Integrity

Integrity.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The
show is sponsored by G three Aparo. The views expressed
in the following program are those of the sponsor and
not necessarily the opinion of sevent ten wor or iHeartMedia.
Who is Mark Webber. 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 his 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, It's Sussa. Let's get this straight. No, I
never anybody over in my life that didn't have it
coming to them. All I have in this world is
my bulls and my word, and I don't break them
for no one. Understand my impression Tony Montana's scarface. I'll

(01:04):
tell you what. That scene left an indelible impression on me.
How important is your integrity? How important is your word? Now?
Thank god I didn't need that movie to establish for
me the understanding the importance of integrity. But it is
a graphic example, and I'll admit to honesty. I was selfish.

(01:26):
I don't want to get into trouble. I was worried
about doing the right thing, more for myself than for
the world at large. But let's face it, I want
an easy and safe life. Follow the rules, follow the law.
I was determined from the outset of my business career
to be above reproach, never jeopardize my future. I began

(01:48):
with nothing. I wasn't going to end up with nothing.
I could not or would not risk the opportunity afforded me.
Never was I a gambler. Never would I gamble, let
alone gamble with my futures. So yes, I was selfish.
I didn't want unforced errors, didn't want self created problems.
And it's true. Growing up my parents' house and instilled

(02:11):
in me the value of honesty. And I don't recall
discussing officially, but I just knew books, television, radio shows,
right or wrong, my parents right from wrong. Now where
is this coming from? Tonight? I was on the Instagram
the other day and there was this woman talking, don't
remember who she was, and she said that her father

(02:32):
instilled in her three important words enthusiasm, intelligence and integrity.
And she said without integrity, there was nothing, and it
got me thinking. And that's why I'm talking about this tonight.
The rules in life, you tell the truth. You always
finish what you start, black or white, there is no gray.

(02:52):
You promise you keep it, and I can tell you
to this day. The principle of honesty is so ingrained
in me. But I inventure to think of crossing the line.
I feel heart computations. I feel like I'm being trapped.
So for me, no way knowing right from wrong. The
importance of my integrity, my sanity, my well being, and

(03:12):
my happiness is all tied up in that. Therefore, whether
a six or sixty, my approach to business was honesty
and integrity above all else. Anybody talks about me in
businesses this day. To talk to my sons who knew
me in the day, tough but fair, and that's the
life I've lived. You have to be able to put

(03:33):
your head in the pillow at night and sleep, and
I do no nightmarees pleasant dreams. That doesn't mean they
weren't temptations. They just weren't temptations. They weren't options for me. Tonight,
I intend to talk somewhat about these issues that confronts
you in your business life. However, before I go there,

(03:54):
I'm joined by my co hosts. Hey, hey, my lawyer,
my son Jesse Weber, Jesse, welcome aboard. I must admit
I wanted you to go to law school to understand
the laws of the land and the rules to live by.
Did you learn them? Hey? Ah? Did I learn them? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (04:09):
I learned what for each subject? Criminal law, property law,
all that, what your constitutional law? The question is, are
they really the rules?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Is?

Speaker 3 (04:20):
It's so black and white. It seems that there's always
an answer, and then the goalpost shift a little bit. So, yeah,
you might know the law, you might know the rules,
but it seems in so many cases and so many stories,
they get shifted a little bit. That is one of
the reasons why I went to law school. I wanted
to know the parameters. I wanted to know the guidelines.
I wanted to know this is the most important thing.
I wanted to know when an issue came up, what

(04:42):
I should be thinking about, right like, this is something?
What about this? What about that? I might not have
the answer, but at least I know this is something
I should look into I've said it before, I will
say it again. I think law school was so value
added that everybody that goes to even in high school
or college and introductory class on the law very important,

(05:04):
just to understand basic framework.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Hey, you cover crime, now, that's a big part of
what you do, aside from hosting normal shows. Never happy
who you involved in crime. It's not a pleasant place,
but you're an expert at it. Why do these people
do what they do?

Speaker 3 (05:18):
They think they can get away with it. There's a
lot of reasons, they say. Most crimes are committed for
financial reasons. Love, jealousy, anger seems to be a common thread,
and a lot of empower. Sometimes people don't even know
that they're committing a crime. That's not really a defense.
But you do see these through lines a lot. So

(05:39):
if I were it was funny. I mean, it's not funny,
but I was at crime con this big crime convention
out in Denver.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
I go every year.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
They sell a shirt that says the husband did it. Now.
The reason that's dark comical is because how many times
do you see cases where it's the husband because of
jealousy or life insurance. That's just these common themes you see,
it's human nature, human nature. You talk about human nature,

(06:07):
same kind of crimes are committed now as they were
two hundred years ago.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
M you're covering any celebrities stuff right now and it
thing's going on.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Well, we covered the ditty case from beginning to end.
What do you think of him getting four years in prison? Although,
by the way, it wasn't really four years. It's four years.
He already served one year behind bars, so it's three
could be out in two two and a half. What'd
you think of that?

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Well, first of all, he did serve a year, so
I wouldn't say it isn't four years. Said it's really
enough for because he already served a year. It's not
easy time serving a.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Year, right, No, But I'm saying his sentence is four years,
but let's be clear about what that means. He's not
serving four years from today. He already served a year,
so it's three years plus lit with good behavior and
eighty five percent two and a half. It's not Look,
one day in prison is tough. There are people who
say it's too much. There's people who say it's too little.
I was very impressed with judge. There were people who

(07:02):
wanted him. Prosecutors were looking for eleven years. I thought
that that was very extreme considering what he was convicted of.
He wasn't going to get time served and get out
that day, the severity of the charges, how many times
he committed these crimes, there were victims. It seems to
me four years was reasonable. But his attorneys are going
to appeal it and fight it. Yeah, the main argument.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
You and where are you in the ranking on number
one at YouTube? Where are you right now?

Speaker 3 (07:30):
The sidebar is number twenty, number twenty on all of YouTube.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Of the millions of podcasts, Genterver twenty in the country.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
YouTube ranks podcasts on YouTube like Joe Rogan theovon if
Rogan's number one were number twenty, you.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Were up to number five at one point, So you
root for this crap.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
I don't root for crime, but I kind of think
people appreciate our breakdown of the law and break down
of the cases and their turn to us as opposed
to traditional outlets, which I appreciate.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, you're great at that breaking it down and making
it understandable. Let's give you your credit due for that.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
By the way, how's this show been going without me?
I've been so busy. How are you doing without me?

Speaker 2 (08:13):
You know, it's funny you asked that there are days
or weeks that I'm inspired. Something rings my bell gets
me excused, and I think those shows are the best,
and then there are shows where they kind of catch
up on me out of nowhere. I had nothing on
my mind, like I said this week, if it wasn't
for this woman talking about integrity, I wasn't show what

(08:33):
I talk about. And then when she said it, I
realized that how important it is to do the right
thing all the time. So you can, as I said earlier,
sleep at night. I don't want negative crop in my life.
So how's the show been. I've been told the shows
have been great of late. I have my doubts, you know,
because I'm doing them number one and number two. I

(08:54):
have different degrees of excitement to deliver. But it's been
pretty pretty good. A lot of new listeners all the time,
by the way, So let's change the subject for a second.
When you were working in the law in a law office,
did you see stuff that made you back cringe a
little bit that people were doing or it was all
straight and narrow.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
There was a time when somebody was leaving my firm.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
And this is when I had just joined.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
I was a baby associate, only there a few months,
and she was leaving and she asked me closed the
door and she asked me to make a copy of
her of a bunch of I don't remember if it
was client information or information about a case, to put
it on a CD for her. And I said, look,
I want to talk to my boss and my supervisor

(09:41):
about this. She says, you really have to. You're making
more of it than it is. I go, look, I
would just feel more comfortable. And she got defensive and
she kind of bullied a little bit because she's been
a practicing attorney for a while. She was older than me,
and I just said, look, I would feel more comfortable
and she's like, okay, okay. And then later on I
spoke to my boss and she's like, due to the
one hundred percent the right thing to be at, it
didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
So it's weird.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah I didn't give it to her.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Okay, good for you, Good for you.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah no, but everybody was on the up and up.
Everybody's always been.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
On the up and up. Okay, good to know. What
about you? Funny, you should say that as a corporate executive,
it costs of you and your brother and my interest
in the law. I am one of the more formidable
executives when it comes to the law. I know an
awful lot and I got involved. But sometimes there's differences
that are interesting to point out. For example, this should

(10:30):
help everyone taxes. We all do taxes, and it's technically speaking, crime.
Am I saying that right? It's to cheat on your taxes.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
I would say that's a crime. Yeah, I would say
that's a crime.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Okay. So here's the thing. If you do your taxes, okay.
The one rule that you always have to remember is
you can't hide income. If you got paid off the books,
or if someone gave you a check that you didn't
think you needed through acall sometimes when you're in a store.
Here's one. You're in a store, and sometimes that the

(11:05):
register they bring it up and sometimes they don't. You're
not allowed to hide income. If you hide income and
the government finds it, they could either if I knew,
we'll put you in jail. You're not allowed to hide income. However,
business expenses or expenses that you cur in your yearly efforts,

(11:25):
particularly in business or your personal life are always a
judgment call, and if in fact the government doesn't agree
with you, they won't allow you to deduct those expenses,
but they're not going to put you in jail for them.
So there is two issues on taxes that shows the difference,
and it's very clear now in our business, my business

(11:49):
luxury retail and fashion. I learned early on when it
came to the law that if I am selling I'm
going to pick two retailers out of the blue. If
I'm selling Macy's a particular brand and I meet with
the Dillud's department store group, I'll ask you, Jesse, if

(12:09):
you know this. Maybe if still It's comes in and
says to me, are you selling Macy's not brand? And
I say yes, they say to me, the only way
I'll buy that brand from you is if you stop
selling Macy's. Are they allowed to say that.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
I don't know if that's a I don't know if
that's a violation of antitrust or that's a you know,
interference with business. But maybe I don't know. I don't
know the answer to that one. Isn't it just negotiating?

Speaker 2 (12:36):
You're allowed to say, You're allowed to do that you're
allowed to enter into a conversation. I'll make a decision
about your distribution, even if it comes from another party.
So that's not against the law. Having said that, here's
a conversation. I'm carrying a brand, an important brand, and
I sell it to Macy's and I sell it to Dillard's.

(12:56):
And there's some stores in the Southwest in that last Vegas,
maybe Texas, where there's a Dyllid store in the mall
and a macy store in the mall. If they get
together or I'm involved with them and I agree with them,
or they too come talk to each other and they agree,
no matter what, we're not going on sale with this product,
then they agree to do that.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Is that against the law that I think is against
the law that I think is anti trust issues.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
That is exactly right. You're not allowed to fix price,
and if you do it, you can go to jail.
So from my perspective, there are things that important to
understand the law, and they doing the right thing is important.
You know what be caught up with something. Do you
remember Martha Stewart what happened with our.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
I don't remember the specifics, but I remember she, you know,
was it insider trading.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah, somebody she was accused. I don't remember the details exactly,
but Martha Stewart is a billionaire and someone told her
something about a stock or company. She went and bought
some stock. Only fort she ended up getting convicted. Now,
they didn't put her in jail, I recall correctly. They
put the ankle bracelet on her and she had to

(14:07):
wear it at home. But don't anybody quote me on this,
because I'm not sure of the facts. When I don't
want to go to jail, But people do things stupid.
In that case, she might not have understood that she
did something wrong. What's the excuse if you didn't understand
the law or didn't know the law.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Ignorance of the law is not a defense, exactly.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I knew that as well. So there are a lot
of stuff going on in life than in the law.
Now I have to ask you, it's topical in the news.
I say this. Well, here we are ten years later,
and it's now being proven that the FBI, the CIA,

(14:46):
the Justice Department may I can't say they have because
no one's been convicted, but it's funning to appear that
they conspired with the dossier the Steel doster A, the
Hillton Clinton campaign committee to put out this hoax about
Trump being in cahoots with the Russians. How come that's okay?

Speaker 3 (15:09):
I don't really know exactly what you're talking about. I
think you're jambling a lot of different things together. This
has been investigated. If you're talking about what's going on
with James Comy, and let's focus on call me for
a second, because a lot of this has already been investigated,
and what the big allegation is whether or not you just.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, you're ready to move
on to Comy. But Trump is in the papers all
day long and in the press saying that Obama was
the treason as president. It's crazy.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, but I don't know exactly what that means, per se.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
But if you want to focus on James Comy, because
that's in theory a real case. I mean, he just
was arraigned this week. Look James Comy.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Former FBI director.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
He is accused of lying to Congress, He's accused of
making false statements, he's accused of obstruction. I will tell
you I think that this is a legally weak case.
I am skeptical of this case. Why number one, there
have been this has already been investigated. John Durham, who
was the special counsel at one point, could have brought charges,
chose not to investigator.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Excuse me.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
Career prosecutors told Lindsay Halligan, who's the one who actually
charged James Comy, that there wasn't enough evidence to bring
a case against him. When they decided to present evidence
to a grand jury regarding three charges against James Comy,
the grand jury only came back with two charges. You
know how rare it is for a grand jury to
say no. They say, a grand jury can indict a

(16:43):
ham Sandwich. All you need is probable cause. The fact
that they wouldn't agree to one of the charges is significant.
But here's the bigger issue. They're saying that he lied
to congress A. It has come out this week that
what they seemingly are relying on is the testimony of
this one person who wasn't even an FBI agent. The
allegation is James Comby was asked, did you leak information

(17:05):
to the press. Did you have somebody from the FBI
leak information to the press regarding Hillary Clinton? He said no,
or look at my testimony from earlier on this person
that they're relying on that they say he leaked information
to this person has been adamant and told investigators he
never once told me to leak information to the press
and actually told me not to engage the media. When

(17:28):
they looked at James Comy's communications with this person, there
was no smoking gun saying that he authorized him to
release information to the media. And plus the question that
he was asked under oath back in twenty twenty the
subject of these charges, the question that he got from
Ted Cruz is kind of an ambiguous question. To prove

(17:48):
that someone lied to Congress, you need to show intent.
I think he's got a lot of avenues. And moreover,
he's going to try to dismiss this case by saying
this is a vindictive prosecution, that it's not brought on facts,
not brought on evidence, but brought because the President has
basically pressured for this case to be brought against him.

(18:10):
I think there's an argument to that. The former United
States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where this
case is being brought, was removed at Lindsay Halligan, who's
not even a career prosecutor was brought in. There's a
lot of problems to this, and I suspect that there's
a strong chance this case may not even go to trial.
I haven't seen a criminal defendant this confident in quite

(18:33):
some time. There's a question of whether or not this
is a legitimate case against James Camy.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Do you remember the question that Ted Cruz.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Asked, yeah, you want it verbatim?

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Oh? Sure, why not?

Speaker 3 (18:44):
So, Ted Cruz asked him on May third, twenty seventeen,
in this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, have
you ever been in anonymous source in news reports about
matters related to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?
You responded under oath never. He then asked, have you
ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an
anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or

(19:06):
the Clinton administration? You responded again under oath no. And
then it says, now, as you know, mister mccab who
works for you as publicly and repeatedly stated that he
leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and that you
were directly aware of it and you directly authorized it. Now,
what mister mckab is saying and what you testified to
this committee cannot both be true. One or the other
is false. Who's telling the truth? To which call Me responds,

(19:29):
I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by
the testimony you summarize that I gave in May of
twenty seventeen. There's a lot of problems with this. McCabe
has been determined not to be the most honest broker.
There's nothing corroborating that he was told by call Me
to release any information. Ted Cruz made a mistake in
his question, which is significant. He said about the Clinton administration,

(19:53):
not the Clinton investigation. He said the Clinton administration. What
he said specifically, not what he meant. What he said
specifically can be used by defense attorneys to say that
James call Me wasn't lying to Congress. I think there's
a lot of room here for Comy to defend himself.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
So this is a whole lot of nonsense.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's very complicated, and if it's so complicated, that's called
reasonable doubt.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, Well, with that of mind, Uh, we've confused the audience. Yeah,
But even so, the head of the FBI has to
be careful too. All of us do. And that's the
theme tonight, What is your integrity? Do you realize? Right
from wrang? How do you behave? And we come back,
I'm going to give you some real world examples.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Van Usen actually the name venues and first time I
heard it, I thought was an old man's company. I
was in an interview and I was being offered a
job to work and that said, it's old man's company.
And the headhunter who is recruiting me said, you're an idiot.
Said they're a public company. They're one of the world's
great shirt makers. And if in fact you feel they're old,
that's why they want young people like you Mark to

(20:59):
change the company into bring it into the next century.
And lo and behold, I joined them. I put my
heart and soul in that company. I did everything I
can to participate in making it one of the world's
great brands, and it is. If you look at van
Using they called sportswear. I don't understand the name sportswear.
I don't understand neckwear. When you're talking about ties. I
don't understand the name hosiery when you're talking about socks.

(21:22):
I'm not sure I understand the name sportswear. When you're
talking about men's clothing, well, men's clothing is complicated because
that in the retail venue means suits and sport codes.
Having said that, van used in sportswear, shirts, sweaters, knitwear
amazing men use it as a modern approach the fashion

(21:42):
that appeals to a broad base of Americans. First of all,
it's affordable. You find it in stores that you visit
that you could afford to participate it. You could buy
multiple items that are all coordinated together. Them primary colors
start with black and tan and gray and navy. They're
all so they make sense. The knitwear in the spring

(22:03):
of the year, amazing golf shirts, amazing polar shirts in
the fall of the year, whether it's polar fleas or sweaters.
Then using has a modern approach to fashion. You buy
the pants, the dress, shirts, the suits, the neckwear. But
in particular I'm talking about the coordinated collection sportswear in venues.
The styling is perfect, that fits a generous the design

(22:25):
to make you feel comfortable, not only are in your
body by the fit, but in your head. Then using
sport collections are one of my favorite to this day.
And believe me, I'm involved when I see the lines.
If I don't like them, I call the principles of
the company and say what are you doing? But I
don't have to do it because that taste level is right.
If you want to buy affordable men's clothes that look right,

(22:50):
if you're modern, you want to get dressed for the
day and look your part. You want to go out
at night, van using will work for you. I am
supporting and recom you go see van using sports J C.
Penny or online at your favorite stores. Van using a
brand that has always been with me, and I'll always
have a soft spot in my heart for it. As

(23:13):
one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld
was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style.
His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through
Car Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready
to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagafeld
also offers a range of watches, I wear and premium fragrances.

(23:36):
You can explore the Carl Lagovil collection at Carl Lagofelparis
dot com. But it's more than that. I have. 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

(23:58):
clothes that fits you well. You want to look like
you're wearing 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 handbigs and
the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my

(24:20):
appreciation of women's clothes. 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 carlagafeld 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

(24:43):
had been one of the 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 or Carl dot.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Com, Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Integrity doing the right thing. You know what? The definition
of honesty is doing the right thing when no one's looking.
I was on the internet the other day and a
woman got up and she was speaking, and she said,
a father taught us three things. The three most important
words in her life should be enthusiasm, intelligence, and integrity.

(25:32):
And then she said that he made it clear that
without integrity, nothing else matters. Got me thinking. I wasn't
thinking about doing a show on it. I don't know
what I was thinking about, but it also caught my
attention and I started to think about the right thing.
And I have a great example right out of the
box that I want to talk about. LVMH. I get

(25:55):
recruited by LVMH Louis Utan BOENSI to come in and
work for them. And during the negotiation process, which really
wasn't a negotiation, you know, I was thrilled for one
of a better word, excited, enthusiastic, as she points out,
great words to work for the largest luxury group in

(26:17):
the world, will I had a great career going on
up until this point. To be involved with LVMH Leuis
Vitan Loense was just beyond the belief for me. So
I when it came time to negotiation, I'm in the
interview and they're offering me a job, and they asked me,
aren't you going to negotiate your salary. I said, no,

(26:40):
whatever you pay me, I'll be happy with. And they
looked at me like I was crazy. I don't know
if you thought it was a red flag, would you
have dropped that Chelsea.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
Probably Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, I explained him, listen, I believe in doing what's right.
I believe you guys are going to do what's right,
and I believe that whatever you offer me, unless it's ridiculous,
of course I'm going to accept. And they explained to
me it was the head of the market ahead of LVMH.
The president said to me, look, we seriously evaluated your
salary and income when you're at your former company or

(27:14):
public office. And we saw it. We want to start
you off with the same salary, the same bonus opportunity,
and it gets you started immediately. Because you're starting in
the middle of the year. We're going to guarantee your
bonus this year. And I thought that was great, and
he then said something that I hadn't considered. He said,

(27:34):
we're going to give you an allowance. And what was
an allowance. It was a right to purchase products from
the LVMH Group free of charge, with the idea that
I would walk into a meeting wearing a Zenith watch,
or I'd walk into a meeting where do your suit?
Or I would walk into a meeting and I would

(27:56):
do in a restaurant, take out my wallet. It's a
etone wallet. They wanted me to wear the company's product,
and they gave me a large amount of money to
spend per year on myself for these products. And I
said to them at the time, you know, I spend
a lot of time with my wife where a team,
we go everywhere together. I'd like it to include her

(28:19):
as well. And they said, absolutely, you can include your wife.
We want you both to be ambassadors of our brands.
So we agreed to do that. Okay, now here's the question.
I had children, Should I dress them in vitone with
Dior and use my allowance for that? Here's another one.
You know, I have to buy someone a present. Why

(28:41):
not buy a present use my allowance for it? Or
I suppose if I was really deviant, I'd buy something
for myself and the size that I would need, give
it to someone else and could do that all day long,
couldn't I. The answer is no, no, no, no. That's

(29:03):
a way to get in trouble. That's a way to
lose your sleep at night. That's a way imperil your integrity.
And I never did it. And I'm willing to talk
about anything when it comes to the integrity of companies
and people. What is the right thing to do? And
I could talk about it without impunity, without any concern
in the world, because I was always very careful and

(29:26):
I've worked with companies that believe it or not. There
are big retailers that will not have dinner with you
at night. The reality is they're afraid that even at
dinner might persuade one of their buyers or corporate officers
to show favor to a particular company they went to
dinner with. I'm not sure they're concerned with the camaraderie,

(29:50):
but they didn't like the idea that they could be
a look back and say, these people place this order
with these people because they went to dinner together. And
there's a saying in business, in life, even the appearance
of impropriety is a problem. So these big real two
companies won't even go out to dinner with you. They will, however,

(30:11):
if you have a business meeting at lunchtime, you bring
in lunch to lead their lunch with you, but they
will not be entertained by any shade matter of form.
And I find that very refreshing to know the rules, etc. Etc. Etc.
But on a larger scale, I want to talk to
you about traveling internationally and the risks of behaving improperly

(30:37):
when it comes to managing corporate assets, being a buyer
or a seller, and doing things that might not look
all No. Having said that, here's an interesting thing, Jesse
did I haven't talked to you about Bangladesh.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
We don't talk about Bangladesh as much as we should. Unfortunately, No, No,
But I can imagine there's a good story involved about ethics.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Well, ask you question and then you tell me what
to do. You're ready. Yeah, Bangladesh. Back in the day
when everyone was deciding what factories they would do business
with or not, they were concerned about human rights. There
were stories where factory owners in Bangladesh or any other
country would lock the workers in and there had been

(31:19):
fires and people died, and huge quantities of people died,
and lots of people died because they couldn't get out
of the factory. Sometimes there's all kinds of crazy stuff
that happens. I believe it's happened to Bangladesh or whatever,
and it was terrible in the country. Our country, and
then the rest of the world decided to employ certain
regulations to make sure that people were treated fairly and

(31:43):
their lives were protected, and it was all for the
greater good. And the issue came up with child labor,
and this is where perhaps it got tricky. Now I'm
paraphrasing this, and I'm sure the degree of accuracy can
be challenged here, but as I understand and the situation,
the story goes like, yes, women in Bangladesh wanted to

(32:06):
bring their children to work. Young children before school age.
And they wanted it for a couple of reasons. First
of all, if they had no one to watch their children,
the children would run around, they'd be on the streets.
They're afraid, they'd get into trouble, they would hurt themselves,
they'd get in with the wrong people. There's a lot
of ways that things could go. Oh, so they brought

(32:27):
their children to work so that they could watch them
and protect them. And number two, the factory workers might
have given them some small payment from them being in
the factory because they might count things, or they might
I don't know, put shoelaces in the shoes. But they
were using them to work in the factories. And we

(32:48):
stepped in as a nation and as a world and
said we will not accept child labor. So now there's
a conundrum. Do you support child labor for the reasons
I just said. Mothers could be with their children, they
could be watched and cared for during the day rather

(33:11):
than be left alone or be out on the streets,
or accept the rule of child labor that is okay
or not? What do you do, Jess.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
I think as a company you have to determine. Well,
first of all, there's legal protections put in place about
whether a US company can import goods that are produced
using child labor and or have to disclose it. But
as a company legally, do you want to be in
that business? Do you want to be able to do that?
I think companies have to take a long, hard look
in the mirror.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Which is the greater good?

Speaker 3 (33:41):
I would say not using child labor. I would say
probably not going that route.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
But mister counsel, I think you were close before because
Bangladesh law stated there's no child labor. You follow the
laws of the land.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
I think you also have to do what you think
is right. You can you can make a profit and
not and be able to sleep at night.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
I think you're right, and this is always the issue
with that. Then there's the issue of organic cotton. You
like organic cotton. You know what it means.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
It's cotton that's organic. It's it roams free, and it
roams free on the farm, it eats grass.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
No. No organic cotton means that there are no pesticides
used to grow the cotton, so that the water where
the cotton is is not poisoned, that the people aren't
breathing the chemicals et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Perfect right.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
That sounds better.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Who could argue, except there are places in Africa then
if you don't use the pesticides, if you don't do
all this stuff, just spreading malaria m tough. Well that's
a problem. That's tough. Letter of the law. Whatever the
law is, you follow it. You have to be a
sleep a night. You have to be a good guy.
I always struggled with that. I never knew what the
right answer was. And I'm sure there's more to it

(35:04):
than I'm professing here, but that's the way it goes.
So my international travels, you know, raise some interesting questions.
What's right, what's wrong? The law always seemed to make
the decision for us, and if you follow the lever
of the law, you would like to believe you were
doing the right thing. But I was an international trader

(35:26):
back in the day. I was buying huge quantities of
product and merchandise, and there was a lot of temptation
that would go on at the time. People would how
do I say it? I can tell you personally, I
was never offered a bribe in my entire time when
I was there. Ever, now there's one case where it

(35:49):
was subtle, and I'll share that with you in a moment.
But nobody ever came in and said, listen, if you
pay me a dollar more, I'll give you fifty cents
on a dollar. If you buy a million dollars worth
of product for me, I'll give you one hundred thousand dollars.
I don't even know how it gets done, okay, but
I will tell you I was never ever involved in that.
I did have at one time one of the former

(36:11):
workers that I traveled with came to me and said,
why didn't you ever take money? He was down on
his luck and he was pissed off of me. He
was angry. Then I never took money.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Wait that you never You never took a bribe?

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yes, what are you?

Speaker 3 (36:25):
You being entrapped?

Speaker 2 (36:26):
What is this?

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Is this the undercover law enforcement?

Speaker 2 (36:30):
No? No, he was just in a bad place and
a bad point in time and he said that to me,
and I can you know what. The interesting thing, the
reason I wanted to tell you the story is there's
a lot of back in the day. Okay, let's call
it back in the day, the early days of trading
in as it seemed to be that giving incentives to

(36:52):
people making purchases was acceptable. I'm sure it wasn't acceptable
to the companies they were involved with, but it's to
be more more rampant than you would expect. And all right,
as I said, I never had to confront it. And
maybe here's the reason why I was a huge purchaser

(37:14):
back in the day, and I had a tremendous amount
of freedom in the decisions I made. Frankly, who I
bought from was one hundred percent my decision. How much
I bought from any independent factory was one hundred percent
my decision and my discretion. And one day I'll never forget.

(37:35):
One of my great friends, business allies gentleman that I
met in my life was a man named Murty Weinberg.
He and his wife Janet Weinberg joined PVH after a
long career and associated merchandising with the May Company, I
remember what big company. He lived in Hong Kong and
they joined us and he became the head of a

(37:55):
foreign offices. And at the time he started reorganizing our
foreign office is in a more professional manner than they
had been. We had a beautiful office in Hong Kong
and Taiwan, and Korea in these countries, and we we
had a lot of great people, but he brought a
different kind of organization together. And one day he calls

(38:18):
me into his office and he says to me, Mark,
from here on, you'll never travel alone. You'll never be
in a business meeting alone. And I said why is that?
He said, for the good of the company. And I
looked at him and I said, Murray, are you saying
you don't trust me? And he said to me, so,
I'll never get it's because I trust you that I'm
doing this because I don't want it ever to be

(38:40):
a situation that anyone could say that you did or
did not do something right, knowing that there's someone over
there with you in that meeting. Now you got two
people to vouch for one another. And I didn't appreciate
at the time, but I understood where it was coming from.
And I did end up traveling with representative of the
Foreign Office everywhere I went. And not only did they

(39:04):
help translate, not only did they take the notes, not
only were the record keepers, they helped us what's the
right word I said before avoid the appearance of impropriety.
It was brilliant and at that point in time in
our company, whatever may or may not have been going on,
I felt it was over. I thought it was a
great thing, and I was wonderful, but brace to mine

(39:26):
a story that became very important to me. I was
a huge, huge buyer of textiles around the world, and
at one point in time I was buying tens of
millions of yards of fabric in Japan. One could argue
I was one of, if not the largest textile purchaser

(39:47):
of fabric for shirts in Asia. We were huge, and
I was the sole decision maker. And it goes back
to a story about shirts. Arrow Shirt Company, it was
the largest shirt company in the world at that time.
Develop one hundred cotton shirt that was permanent press. Had

(40:08):
they do it. They bought a fabric that would be
woven and then treated in a certain way that you
could wash and wear it. And it's the first time
a cotton shirt had ever been done that way. Before
you know, we all wore polycotton shirt and they would
permanent press. Now there's a cotton one, and we didn't
have it. As the number two shirt company in America,

(40:28):
we didn't have this product. We didn't do business with
the Stevens or whatever mill it was. They gave an
exclusively arishirk. We were in trouble. I went to Asia
to develop the product, and I worked with one of
the largest Japanese trading companies in the world at that time.
And I walked and said, I'm looking for a product.
I don't know if it exists here, but we need
to develop and they said to me, Mark, we have

(40:50):
it City two. And sure enough it was finer, richer,
better looking, and softer than the American product and we
could source it ourselves direct. I was astounded. I was excited.
I had planned to spend weeks or months trying to
develop it and they already developed. So first thing I

(41:11):
did is I called our engineers back in New York.
They were based in Warwick, New Jersey, and I said, listen,
can you come here and meet me? When can you
be here? I could be here in two days. I
had them come. We sent fabric immediately to the lab
in Warwick for all kinds of testing, first strand, color, fastness,
permanent press characteristics, Washington where you washed it for the collars,

(41:33):
the cups. You need to do something special, And sure enough,
the fabric passed every single test that we put it
through and it was a remarkable achievement. And I remember
when the guy came from the lab. He went to
their lab in Osaka, in the Nishwaki area, which is
where they made a lot of textile. He went in there,

(41:54):
did all the testing firsthand in the factor and called
me that night and said, it's all great. We could
buy this amazing and it was a huge win. And
I remember calling back to New York and telling them
how we found it were there. We could be in
business by the following season. It's great. So we signed
up and on and we bought I think five million

(42:14):
yards at that time, with an option to buy another
fill five million at the end of the year. We
also got an exclusive on it for the US and
they agreed to that, and we were rolling now and
it was really really exciting. Press some pressing. Sometimes you'd
rather be lucky than smart. I was lucky. I was
also smart, but I was even smarter with what happened next.

(42:35):
You did the deal, We went out to dinner with them.
I go home to my hotel, go up to my room.
I'm getting ready to go to bed, and I noticed
the little red light on my phone. The message light
is on. Hold down. I said, this is mister Webber.
My message. Light is on. Can you tell me what
it is? So she says, just one moment, mister Webber.
A moment later she comes out, we have a package field.

(42:55):
Can you deliver it to my room. Yes, it'll be
up in a few minutes. It comes up to my
room few minutes, and it's a big box, big box,
and I open up the box and I see this
blue the lore case like I don't know what to
make of it, but it was. It was so big.
I thought it was a jewelry box. But I didn't know.
And I open it up. I opened it up and

(43:18):
there is the most beautiful Nickeymoto pearls that you could imagine,
a big beautiful necklace, bracelet and earrings for Mickeymoto. And
isn't it you know? The first thing I said it myself,
this is came to me wrong? What is this? And
it is a little note from the textile mill that
I just did the deal with. Thank you very much,

(43:40):
mister Weber. We really appreciate your business. Thanks for coming
to Japan. It'll all be great now. Most people would
be excited. I was panicked. I was panicked. Why am
I panicked? Who the hell is sending me to skip
the pearls? What are you crazy? This thing was worth

(44:00):
thousands of dollars, So if I had to guests in
today's dollars of worth one hundred thousand, fifty thousand, went crazy.
I can't accept a gift like this, And what if
I did accept it, I'd be finished. Like I said,
I'm selfish about a diegrity. I don't want any problems.
I want to sleep at night. So the first thing
I did is I called my associate that I traveled

(44:21):
with and I said, listen, I have a problem here.
I was just given blah blah blah from Mickey Moto
and it's from the people we did business today, and
it's nighttime. What should I do? Because what do you
mean I give you a gift? I'm not accepting a gift.
Get that out of here. I said, I need you
to do me a favor. I want you to call
over to the Japanese trading company and tell them that
I received a gift. And while it's very nice of

(44:42):
them to think of me in this way, I want
them to understand that I cannot accept it. This is
let me see what I could do. Gets them on
the phone. He says, Mark, I got the American representative
on the phone. He's going to call you in the
hotel in a few minutes. So the guy comes off.
His name is Dave, a nice guy. He was part
of the negotiation, and he says to me, Mark, I
understand you got the gift where I'm so happy to

(45:03):
give it to you. I said, Dave, are you crazy.
You can't send me a gift like this. It's totally inappropriate,
he said, Mark. In Japan, gifting is a normal way
of life. I said, I'm not Japanese. I don't live
in Japan. I live in America. I can't accept gifts,
he says, Mark, it means nothing. Just take it and
enjoy it. We appreciate your business. And Dave, listen to me.

(45:25):
I'm not going to hold this against you or the company.
I'm not going to think for one mimute that you're
trying to influence me in any way or make me
beholden to the company. I'm not going to do that,
he said. Why would you think, I said to me,
you're an American. I'm an American. This is not the
way we do business. And as I said, I'll repeat myself,

(45:46):
we made a deal. It's a good deal. I'm not
going to hold this against you or the company in
any way. I guess I believe your interests were best
at heart, but I cannot accept this gift. Is what
do you want me to tell him? I said the truth.
I don't accept gifts. We did business. We do business
as well. I'm a little uncomfortable, as I said, well,

(46:08):
let me make it easy for you. I'm going to
take this box. I'm going to take it down to
the front desk. I'm going to go there. I'm going
to have them rewrap it in the paper that it
came in. I'm going to put your name on it,
the company that you represent. I knew the company. I
don't want to say it you name the company. I'm
going to leave your phone number and your name, and
I'm going to tell them that this is not for me,

(46:31):
it's for you. And whether you come and pick it
up or anyone else, will you come and pick it up?
That's all well and fine, I don't care who does.
But I want you to know that, under no uncircum terms,
am I accepting this. And he started some bluster. I said, Dave,
you don't want it, leave it there for the rest
of your life. I don't care. I'm making it official
to you that I am not accepting this. But I

(46:52):
didn't end there. The next thing I did is I
called New York and I asked to speak to the
president of the company. I got them on the phone
and Hey, how you're doing, Mark? I got your note,
you know your facts that you kind of deal. Was
so excited. We had meetings today marketing. We're going to
call a product Cotton one hundred. It's going to be
the big shirt launch we ever did. Permanent press. Cotton

(47:12):
will go right against Arrow. Based on the prices we
figured out. We're going to be able to retail the
shirt even less expensive than the Arrow shirt company. The quality,
as you pointed out, we have our engineers here telling
us it's great. We're so excited. Great job. I'm glad
you called. I said, listen, that's not the right reason
I'm calling. I said, what's up? I said, listen. After
the deal last night, after dinner, I came back to

(47:33):
the hotel room and there was a president here for me,
and it was Mickey Moto. Pearls and I kind of
tell you gorgeous. I have no idea what they cost,
except to tell you that they were had to be
widely expensive. Those of you know Mickey Moto is one
of the great pearl makers in the world, have stores
all over at a store on Fifth Avenue at the time.
That's how I knew the brand. And I said, I
want you to know that I called the company. I

(47:56):
thanked them for what they thought was a good idea,
but I made it clear to them that we Americans
do not accept gifts for business deals that we do
in shape, matter of form. They told me it was
a way of Japan. I said, I don't care what
Japan does, We as Americans, don't do that. I rewrapped
the gift. I left it at the front desk, and
I wanted you to know that, under any circumstances, I
would not accept anything, and God forbid, something would come

(48:19):
back about this. I wanted to be on record with
you so you knew it that it was quiet for
a second maybe and he said, Mark, well, I can
tell you is you did the right thing, and I
could equally tell you I have I would expect nothing
less than that from you. Thank you for calling, go
to sleep, enjoy the good news. What you did for

(48:40):
the company today was great. We're so excited. And I
went to sleep, and as I said earlier, the key
to life, the key of integrity for me, has always
been selfish. I don't want problems, I don't want things
hanging over my head. And that night I put my
head in the pillow and slept and had good dreams.
Back in a minute, talks some more about integrity.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
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.

(49:27):
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
Karen New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection.
The same concept a lifestyle brand. Then we talk about
lifestyle brands, what does that really mean? Simply what they say,
there are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You

(49:50):
get up in the morning, you start to get dressed
Donna Karen Decan Why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as
all those products. You're getting dressed for work. You get
accessor 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, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that

(50:15):
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 great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether
you're going to soccer games for your children, or whether

(50:38):
you're going out to the movies, whatever you want to do,
dkn Y Jeans, dc Y Sportswear is there for you.
That's what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention
DKY active wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,
the sweats. You can wear DK why active wear, certainly

(51:00):
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 why a true lifestyle brand that

(51:20):
takes you from day and tonight, from the week into
the weekend. DCN Why you can find DCNY and Macy's
DKY dot com. My favorite brand has always been ISOD.
My company at one time bought that brand. The CEO
of the company handed it to me and said, you
better make it work. And I put everything in my

(51:42):
career to make ISOD work, and I fell in love
with that brand, and to this day it is one
of the most exciting endeavors I've ever gotten involved with.
ISOD is an incredibly strong golf brand. If you play golf,
if you play tennis for that matter. They make a
great polo shirts. I mean great, They're fit perfect. The

(52:06):
material is unique because it's a PK fabric that waffle leave,
you see, and it's made of a blend of cotton
and microfiber that allows you to stretch, and very often
they are treated with solar protection as well, so they stretch,
they're comfortable, and they breathe well. And one thing about

(52:27):
ISAC they always fit. They'll never tug on you. You
put it in your waist that they'll fit you great.
The colors, patterns are sensational. Now I will also tell
you ISAOD makes great shorts and great golf pants. You're
a golf friend. You want to look good. You don't't
have to think about how do I look. You want
to think about how you play, not how you feel.
ISAOD is the brand for you. I know I was

(52:50):
there when it was created. The strategy behind that brand
is brilliant. It's one of my favorite brands. While I
talk about it, I should tell you about the man's sportswear.
ISOD wasn't enough being a golf brand. It wasn't enough
being just great polo shirts with logos, without logos, incredible
branded story and history. ISAAD makes salt weather programs. They

(53:12):
have great printed woven shirts, short sleeves that look excellent
with colors, excellent with shorts, excellent with cotton pants, of
which they also make this whole salt order relaxed line
from isa whether it be fleece, cotton sweaters, knit polos,
woven shirts and pants of a range of colors and

(53:35):
fabrics that are perfect for a guy wants to go
casually in the spring and summer of this year. And
here's the thing. ISOD is affordable. Everyone listening to me
talk about this brand can afford to buy it and
know that there are a lot of other brands that
also have a look like ISID. Although I don't believe

(53:57):
it's fun as isaad is. The brand has a lot
of energy in it, but at the price points no
one can compete. You can find eyes that at You're
leading retails and online at aon dot com. And I
help you by telling you if you were eya On,
You're going to look great.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
I've chose to talk about integrity tonight. Why do I
say this. I always had the greatest respect for all
our leaders in this country. I always thought of them
as people that deserve to be respected. This country. The
world is going through crazy stuff right now. I'd like

(54:43):
to believe we're on the end and we're going in
the right direction. But integrity and honesty are incredibly important
in life. I don't know how you developed what you
believe is the right course and principles. In terms of
the law, follow the law. It cannot lead you in

(55:04):
the wrong direction. And I will remind you what Jesse
said earlier. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for
breaking the law. Do you have any question about what
you're doing? Don't. You can't use that as an excuse. Honesty,
I learned and always believed, is what you do when
no one's watching, do you do the right thing? And
I started the show with al Pacino in scarface. All

(55:28):
I have in this world is my balls and my word,
and I don't break them for no That's all you have.
It's yours. It's the one thing we truly own, and
you should preserve it and protect it no matter what
you do in life. My view in the world is
I always wanted to be able to sleep well at night,
know it that I did the right thing. I hope

(55:49):
you are all the same. Tonight. It's integrity and good night,
Sleep well and sleep tight.