It's More Important To Be Interested Than Interesting

It's More Important To Be Interested Than Interesting

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The show is sponsored by G three Aparo.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The views expressed in the following program are those at
the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven ten
wor or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Weber. He's a self
made business executive here to help you find your success
from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne
in Paris. His global success story in the luxury world

(00:27):
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. Yes, this is Mark Weber. Yes, this has
Always in Fashion, and yes I'm here recording and I'm
glad that we have the opportunity to talk together. I've
had a number of people reach out to me this week,
which I'll show with you in a little while. I'm
excited when I always get new listeners and I'm finding
people find us. It's a great joy. More so than anything,

(01:02):
It's probably why I do this show. I lived a
life learning I marvel at the fact that after all
these years my liberal arts education from Brooklyn College not
only prefaned me for life in business, it provided me
a sensational platform to help teach. Of all things my children,
I seem to know more than them. There's something good
about this education. They're both lawyers, and I've just gone

(01:25):
through college, and boy, I seem to have accumulated all
this information on a myriad of subjects. So it doesn't mine.
Thank you, New York. When I consider what I know,
what I think about, all the stuff I've acquired in
my head. It didn't come without a price. I had
to be engaged, interested, I had to learn the details.

(01:47):
It didn't sync in without caring, for that matter, paying attention.
Growing up, I always kept my eyes open, and once
again I marveled at the wonders in life. When I
walked to beat I saw the seagull diving into the water,
snatching their clams, their claim, then flying it to the
beach and eating their spoils. I looked at life and

(02:08):
nature's cycle. I didn't just look at the women. I
watched the jetties. I wondered about the tides at different
times of the day, and I wondered, why is it
that the ocean moves go figure the moon had something
to say about the ocean. As a person, I was
always quiet, reclusive of I'm honest, even as a boy.

(02:29):
But I tell you it didn't stop me from studying
the people I met, looking in their eyes, looking for
the truth, studying their tells, wondering what they thought about.
I always felt empathy as I looked to my friends strangers.
I feigned interest. I wasn't really sure about what I
thought about them, but in what they said, except that

(02:52):
which I could learn from. I was interested in reading
and understanding people. You can learn from anyone and be
educated by every I understood people. I didn't necessarily like them,
but I wanted to understand it. I understood opportunity from
the beginning, realizing I would never get it if I
didn't see it. Opportunity is a funny thing. You have

(03:16):
to recognize it's in front of you. Whether you gotta
go out and find it. You have to reposition yourself
and knock on those doors. However, I remind everyone, every
wall is a door, Every wall is an opportunity. You
gotta find it. I always cared about how I vote.
I've always carefully considered what I've said and how I

(03:37):
said it. I gave great thought to learning right from
the beginning, acquiring information, putting it to great use. I
wanted to stand out from the corner, often finding there
was no hiding. However, I was interested in being interesting,
making a difference. But the reality is, you want success
or fulfilling life, you want the truth, you want respect.

(04:00):
West Phrenology is a purposeful journey. The reality is it's
more important to be interested than interesting. Being interested, you'll
get the substance with it. You'll be interesting. First learn
The greatest seller I ever met was quoted as saying
he had an affectation. You need the sizzle to sell

(04:20):
a sake. I never forgot that. And the question was,
what's your story? What's your sizzle? Where's the stake mine?
What's curiosity? I spent a career in curiosity. I can
offer give you a million reasons for someone's success. They're pleasant,
they're smart, they work hard, they position themselves well, they

(04:42):
have experience, they do well under fire, they're motivated. I
can go on and on and on and on. But
you've asked me why I'm successful, why I've had success.
I was always interested. I wanted to know why I
needed to know how I thought about the sub matter
for tonight's show. I realized the world at large has

(05:04):
offered up many subjects to talk about debate this week, life, culture, society, politics, business,
even fashion, and I'm going to consider each as we
go through tonight. But the overriding principle for me is
substance Overclaire. Yes, I want you to find me interesting tonight,
But the reality is I wouldn't be interesting if I

(05:26):
wasn't interested learn and apply. And of course the window,
the key to the portal of the door is my curiosity.
I wanted to think about what to talk about, and
I came up with the reality. My first week on
the job, I was an assistant. I was a clerk,
and my box walked in. He said, you had a

(05:48):
week to work here, got to see what's going on now.
I want to give you a first assignment. He looks
at me and he says to me, you got to
get all our samples made. Apparently it was a daunting tesk. Okay,
I'll get our samples made. What does that mean? And
it turns out, you know, we have the management in
New York City, we develop a business strategy. We had

(06:09):
a roster of things that had to take place. Interesting
to know. We were in the shirt business. Dress shirt business.
You probably don't realize, but fifty percent of the shirts
are white, and I guess if all I need is
a white sample for shirt easy. However, without the other colors,
without the stripes, without the checks, without the different collar shapes,

(06:30):
point or spread or button down, there would be no white.
Remember I said it a moment ago. You need the
sizzle to sell a stake. Every business needs to show
its products. Every buyer needs to see what they're buying.
Would you buy a car without seeing It's scary enough
guessing a color that's not in the showroom. But would
you buy a car sight unseen? No? Would you buy

(06:52):
an iPhone? You expect to see a sample in the
Apple store. You want to hold it. You want to
find a size that's right for you. I want to
know what it is you're buying. You want to understand
the features, see the colors. It's the same for industry,
and I'll talk now the power retail luxury industry. If
you have a store, your future is based on what

(07:13):
you put in that store. You're responsible to the inventory.
What do you have in the store. How much do
you have it, where do you put it? It's called
the mix. What are the different products you put together
to make the mix that will work best in your store?
How much of each of it will you buy? Where
will it sit on the floor, What will the fixtures
or the shops look like. But in order to do that,

(07:36):
to put your life on the line, your career on
the line, you must see sample products before you purchase them.
The world needs sample. My job, sure, Mark, get all
the samples made. Now. The reality is again that word hmm.
We had one hundred salesmen in regional offices and managers

(07:57):
in those offices all around the country. We had an
opening day of when we would go on sale, and
we had to deliver those samples on time for opening day.
So you say, what's a big deal, Well, there is
a big deal. They're fabrics coming from multiple suppliers in
the United States and from countries all over the world.

(08:17):
Were manufactured in Ozark, Alabama. A logistic nightmare getting all
those fabrics, all those labels, all those trimmed, all there
at the right time to manufacture. My first job, Mark,
it's your job to get every sample made on time
and shipped to all the offices around the country. Now

(08:38):
my factories were in northern Pennsylvania, somewhere in Alabama, in Arkansas.
You have to figure out, how are you going to
get this all done? You have to analyze and order
the samples and make sure they get made on time.
Where is the facility? How do they get there? So
it goes to me, Mark, I suggest you make a
chart to keep tracked. Chot practice that a chart. You know.

(09:02):
I'm saying this to myself. I have to put the
chart together to get all this stuck. I'm twenty three
years old. What kind of chart? What do I call?
Who do I call? How do I figure it out?
Where do I start help? The answer, I got bucked.
You'll figure it out. Talk about throwing in the deep
end of the pool. But here's the question. The answer is,

(09:22):
I was interested in how it worked. Okay, The good
news is I'm a clerk. I'm also an assistant, and
I did write all the purchase orders for all those
sample fabrics, so I had to start. I knew the
dates that I requested all the fabrics for, and I
knew that I had to get them to Alabama. So
the question is I'm thrown in in the deep end.

(09:44):
I have to make sure all the samples are made.
If I don't get this done, I don't look good
in the eyes. What is my future? What am I
gonna do? What are the issues? So the first thing
I did was I called the factor. I got the
head of production for the samples on the line tried
to product of Elment Mozark, Alabama's name was Jimmy Miller.
So he said to me, I said, jim what do
I need to make this work? He said, well, we

(10:05):
know it's coming. We blocked out the time. We had
the work as ready, but now we need to know
first of all, how many samples that will get it
made one of the styles. When can we start? When
is the last day we can finish? I said, I'll
get you that information. Next, I called the fabric warehouse
in Scuglehaven, Pennsylvania. The guy's name was Art. I won't
give you his last name, and I'm going to tell

(10:26):
you what. I really admired him. I really liked it.
When I got fired from the company all those years later,
he was conspicuously absent. I remember he never wished me
luck for my future. I remember seeing him in a
Venues and Company event. They happened to be throwing it
in a restaurant that I was very well regarded. I
had my own table, I had my name on the wall,

(10:47):
and I saw them. I went and said a lot
of my former socials. He came over, rig Hello, how
you doing? I said, I are You know? You never
wished me luck, You never said goodbye. They put his
head down and said, you're right more coming barracks. I said, yeah,
well I'm not. I'm not upset with you, and I
walked away. But anyway, Art was the head of the warehouse,
and he asked me some questions. He said, look, I

(11:09):
have all these fabrics coming in. I don't know where
to send them. You have to get me the cutting tickets,
so I know what to do with the fabrics. What's
the cutting ticket? Oh gosh, I'm dead shikes. So I said,
what else you got that I got to deal with?
He said, our biggest problem is identifying the fabric rolls.
You see, the numbers that come on the fabric don't

(11:30):
necessarily match the information, and if we can't get the
numbers straight, we can't move. I only know what to
ship to the factory until you tell us what the ship. Okay, no,
I got that part in my head. So the next
thing is I have to call the importers. There are
people in the company are responsible for importing things. Don't
come into this country. Somebody ships a man boom. They

(11:52):
just come in. They have to kill the customs. They
have to be identified, they have to have all the
tracking information. It all has to be right, and you
have to know where to send it. You have a
broker who stands in between you and getting your job done.
So I called the brokers and I asked them what
needs to be the issue? What problems do you have?
They explained to me, we need to know advance what
vessels this Abrica coming on when we should expect them.

(12:15):
We need to know where we want to send them.
I'm sure your cutting tickets and pos will say all that. Yi, God,
I'm dead. Then I called the warehouse. I called the
distribution center. What do you need to know? He said, Look,
mog we have a lot of trucks coming and going.
We need to know what trucks need to be available
and when we're going to need them and where we're

(12:36):
going to send them. We need to schedule. We need
to know how much volume you expect to do. You know,
making one hundred samples for one hundred people is a
thousand different things we need to deal with. It's a
lot of work. We can get it done. Just tell
us when we should expect it and where you need it.
So I could have been lost, and I was. But
here's the good news. It's not the first time this process.

(12:58):
What's happening. The company's been around since the eighteen hundreds.
People knew what needed to be done. Except for me.
Everyone understood the importance of having samples in the salesman's hand.
You can't sell without samples. Back to the retime, I
have to see what I'm buying. So we're buying millions
of fabrics and millions of shirts to ship all over

(13:20):
the world of the country. We got to know that
they could be sold, and somebody has to get them
those samples. There needs to be a coordinator. And who
was that coordinor twenty three year old walk Weber. I
didn't have a clue what to do. But what did
I do? If you listen closely, I started doing what
you call due diligence. I called all the respective departments.

(13:42):
It needed to have a hand in getting this done.
And I understood now because I was interested, I understood
what needed to be done. I understood what could go wrong,
and I understood that I had to get involved throughout
the process. So now I knew all the issues. I
understood the problems and what I did. Though I was
in corporate, I had the information. I had the power

(14:02):
behind me. When I called from New York and asked
what's going on, the right people got on the phone
and they were I won't say nervous, they were professional.
They knew they had a supply answer. This season needed
to be on a show rooms February won We had
one hundred and twenty styles and colors. Each sample needed
one hundred pieces for each show room. Certain styles needed
twelve extra pieces for the fashion press. What have you

(14:24):
used for advertising? What I do you remember that trot?
I needed to prepare with no instructions on how to
prepare it. Well I did. I listed every style and
every number. I added the fabric number, which mill in,
which country it was coming from, and when I signed
it to a particular factor. Everything had a date when
to expect to produce and went to be sent to
the wearout. That season, I have to tell you, was

(14:47):
a very successful season, consuding. It was right out of
the box or mate color coded every item in style,
no color, no information. I started making calls. I followed up.
I did my chart. That which was ship got a
blue box, that one true received, got a red box
that which actually was made and sent to the warehouse
a green box. Twenty one hundred and twenty nine styles

(15:10):
over a three month manufacturing period. I made call after call.
I visited our factory once a month in Alabama. I
went to our fabricat warehouse in school Belhaven, Pennsylvania, once
a month. I solved problems. We did great. I did great.
I had my job. It was my first major success.

(15:30):
My boss marveled at my chart and an organization of
the task in hand. We delivered ninety eight of the
percent of the samples on time. I was thanked profusely.
I was acclaimed for the job, well done, my first assignment.
I was interested in succeeding, and how was I rewarded.
That's where the real lesson comes. I was left behind.

(15:51):
Everyone in the company was in sales and merchandising and
operations for that matter, was invited to the sales convention
in Miami Beach except for me. I did all this
work and I was left behind. I guess I learned
the lesson about being lone man on the totem pole.
I was a clerky had just begun. But there was
a lesson in management that lasted long after my samples

(16:14):
were shipped, and I never forget it was a gentleman.
His name was Bill Scowrick. He was the exact vice
president of the company, head of operations, and on this
particular day, when the floor was so empty, they were
a handful of the people left behind, some of the
administratives assistants which were called secretaries in those days, but
pretty much everyone else was gone. He walked the floor

(16:35):
and he saw me, and he came home. But Mark
did a great job with samples. What are you doing here?
Why aren't you in Florida? I said, I wasn't invited.
I said, you weren't invited. But that's impossible, I said,
I wasn't invited. Everyone else left me here, but I
understand it. So I'll tell you what we're going to
do today. Mom, I'm going to clear out a portion
of my office. Give me ten minutes. I'm going to

(16:56):
set up my desk. You and I are going to
share a desk today. Everything I do, you're going to do.
You're going to learn and listen to what I do
in my job. I'm sure it'll be a great learning experience.
And I really want to spend the time with you
because I admire what you're able to accomplish in a
relatively short period of time. So I waited ten minutes.
I went down to his office and he cleared his

(17:17):
desk and he said, this is where you'd be sitting today,
but you're not going to be sitting here. And I
looked and I said, I don't understand. He said, Mark.
I called the president of the company today, Stangellette. I
told them what an amazing job you did being this
all together. And I also told them what a big
mistake is not having it at the sales meeting. We

(17:38):
have booked your tipate. You're leaving tonight. Go home and
pack a bag. You deserve to be there. And I went,
I've had one of the greatest times of my life.
And I learned an important lesson not about making samples,
but how important it is and how you treat people
because as motivated as I was, as excited as I
was to be with the company, but I got appreciated

(18:00):
or backed up with inviting me to the sales meeting.
It changed my life and it changed my perspective. I
realized how important people are and how important you have
to treat them when you're a manager in the company.
To I, interested is more important than being interesting back
in a moment always in fashion, than a lifetime of

(18:21):
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 one on multiplcasions in
multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to go
out at night or to an event, to wear a

(18:41):
suit to the office with or without a tie. If
you look closely now fashion trends, suits are being worn
with turtlenecks or mark next. The choices are endless and
every one of them looks right. You could really really
look the part. I believe that in packaging yourself as
is important does the products you package, and wearing a

(19:02):
suit is one of those things that make men look
their best. Ven using 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 just now, this new

(19:24):
style of looking shop 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 venues and
made its name with dress shirts. It's only proper that
the soup business follows strongly in its way. You can

(19:46):
find van Ues in cool Flex men's stretch suits at
jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great,
you should go look at them. My favorite brand has
always been eyes On my company. At one time with
that brand, the CEO of the company handed it to
me and said, you better make it work. And I
put everything in my career to make Eyesod work and

(20:08):
I fell in love with that brand, and to this
day it is one of the most exciting endeavors I've
ever got 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

(20:29):
fit perfect. The 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

(20:52):
one thing about ISOD 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 sensation. Now. I
will also tell you Isaac makes great shorts and great
golf pants. You're a golf friend. You want to look good.
You don't have to think about how do I look.
You want to think about how you play, not how
you feel. Isaad is the brand for you. I know

(21:14):
I was 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 brands and story and history. Isaad makes
salt weather programs. They have great printed woven shirts, short sleeves.

(21:41):
They look excellent with colors, excellent with shorts, excellent with
cotton pants of which they also make this whole salt
order relaxed line from Isaac, whether it be fleece, cotton sweaters,
knit polos, woven shirts and pants of a range of colors,
fabrics that a perfect for a guy wants to go

(22:02):
casually in the spring and summer of this year. And
here's the thing, is 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
it's fun as Isaia is. The brand has a lot

(22:25):
of energy in it, but at the price points no
one can compete. You can find Isaac at You're leading
retails and online at ion dot com. Talk to you,
lady guys. I wish you. I are very happy springing summer,
and I help you by telling you if you are isaon,
you're going to look great.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
I'm given some thought this week, So what's more important?
Being interesting or being interested? Interesting for me is a
personal goal. I talk to you at night. I hope
you're liking what I have to say. I think it's
important that I entertain myself. I like being interested. I
like being a person of interest that people will learn from,

(23:14):
they'll enjoy being around me. But I couldn't be interesting
if I wasn't interested. You have to learn. You have
to make yourself interesting. You have to find opportunities. You
have to understand that every way you go there's a door.
It'll either open to opportunity or won't open it at all.
Every wall is a door. You have to break through

(23:35):
the door. Having said that, this was a good week
for new listeners, I was minding my own business and
I got a note from someone on LinkedIn. I have
now eleven thousand listeners and holloways on LinkedIn, which I
don't know where they came from, but I'm excited about it.
Every week I write something about the show. I can't
tell how many people are picking it up or not.

(23:57):
I can always tell you not enough. But one of
the listeners wrote me, dear mister Weber, thank you for
sharing you many teaching moments on Tonight's Great Jeans stream.
I caught your show being a random walk on the radium,
and as I walked through my d neighborhood, I listened
to your show. Thank you. I won't mention his name
because I don't know if he'd wanted to, but I

(24:20):
appreciate the fact that this guy wrote me and he
heard me on the radio. And then secondarily, I went
to my skin doctor this week, and I suppose I
should say all of you should go to skin doctors,
particularly this time of year. That sun is strong, and
it was worthy. And the first thing he said to
me when I got based is I listened to a

(24:42):
few of your shows this week. I said, really, thank you,
I said, He said, I had free time. I said, well,
what'd you think? He said, you know, I think you're great.
I really found it interesting. I'm sorry I haven't listened
to more, but I really enjoyed of all things your politics,
you're talking about politics. He said, your interest in your
take on politics is different than everyone else, and I

(25:04):
think you should talk about more politics. And with that
as a backdrop, I like to start, just for a
moment or two, to talk about politics. I want to
talk about Al Green. Do you know who Al Green is?
I don't know very much about him. I think he's
a senator in Texas. He's the one who walked out
during the State of the Union speech and made a

(25:25):
big spectacle of himself even his Democratic Party. I suppose
some liked it, something like he was really arrogant. But
what bothered me this week? I think it had to
do with the senators walking out or the congressman walking
out of Texas so they can't pass a new bill.
That they feel that the Republicans are taking a political

(25:47):
play to stack the congressional districts. Don't know enough about it,
don't want to know enough about it, And I'm not
a civics expert. I'm not going to change anything. I
don't care. I do care, I don't care. I'm interested
in this case, I'm not all that in because politics
is a dirty business. And then I'm really upset by it.
I had wanted both my children to go into politics.
I put money aside when I was in my career

(26:09):
and a war chest to help them become politicians. Why
they're good boys. They do the right thing. They're careful
on the approach to the world. They both became lawyers.
I really thought when their time would come, Senator Webber,
Governor Webber, I didn't want them to go into these businesses.
I didn't care whether or not they practiced the law.

(26:30):
I wanted them to have that education. And I thought
a combination of my willingness to be a political contributor,
my interest in the business world, my guidance as a father,
their ability to perform, the fact that they did the
right thing. They went to good schools, they went to college,
they became lawyers, and then neither one of them. Jesse's
busy tonight. He would have been here, But if I'd

(26:51):
ask them. I grew up respecting and honoring my politicians.
I thought they were the most important people in the world.
Now we distrust them. That I believe the Congress has
a thirty seven percent approval rating, and that venom and
hatred aim the President Trump back to al Green. I
saw him on television and he was talking about whatever

(27:13):
it was his talking, and all I heard was, we
gotta take down this president. It was the ugliest thing
I've ever heard in my life. We have to take
down this president. I don't understand the concept of not
supporting the president. There have to be things that he's
doing well. He stopped wars. He stopped Indian Pakistan from
god knows what kind of war. He's done good things.

(27:34):
He's brought business back to the country. We just got
Tim Cook of Apple the green to spend a billion
dollars in the United States to build cell phones again,
what to build whatever, make a commitment. He's doing a
lot of good things. And this guy stands up and says,
we have to take down the president. Nauseating, I can't
even look at you and listen to you. Then, on
the subject of politics and fashion, Sidney Sweeney being accused

(27:58):
of Nazi by a see because she's blonde, beautiful in
his blue eyes, and for whatever it's worth, I've said
it before, I'll say it again. I wouldn't know her
if I tripped over her. I have no idea who
she is. I have no idea what she's done. I
have no idea other than to say I've seen a
picture from time to time, and I found her attractive,
like I find every woman that I look at, I

(28:20):
find the good in everyone I see, but the idea
of har bringing fashion back and sexiness back to passion
with American Eagles and be cold and Nazi and the
whole Democratic whatever. I don't know if any Republicans did
criticizing fashion for what it represents. I just didn't get it.
The whole idea of diversity and whatever. Again, I didn't

(28:43):
get into the details. I talked about it all this week.
I love my jeans, I have great jets. That's what
the show was. But I really wanted to applot American
Eagle for making a statement. They will not retract this advertiser,
they will not apologize. It was for fashion and business sake,
and I applaud it, which now brings me to the

(29:04):
subjects of tariffs. I was in still am, I think,
a tremendous supporter of President Trump and the tariffs. But
I feel I've been kidnapped, and I feel I'm confused
now with what we decided to do, with what we
are doing, and somewhere along the way, it feels like

(29:27):
we've been waylaid and as I said, kidnapped from what
the original intentions were to where we are now. Because
it's confusing. I can tell you that our industry, apparel, fashion, retail,
luxury is in a state of shock. When Trump and
Company put huge tariffs on China. They did it the

(29:48):
last go around. They did it. Now you had to
move your production from China. And like it or not,
the tremendous amount of our production is made in China.
Why because the thirty years in the parel, luxury and
retail division of all these companies, I can tell you
pretty much prices have remained the same. You still buy

(30:09):
T shirts for nine ninety nine. If you go to Kama,
Target at Walmart, you still buy Polo shirts anywhere from
twenty five to thirty dollars with brand names on a
good quality. They haven't gone up in price. At four
Parrel is one of the toughest places to raise prices.
Consumers won't pay more. They expect to buy it at
a certain price, and that's not luxury. If Eton has

(30:30):
a handbag that sold the fifteen hundred dollars and now
it's twenty five hundred, people are gonna buy it. The
luxury business gives you a raison detra and ability to
raise your prices. But generally speaking, the bulk of America
wants a fair price on apparel and powel prices have
not gone up over the yet. So if you're making
in China, the reason you're making in China is they

(30:51):
need to feed a billion people. They need workers to
be working in factories. Whatever the job is, they will
find a way to survive, but they need to keep
people working. We can't afford to pay garment workers where
people in China are being paid. When I first started
in China, people were making ten dollars a month. We
were making ten dollars an hour. They have low cost production,

(31:14):
and frankly speaking, we gave up those industries because we
wanted our workers to be in industries that made more money,
the auto industry, the tech industry, steel industry, where you
can afford to pay workers more, and because this standard
of living in the United States anyway, The point is
when we praise those tariffs, people moved their production to
Banglad that's got to India, for example. So if I

(31:37):
had a factory, or I had a company making shirts
or sweaters or pants or shoes of that matter, and
China's tariffs went up to fifty percent, I moved them
to China. Just this week, President Trump and his team
raised India to forty percent. This stuff is raising havoc
with US. It doesn't make sense. It's difficult. Sometimes it's swadhoo.

(31:59):
Sometimes it's not. Now, at the beginning of this trade issue,
it was made clear there is a trade imbalance. We
buy five hundred billion dollars more products from China than
they buy from US. I said it two years ago, back,
four years ago, eight years, ten years ago, when Trump
was first elected. It's not right and trying it will
not fight you if you go to them realistically and say, look,

(32:22):
we're buying a trillion dollars worth of products from you,
You're only buying five hundred billion. We'd like you to
be eaten with us. We'd like you to fare it
out and buy a trillion dollars from US. And here's
a list of all the companies in the United States
making products that I think you could use and the
competitive prices I would like you to consider buying them.
Were your largest trading partner, your most important alley. Why

(32:44):
did you think of it this way? If you're going
to buy airplanes rather than buy them from air Bus
in France, by Boeing in the United States, how do
you argue that if you're going to buy electric cars
from any of our competitors in Germany or whatever, buy
them from Tesla. Here's a list five hundred billion dollars.
Figure out how to do it. And I thought they would.
So Trump's initial foray into tax and tariffs would even

(33:08):
out trade imbalances. Noble goal. Smart goal. Now, to the
credit of the administration, they realized along the way over
the last six months that not every country is wealthy
enough or as consumer big enough to even out trade imbalances.
So if you look at Bangladesh, they can't buy as
much goods as we buy from them. They don't have

(33:30):
the earning capacity, they don't have the spending with wherewithal
to do it. So the administration recognized that we would
encourage these countries to buy as much from us, and
we'd show them where they should be buying products that
they're not, and let the levels be different. Because we're
two different countries. We're the largest purchase of of anything
in the world. So we give a break to Bangladesh,

(33:51):
we give a break to Vietnam. All well, in fun,
that made sense, But now we continue to weaponize tariffs.
I read it correctly. We just raised the taxes on Switzerland.
Why on the Swiss, which, by the way, is your
Rolex watches, most of your better watches, all the chocolates.

(34:13):
Why Well, the best I can tell is industrially, the
taxes on our imports are at one percent even with US,
but they're hired up as much as twenty eight percent
on chocolates and whatever and un watches whenever, and Trump
raised the tariffs. There is it fair? It seems so.
But on India, because they're sappointing Russian oil, we raise

(34:36):
the tariffs. What's going on? I'm not convinced now that
we're thinking of this logically, we're wrecking havoc in our
business community. You need in business the ability to plant
a sourcing plan is a very dynamic instrument, a document,
and the thought process of why and where you're purchasing
from home. My job, if I'm sourcing peril or sourcing

(34:57):
fabric from around the world, is not based on whether
or not India is supporting Russian oil. It's based on
a plan that says, I buy a certain amount of
goods from every country that makes the most sense. I
put this plan together, I go in and execute it.
I know what my business is going to look like
if you keep changing the rules for political reasons, there's

(35:17):
no way I can measure this. You're hurting them well.
In the end, there's a new dynamic. I heard Larry
Kudlow talking the other day, and I've read and I listen.
We're using it as a profit opportunity. We're trying to
raise money to pay for the tax decreases that Trump
is putting through to all of us. The problem is
if you raise the tariff for a short period in time,

(35:40):
like if you look at first and second quarter of
this year, nobody could adjust it. All the products are made,
they were all priced, the labels were all so on.
It worked. Somebody's eating the increases, they have no choice.
But the balance of the air prices are starting to
go up. Nobody's talking about it. Anybody noticed that gas
prices haven't gone down in Trump's first administration. I was

(36:03):
buying gas for a luxury car two fifty to two
seventy five a gallon. For the last five years, it's
been close to four dollars a gallon. Nobody's talking about
it anymore. Where's going on. The prices aren't coming down
as rapidly as they should, and I'm troubled by it.
I'm troubled by the taxes by weaponizing tariffs, and now

(36:23):
that we're using it as a profit center, an opportunity
to raise money to lower the debt, to offset the
expenses associated with reducing taxes, it's getting very confusing. I'm
a supporter of the president, I'm a supporter of tariffs,
but now I'm confused. So this is a backjob. I'm interested,
I'm learning. Are you interested? I'm not interested in being

(36:46):
interesting and it containing you right now. I'm interested in
understanding what's going on with that. I'll take a break
back in a moment.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Done to Karen began a 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.

(37:20):
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 DKNY 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,
there are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You

(37:43):
get up in the morning, you start to get dressed
Donna Karen decaan 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, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that

(38:08):
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 going to soccer games for your children, or whether

(38:30):
you're going out to the movies, whatever you want to do.
Dcn Y jeans, dcay Hy sportswear is there for you.
That's what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention
dk Y active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the
sports bras, the sweats. You can wear dk HY active

(38:51):
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 DHY 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

(39:12):
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. His unique vision
of Parisian shit comes to America through Carlagofeld Paris. He

(39:36):
has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes
and bags. The fashion house Carlagofeld also offers a range
of watches, I wear and premium fragrances. You can explore
the car LAGOFL collection at car Lagofelparis dot com. But
it's more than that. I for one, love to shop.
I love going around and seeing what's happening and what

(39:58):
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
something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours.
You can find it at very affordable prices at Macy's

(40:20):
Orcarlagofel dot Comparis. 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 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 Carlagofel is my

(40:40):
buddy cars 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 Carlagofel because
he's always been, he always had been one of the
world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and on.
I can't speak enough about it up to say to you,

(41:00):
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 Lagafelt, Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafelt
dot com.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Welcome back to it Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Webber Tonight, I'm talking about the difference between being interested
or being interesting me as an individual, if I was
a dumb blonde or vapid blonde, or whatever stigma you
would put to it. Oh, I like being interested. I
like being the good looking guy in his suit. People

(41:37):
look at me and think I'm cool. I mean, I
can get interested in all of that. I must admit.
I like having a certain degree of chic and being
appreciated for being someone who's other than boring. But the
reality is, if I wasn't interested in life, if I
wasn't interested in the world around me, if I wasn't curious,

(41:59):
if I wasn't learning, I couldn't be interesting. So tonight's
show really is interested is more important than interesting, And
well that is a backjob. I can't help but talk
about money this week because money is driving me. If
not crazy, it's certainly in the news. Maybe you're not

(42:20):
focused on it. Maybe you are. But I want to
talk about a few things in money that I think
might be happle. You know, people say money can't buy happiness,
and I would say that's because they don't know where
to shop. And I wanted to talk about Amazon. I
hadn't experienced this week, and I was substituted, and I
got really, really upset. I want to substitute it. I

(42:43):
hate to admit it, but I've been in the retail
fashion of luxury business before computers could follow everything. I
admit it. Back in the day, if somebody ordered, let
me think they ordered ten sweaters, all right, three larges,
two mediums, three extra large and too small. I hope

(43:05):
that ended up to ten. If in my warehouse I
didn't have the exact number of sweaters and that size,
I would just ship you whatever sizes I ad. I'd
send you ten sweaters and I'd forget about it. Because
the inefficiencies at the time, nobody would count them. Nobody
would realize, see I had one large more than one medium.
Who cared, I'd get away with it. I'd substitute you.

(43:26):
And that was not just me, the whole industry. We
all substituted. Nobody could ever match the quantities that somebody purchased,
the quantities that you manufactured. We'd substitute it, then we
get away with it. The world changed with computers. Everything
is on a computer. If you wor to ten, you
give them a size breakdown. I want three extra large,

(43:47):
three large, whatever those is up to ten. If you
don't ship them, you're getting a charge back either you're
gonna get sent back from the person you ship to.
You're not getting away with substitutions anymore. It goes to size,
it goes for color, goes to the what number you
either ship what you're supposed to do based on a
purchase order, you get it back, well, you get a
major deduction. I got substituted. This week. I have a

(44:10):
close friend of mine, hopefully listen to the show's named
Michael Kelly. This weekend we'd played golf together. I knew
Mike for venues and we worked together. He was a
marketing guy. I spent time in marketing when I was
the president. Him and I words and music. I thought
I was very good at it. I met Mike and
found out he was, if not better than me. He
certainly had a different presentation. And him and I together

(44:31):
made music words in music, and we did great things.
And I'm very proud of the books, the advertising of
the ideas we created. He's still in the business doing
great things. Anyway, we played golf, and why is it relevant.
None of that is relevant. I'm just introducing Mike in
the conversation. He had a range finder when we played
golf from Bushnell. The thing was really, really, really cool.

(44:52):
It was I have a range find also for Bushnell
and never lost it. I managed to hold on to
it must be ten years old. But his not only
have all the features that had a cool factor that
was unbelievable. When you press the range it's like you're
one hundred yards away from the pin on the gulf
on the green. You press a button and tells you
you're actually one hundred and two yards. It lit up,

(45:12):
it made noises, and it was black. It was very intimidating.
I loved it. So I walked into the PGA store.
Oh and I saw it there for three hundred dollars
excuse me, three hundred and ninety nine dollars, and they
only had the white one. I asked if they had
the black one. MIC's was black, and I like the black.
I like the cool factor. I don't settle when I
see something I like. I've never substitute. I'll never I'll

(45:35):
never agree. Uncompromising. I wanted the black, I only had white.
So I said to myself, you know what, let me
go on Apple on Amazon. Right here while I'm staying,
I looked up Amazon. There one hundred dollars cheap, and
they had the black one. I'm so happy. I was
happy in the sense that I had the discipline to
look at it and see that there was a price difference,
and particularly happy I didn't compromise bought the white one

(45:56):
instead of the black one. So right then and there,
I bought the one from Amy, and I was so happy.
They're going to deliver it the next day, as they said.
I don't like compromising. I don't necessarily like waiting for shipments,
but this is part of online shopping, you sit at home,
you sit anywhere. You can buy anything you want. I
find Amazon amazing. I own this stock. I made money
on the stock. I can't say enough about that company.

(46:19):
I think, if they're not the greatest company in the world,
I happen to think Apple probably is. But if they're
not Amazon, it's a close set. The next day, I'm excited.
I wait for the ship and I get to know
what Amazon said they shipped me. I opened the box
and they gave me the white one. They substituted me.
I was pissed. I was eagerly looking forward to this.
They substituted me. I couldn't believe it. I was so aggravated.

(46:41):
So I went online trying to figure out how to
do it returns, and it was complicated for me because
they offered me retail stores to return them in. They
wanted me to return in total foods, and I don't
have a total foods. Total foods is the total foods.
I didn't have one near me. I was aggravated, and
I finally went through the system and I asked for
customer service, and I started communicating to someone on customer service,

(47:04):
back and forth, back and forth, and I couldn't get
straight answers that I needed, So finally I requested to
speak to someone, and I spoke to someone, and they
were great. And on that phone call, which I shouldn't
have had to be, but I did make, and I
was upset, they explained to me how sorry they were
that they substituted me. They checked that the black one
was in star right then and there. They sent me

(47:26):
a return authorization code to return its staples, and they
ordered a new one for me. I have to tell you,
the experience was remarkable. I went to staples, I got online.
There were about ten people there. The ten people moved,
I would say, no more than five minutes to get
the thing returned. They took one look at my turn
authorization code. They credited me. Next day I got the

(47:49):
new one. It's in black. So tudos to Amazon. I
don't like the fact that you substituted me, and I
caught you, and I returned it and you accepted and
you accepted responsibility and you got the right one. But
the system worked, and I'm impressed by that. That's why
I want to talk about money. But let's just talk
about money. I never well, my quote is and I

(48:10):
would suggest that you all consider the following. I don't
mind spending money. I hate wasting money. I hate all
the things I purchase that I never use. I hate
all the things that I might get and I don't return.
I hate those things that I don't love like crazy,
because why did I buy them in the first place.
I don't mind spending money, but I hate wasting money,

(48:30):
which brings me back to the news. Donald Trump and
his magistration is hell bent. I'm reducing interest rates now.
From what I understand, I'm interested in interest rates, and
I understand how important interest rates are to the economy
and to people at large. When interest rates are high,

(48:52):
it's harder to purchase a home. People don't pay for
couses for cash. They borrow money. So if interest rates
are four percent now rather than two percent, they're going
to pay more money for it. However, they have a
choice buy or not to buy it. If you can't
afford a home, don't buy it. Well. The other counter
argument is you want to make easier for people to

(49:14):
buy homes, and I would agree with you, as long
as they can afford it. And it's the difference between
affording a home is two percent interests of four percent.
I have better question whether or not you can afford it.
The worst thing is not being able to pay your mortgage.
But let's assume lowing interest rates make sense for purchasing home,
purchasing automobiles. It creates more robust economy. I get it.

(49:38):
But a big part of this economy the senior citizens.
All these millions upon millions upon millions of people of
the greatest generation. Oh, I mind you, the ones that
bought World War two, the ones that change the world
are senior citizens, and many of them are limiting on
fixed income. They were told as they were growing up,
save your money, make a dollars, save two, let the

(50:01):
money work for you, and they put it in treasury
bonds in the bank to have risk free income in
their golden ear. When you're a senior citizen, you're not
working anymore. You're not going to make money, you're not
going to get a job. You're retired. So you live
on your what you have. And they've been encouraged correctly
so to save their money and live when interest rates
are high, they make more money, they do well, they

(50:23):
have a nice life, they're protected, they're not taking risks
with their money. I'm talking about senior citizens who deserve
to be considered. When you lower interest rates to the
levels they weren't before Trump. The first time they went
down to zero, all that money disappeared from income for
senior citizens and all of us for that matter. Well,

(50:44):
what do you do. See what interest rates are down,
the stock market goes up. That's the give and take,
because now you can't put your money in safe investments.
You put it in stock, which are riskier investments. And
now you're taking in particular senior citizens, which no what
he seems to talk about. You're putting them money at risk.
You're putting everyone's money at risk. I invested in the

(51:05):
stock marker. Now I invest in the stock market. I'm
very simple. I have a few stocks that I'm interested in,
the companies that I've worked for. I've made money in
the stock. But I'm very careful because the problem with
stock it's like real estate. Everybody knows real estate's a
great investment until you have to sell it. If you
don't have to sell your real estate, you can hold
it till you want to sell it. It's going to

(51:27):
be great. But if you wake up tomorrow, as I
mentioned on a mortgage. You no longer you can avoid
your mortgage. You have to sell your home, or your apartment,
or your business. You're in trouble. Only stocks come with risk.
Do we want to put our senior citizens at risk
with the stock? So I would say the following, here's
the thought. You want to lower risk, mister President, mister
Lowry Cudlow, mister administration withst and everyone, go right ahead.

(51:49):
I support them one hundred percent, but I would tell
you when it comes to senior citizens, there should be
another interest rate of all anyone who shows their birth certificate,
pick it, your social Security maybe social Security reciproents, you
picked the EID. There should be a two point spread
in interest rates that take care of our senior citizens,
that don't force them to go into the local market

(52:12):
and be invested in risk in the stock mode. You
only lose money when you're forced to sell them. That's
a big risk. One of my own pet peeves. Okay,
I had children, they went to school in the local neighborhood.
My pleasure to pay tax. Do you know how much
money I pay tax for school tax? And my children
haven't been in school for twenty years, thirty years? Is

(52:33):
that fair. I get the grater good. I don't mind
paying taxes to sanitation. Now the government has to run.
I get it. But when you're talking about eighty percent
of my tax being based on school tax, is that fair?
Is that the way it should be? I wonder, and
I would tell you the government, you're really trying to
do things smart, try to load taxes. Why do you

(52:54):
consider school tax for people who have people in school
who for the thought less than at least talking money. You're
talking interest rates. I want to talk to the dumbest
people in the world, all of you dummies out there. Hi,
are you insulted? I'm calling you dummies? Do you know
why your dummies? I don't mean what you did in school.

(53:14):
I don't mean what you're iq is. I mean anyone
out there who's paying interest for credit cards. You are
the dumbest human beings in the world. You know what
the interest rate is with credit cards now over twenty percent.
The point is, do not have credit card debt. Be interested.
It's more important to be interested than interesting. I hope

(53:35):
you enjoyed tonight's show. Good Night