advertising.
Everyone was wearing it. It was the hottest brand in
the world, a billion dollar empire, and then it was
sold multiple times, first to this guy, then to that guy,

(38:33):
then to this guy, then to that guy. My son's
company currently owns it and license the brand of many people.
Juicy Coutur is still there, but it isn't what it
was since the founders left, never was, never will be.
They were irreplaceable. Another one Liz Claiborne talking to people.
I guess if you're younger than fifty, you might have

(38:55):
never heard of this Claiborne. I could tell you. In
my day, Liz Claible was the finest company in America.
Four billion dollar company created by Liz Claiborne and her
husband Arthur Ortenberg. Both made their rest in peace. They
had a CEO at one point. They continued to build
it another company. They were the finest sourcing arm in

(39:17):
the world. If I was going to hire a person
to source product for me at van Ues and PVH.
I would go to Liz Claiborne first and see if
I could recruit their people. If you were in women's design,
there was no one better. Their operational skills were perfect,
their approach to the business was perfect. They were in
every major store in America. I don't recall the terminology,

(39:39):
but Liz and Author sold out company that ran for
the existing CEO did a good job. I won't name
him because he did me wrong. He dissed me and
I don't want to talk about it. That's a story
perhaps for another day. But then the company was sold again,
and I can only tell you the CEO that it
was sold to running it and the come company they

(40:00):
brought in. This guy ruined the company even further. Four
billion dollar company in two thousand and six, they were
admired by all that were the darling of Wall Street.
They retired and they left the founders and now where
they are they well the news. The last CEO that
I could think about, the Winner, Real Winner, destroyed the company.

(40:21):
Liz and Author were replaceable. I do see this season's
collection at j C. Penny. J C. Penny is where
Liz Claiborne can be found. J C. Penny bought the
rights to it, but obviously there's no Liz Claibord designer anymore.
It's a private brand used at Liz Claiborne to raise
the level of the j C. Penny business, and I

(40:42):
think they're doing a great job. I really really like
what it looks like. Now I can go on and
on and wonder about new friends taking over and whether
or not these companies are right. It's easy to say,
you know, you can pick your family, but you can't
pick your friends. And in the world world of business,
it's not family. It's making the right choices and the

(41:03):
people you pick. There are some really great companies that
you got to wonder what's happening to whether they'll even
be around in any future. All Saints, I remember walking
down the streets in London and Regent Street, walking by
a store that blew my mind. The entire window, and
I'm talking about a huge window. Must have been fifteen
feet high by thirty feet long, huge, and every square

(41:27):
inch of that window was filled with antique sewing machines
lined up one next to the other. It was remarkable.
I remember walking in and seeing all the leathers, all
the distress good all the lifestyle, rock and roll. I
guess you would say it was very very forward, very
very cool. I would suppose that John Varvados, if you
look at a current company that would look like them.

(41:49):
They're in the same league. But All Saints was more exclusive,
more expensive. I remember coming back and mentioning it to
Donna Karen. She almost laughed at me, where have you been?
They're the best? I think they're floundering. I look at
their product, I look at the size of their offerings.
All the stores are gone, at least from what I
can see. The founders are no longer there. Then there

(42:09):
are companies who lasted the test of time, who were
bringing around for over one hundred years. Burbery, what's going
on with Burbery? They are tired, They're not exciting. They're
not the darlings anymore. They're not the go to brand,
They're not the it brand. What has happened? I could
trace it to Angela Errence and Christopher Bailey. Angela Arens

(42:31):
was one of the most talented CEOs and women executives
in the history of the luxury fashion retail business. She
left the company I don't remember why. I think she retired.
Christopher Bailey, our co partner who became CEO. He was
the CEO and also the creative director. He made his
bones as a creative director. Used to work at Calvin,
grew from their amazing guy at the time. When he left,

(42:53):
I think he got plained. I think I don't recall
that he could no longer be the CEO and the
creative There's probably too much for one guy to do.
He probably was not a CEO. But what do I know?
All I could tell you those two people were irreplaceable.
There was no replacement for Angela Aarons and Christopher Bailey.
Look at Burberry and then there's Gucci. Gucci. Tom Ford

(43:17):
brought it back to life, made it what it was.
Tom Ford left Gucci started his own business. It was amazing, amazing.
I'm not so sure if tom Ford is amazing right now.
I don't know. Don't feel the excitement, I don't feel
the energy. I know they sell a lot of product.
I know it's tom Ford. They never veered from luxury,
I've never I know they've never veered from the best.

(43:39):
But is it the same? I wonder Gucci without tom
Ford did okay, But now Gucci struggling like crazy. The
creative directors have come and gone. The management is wondering.
They're shaking their heads another with the people that were there.
Was Tom Ford replaceable? No way I can go on?
You remember seeing is Sears still out there? Do you

(44:03):
know how big Sears was in its day? Sears was
the biggest retail company in the world. Their catalog, which
is an early form of the internet, selling direct, buying
direct from a catalog instead of online. They had a
billion dollar business back in the day before no one
knew what a billion dollars was. SEUs Does it exist?

(44:24):
Shows you what happens when management is sold to the
wrong family. Luck you can pick your friends. The friends
we're picking are in our friends. Not everyone is replaceable.
So you could say, and I will. If I wasn't
on Rady, I'd say as an executive, everyone's replaceable. The
truth is not. Everyone is back in a minute.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
I spent a lifetime of my career building the van
Usen brand, and I am so pleased that they're back
with us now. Talking about suits. Men were dressing up
again and it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits
can be won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You
could wear a suit formally to go out at night

(45:09):
or to an event. You can wear a suit to
the office with or without a tie. If you look closely,
now fashion trends, suits are being worn with turtlenecks or
mack next. The choices are endless, and every one of
them looks right. You could really really look the part.
I believe that packaging yourself is as important does the

(45:29):
products you package, and wearing a suit is one of
those things that make men look their best. Venuesn't invented
a new idea. It's called the cool flex suit. It's
been engineered with stretch technology giving you the most comfortable
fit and mobility. Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki.
It makes it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed

(45:52):
just now, this new style of looking sharp while feeling
cool and comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that
the van Using company is involved in this new technology
and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's
not forget van using mane It's name with dress shirts.
It's only proper that the suit business follows strongly in

(46:13):
its way. You can find van using kool Flex Men's
stretch suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys,
they're great. You should go look at them. I love
Polar fleece. It's lightweight, takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps
you warm and even if it's warm out, it doesn't

(46:34):
hamper you. It doesn't make you perspire. I love Polar fleas.
I also love sweatshirts and sweatpants, love them, love them,
love them. I'm a big fan of khaki pants and
a big fan of a golf clothes. And I'm a
big fan of Izid. I used to be the head
of Iszide. In fact, my company bought it and aut
of bankruptcy, and the CEO of the company asked me

(46:55):
to come in and fix it. And he said to me,
mark the future of the companies in your hands. Can
you do this? And I said, I will do it.
I put everything, my heart and soul into making Eyesid
the powerhouse that it is today. Now. I left a
long time ago, and the company just continues to thrive.
Isaot is one of the great sweater makers. Pant make
a shirt makers, knit shirt makers, polo shirt makers. They're

(47:17):
incredible company. The colors are great, the fabrics are great. Guys,
you ever wonder what you should wear, I'll make it
easy for you. If you're gonna be casual, go in
and look at ISID. Now that doesn't say that they
don't have dress shirts and they don't have suits. You
go find them. ISAOD is a collective brand that offers
lifestyle apparel to everyone in America. And it's true, it's
a fun brand, but it's also priced at fun prices

(47:39):
everyone can afford it. I love this brand. Of all
the brands that I'm involved with, and you can name them,
think about PVH and LVMH and all the brands, ISAOD
is the one that's most personal to me because I
was involved in crafting the future of this brand. The
clothes are great, they're doing well. ISOD dot com, isaadat jcpenny.
Go look for it. I think you can be very happy.

(48:01):
And ladies, those of you the shopping for the guys
in your lives, take a look. I think they'll be
very happy with your choices. Isaac for men, welcome back
to it.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Always in fashion, here's your host, Mark.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Webber Tonight, I'm challenging the concept that everyone's replaceable. I,
for one lived a corporate career. I was taught, and
I use the term everyone could be replaced. If anybody
walked into me with an attitude, I always knew in
my head that if I had to had replaced them.
I do just find this concept of everyone is replaceable

(48:36):
is drilled into our heads. It's like corporate boot camp.
You can replace anyone. But now that I'm out of
the world of corporate life and I'm a commentator and
I'm a thinker, and I'm wondering about the rules in
life in general. Is that true that everyone's replaceable? And

(48:57):
I build a case tonight that it's not. Now we're
a business show. I spent the first two years doing
the show, and every time I started, I would start,
this is always fashion, this is business. And I did
it because I felt the name always in Fashion might
be limited and the truck drivers, the people in their cars,
or people in gyms would hear the show Always in

(49:18):
Fashion maybe turn off because they're not interested in fashion.
So my brightest moments are when truck drivers call the
station said I was listening to the radio. I have
you tuned to seven to ten? Woor? I heard this
show coming on always in Fashion. I was tempted to
turn it away. I heard the opening who is Mark Weber?
And I stayed with it. I love the show, gives
me great joy. But in spite of whatever I've done

(49:41):
at this business show, Apple Spotify, at one point or
another started categorizing me and this show is cultural and lifestyle,
and I want to take a moment to talk about
the culture and lifestyle as it relates to Even though
we're a business show with a lot of and sense,

(50:01):
I want to turn to the lifestyle party. It's said
everyone's replaceable in life. I beg to differ, particularly if
you'll allow me. When it comes to love. We all
get a chance to love. I did. I was married
for a long time and I lost the love of

(50:24):
my life, and I wondered what would my life look
like going forward. That's a person who is irreplaceable. We
all get a chance to love. I would hope every
one of you gets the chance. The first true love
is precious. You find it, you fight for it, you

(50:45):
never give up. Love is irreplaceable, but life is different
for us. All The funny thing about life. It's life,
it's living, and you may just get a second chance.
Those of you getting a second chance or trying again
have found love again, who are happy when they wake

(51:07):
up in the morning, who have that spring in the step,
no matter what comes your way. I remind you that
your second chance is precious if you get it, never
take it for granted. Fight for it, keep it, appreciate it.
The feeling of love is irreplaceable. And don't forget that

(51:32):
that person you found is irreplaceable. Now. I know it's
said that no one's irreplaceable, and I know it's not true.
Lose love. It can't be replaced. Good Night,