Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

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. The views
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
The following program are those of the sponsor and not
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is Mark Webber. He's a self made business executive here
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(00:29):
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.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
A divided nation cannot stand. House divided against it self
cannot stand. I feel compelled to comment Charlie Kirk was murdered.
I'll never be able to forget that video streaming on
my phone. I admit I know very little about politics.
I'm an arm chair quarterback. I make it up as
I go along. Perhaps it's better to Sam on Monday morning.

(01:04):
Quarterback know exactly what to do after the game has
been played. But I am an American and I can
have an opinion this event, This assassination on live stream
changed everything in America, you would think, or maybe it's
just the point where we have to admit where a
house divided against itself. Those are Abraham Lincoln's words, all

(01:26):
these years later, it seems to apply to our country.
Having said it, my conscience is clear. I'm sure in
this regard. I'm not one side or the other side
in this conversation. I never heard of Charlie Kirk until
actually the recent presidential campaign, probably not until after the

(01:47):
presidential election was over, when he was being credited with
energizing young voters to vote I think to vote Republican.
But he brought out young voters from Trump on down.
He was applauded for his efforts and shared a maid
that your acclamation for the win. I knew nothing about him,
never listened to him, I saw him, never paid attention.

(02:08):
But I know his name now. Unfortunately, because he was
assassinated hold that thought. I must admit I was shocked
when Trump w this term, his second term. I was
astounded by the landslide. I admit I was a b
k anything but Kamala, anything but a Democrat. At that point,

(02:29):
they had their chance. We were lost. We were divided,
we greed on nothing. The country was going in the
wrong direction. I was thrilled for a new start, anything
to change it up. No more talk about Biden's mental deterioration.
I hated hearing that every day. I didn't like listening
to Kamal Aharas say anything. I wasn't sure what she

(02:51):
was saying. But if speaking of say, the one thing
you could say about Donald Trump is he wanted change.
He had a common sense of aproach to the world,
a CEO approach, which I understood so clearly. You perform
or you're out. You perform, you're a hero. You don't perform,
you leave with your tail between your legs. CEOs don't

(03:14):
make excuses. They can't make excuses. They can only do
what needs to be done. And I was hopeful, Like
Trump or not, he was determined to fix the things
that were wrong in this country, fix this country's problems,
fix the world's problems and wars. Who could argue be
tough on crime if you think about it, less crime,

(03:36):
less prisoners. You wanted honesty about the immigration issue, close
the borders, then find solutions for the people that are
here right here now. He wanted to seek prosperity for all, reinstate,
free speech for everyone, put America first. Seventy four million
Americans voted for this president. Seventy million did not. In

(04:00):
spite of the results, which were heralded as a fair
and square election, I thought the enthusiasm for change from
the Biden administration to the Trump administration would be just
that overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Let's face it, people were dancing in
the streets, on the football fields and the basketball courts.

(04:22):
We looked happy. We looked happy for a moment. This
is our America. I thought we'd all come together, but
we didn't. The country I knew was not the country
I know is not analyzing what went wrong and pointing
fingers at each other. Only days or weeks when the
shift changed from blame on the party to ensuring that

(04:44):
the Trump presidency would fail no matter what he said,
he would do, no matter what he wanted to do.
Nothing was good, nothing made sense. The coin of the
realm remained. I hate losing more than I love winning
Trump It's only two years to the midterms. That's self
destruct I'm shocked at the degree of the split in

(05:07):
this country. Who isn't I don't know what I know,
but it seems this country is never coming back together.
Or a house divided Lincoln said it, a house divided
itself cannot stand. I don't feel good about this. I
don't feel positive. I'm a guy that always believed the
sun comes out tomorrow. I would have never believed I'd

(05:28):
lost faith in what we are as a people. What
would it take to reunite us? Back to Charlie Kirk,
Was it him? I never knew him till now, until
the Internet, the Instagram, Yahoo played so many of his sessions.
Powerfully smart guy. I don't agree with much of what

(05:49):
he said. To be perfectly honest, he's to this, he's
to that, he's to this. I don't agree with him.
I'm not sure I agreed with the way he said it.
I don't like mixing church and stuff. But I have
to tell you, this young man was brilliant. He seemed
to have a deep understanding of all the issues and
answers for all the questions offered up in public format.

(06:11):
Talked brilliant his approach to building his organization and his
whole approach to the world, with massive town hall type
events with thousands of people and I'll tell you what
I learned. College students seem indoctrinated. They seemed cult like,
they seemed confused. They're in school, yet it seems they're
learning nothing. Jolie Kirk had answers, opinions. It was tough

(06:35):
to listen to, but he talked in open format. This
guy I didn't know was so smart, knowledgeable, and incredibly articulate.
A lot of people agreed with him, a lot didn't,
but he still had my respect. I was impressed by him.
I often say in my positions in the world, if

(06:56):
I would only work with people I like, be great,
except I'd be in a room by myself. I didn't
agree with people. I don't want to be around them.
I would have loved to debate Charlie Kirk. I think
I would have held my own. The only reason I
could hold my own against this brilliant guy was I
get to pick the question, because in his format, I

(07:17):
would have chosen the question otherwise, and either way he
would have won that debate with me. He was just
that smart, He was just that knowledgeable. You have to
wonder in what would the world have been? Was this
guy not lost to us, lost to the world violence
is horrific. There's no place for it. And then there

(07:38):
are people celebrating his death. Disgraceful. Yes, we are a
house divided. I watch the Emmys, the good of him,
the bad of him, the political statements, the ridiculous clothing.
What I didn't watch as anyone make a word, say
a word about the assassination. Where a house divided. The

(07:59):
world is watching us. I've worked in the past with
the Chinese. I never understood their system. I never understood
how one person became a banker and another a street sweeper.
I just never understood it. But I spent time in
Hong Kong, and I watched the Chinese build scar scrapers.
I watched what it looked like to put up a
building like you'd imagine in Manhattan. That took a year,

(08:21):
and that same building here would have taken five to
ten years. And I marveled at the efficiency of their
entrepreneurial spirit being let loose. I concerned that they could
be so efficient, so much more agreeable, so much more
a student getting things done. I worked at the Chinese
in Beijing, the Communist Chinese, when they were learning how

(08:43):
to have one country with two systems. They made it work.
I also worked with companies in Russia when there was
the tant when we were warming to each other, the
prosperity was catching on. We weren't quite friends, but we
were no longer enemies. I can tell you that. I
could also tell this was amazing time. Unfortunately it didn't
last long enough, but living in peace with Russia was

(09:07):
a hopeful time. I think it was two thousand and
eight hopeful until it wasn't. I will tell you these
countries are not divided. They each think they're great. They
each get on the program with themselves and believe in themselves.
They're not divided. We are, and it scares me me.

(09:27):
I'm concerned that they're watching us lose. We're defined now
by midterm elections. Can't wait for them to come vote
these suckers out. We're focused on every four years when
one president comes in sand blasts all the accomplishments or
all the ideas of the fire president. How can a
country be whip swored every four years and be successful.

(09:48):
We evaluate our businesses by the quarter. No one's thinking
long term. One thing you learn traveling the world, if
you keep your eyes open, are competitors. Other nations other suppliers,
other thinkers play the long game. We're playing checkers while
they're playing chess, and they're watching us. We're a proud

(10:10):
nation made of proud individuals. Each and every one of
us has a point of view. We all think we're right.
We can't be right. We're not always right. That's where
dialogue and discourse comes in. That's where we listen to
each other, grow and compromise, where we respect each other

(10:30):
and understand that we have to accept the other person's
point of view. Don't have to agree, but you have
to not only accept it respected. You can't have seventy
four million Americans right and seventy million wrong. There's got
to be places where we're all greed, one country thinking alike,
trying to get things done. All these countries are proud,

(10:53):
they all believe they have the right answer. I've said
it once and I said it again. We don't need
any enemies. I'm not sure who the enemies of China are.
I'm not sure who the enemies of Russia are other
than Ukraine. I don't know what's going on. I only
know that our country needs to do better. We need
to think together. I know nothing. I admit it, but

(11:16):
I know enough to know we're divided as a country
and there's no indication that we're reuniting. Everyone is watching us,
they're watching us, and they see it. It's always in
fashion to call it as you see it, and I
think this is a time that we should come together.
Having said that, I couldn't help myself. Generally speaking, this

(11:38):
is a happy show and it should be and always
a lot of fun things to talk about, and I
probably will get there. Having said that, I have a
guest tonight. He's not a guest. He's the co host,
my lawyer and my son, Jesse Weber. Jesse, You've been
all over TV talking about the politics and the law
associated with the Charlie Kirk assassination. What's going on?

Speaker 4 (12:01):
Well, first of all, I feel like a guest because
I'm barely on. I'm been so busy, so I feel
like a guest as opposed to your co host. I
saw this happen, I don't know, seven months ago, when
I saw a shift my entire career. It's always been
very clear. Murder is wrong, murder is bad. And when
Luigi Mangioni was arrested for killing, allegedly killing in the

(12:26):
United Healthcare CEO, and you saw people praising him and
loving him and saying murder was justified, even though they
have no idea who Brian Thompson is or what he
did or anything like that. I was like, that's a shift.
That feels weird, that feels wrong. And then you see
the same kind of thing with Charlie Kirk. Ges different circumstances,
but the same thing. Kind of Charlie Kirk to go
on air and have to reiterate time and time again

(12:48):
that this is wrong, and that you have a guy
who was shot and killed during his political expression, exercising
his First Amendment right. The fact that I have to
make that statement is really really concerning. But what happened
this week. We had a lot of evidence presented against
the suspected shooter. It's not a question right now of oh,

(13:12):
you know, maybe someone else did it, maybe the evidence
isn't strong. If all this evidence comes in, I think
it's very clear that Tyler Robinson did this. Yes, he's
innocent until proven guilty, but my gosh, the amount of
evidence they have against him. Forensics, DNA on the rifle,
on the trigger, a text message, conversation with his roommate

(13:35):
where he allegedly confesses to doing it and saying why
he did it, and talks about aspects of the shooting
that arguably only the killer would know, having his mother
and father being the people who allegedly turned him in.
It's a mountain of evidence that prosecutors have. Yes, it's
very specific charges. How they're trying to elevate this to
the death penalty and the capitol offense. Sure, but I

(13:57):
was just really blown away by the great police and
blown away by how much they have right now before
this case even really gets started. It's really disturbing. I
don't know what if this guy did it, why he
transformed and felt this was something he had to do.
But what shocking is how much he shocked his family
and friends. Nobody could see this coming.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
And there he is sitting there. They're talking about him
committing suicide. Ruined his life, ruined the lives of so
many people, And for what we don't get answers. You know,
we never got an answer to that guy who killed
the full college students. He emplayed a plea deal.

Speaker 4 (14:33):
What was his name recently, Brian Coberger.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, he made a deal not to have the death penalty,
but we never got an explanation of why he did it.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
We have a little bit more explanation for why Tyler
Robinson allegedly did this. He talked about Charlie Kirk being
filled with hate. He had become more political over the years.
I'm sure we'll get it. Seems like we'll get more
answers in this case than Brian Coberger. But the similarities here,
let me tell you. Coberger was facing the death penalty.
He was trying every which way to get evidence thrown out,

(15:03):
wasn't successful. When he realized the gig was up and
he was going to go to trial and probably found
guilty and probably sentenced to death, he took a deal,
pled guilty, had the death penalty taken off the table,
and now he's sitting life in prison. He never had
to admit why he did what he did. And I
wonder if we're going to see the same kind of
thing here. They're going forward with the death penalty. Maybe
it's a bargaining chip to have him plead guilty and

(15:27):
don't have you spare everybody the pain of a trial.
I don't know. We're still in the early stages, but
they really really are pushing a head strong to because
obviously this is a heinous, heinous crime, and the way
that they're elevating it, they're basically saying it wasn't just
a heinous killing. He committed a killing that posed a
grave risk of danger children around, committed a killing for

(15:50):
political expression. They're doing everything they can to make this
a death penalty qualified case. They're doing everything they can,
at the very least to make sure he spends the
rest of his life in prison.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
You know, when you think about Trump getting shot, everybody
kind of makes it like it was nothing. You know,
Nick Ear, it wasn't real. I mean, you were talking
a quarter inch a half in the joy from killing
the then Republican candidate, and like it's quiet. Nobody talks
about it. It's crazy, don't you.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
But look, you're one hundred percent right for anybody who
saw it.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Oh say that again, I don't hear that often enough.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (16:27):
If everybody saw that video of what happened to Charlie Kirk,
I'm sorry that's now ingrained in your mind, Imagine if
that was Trump. Trump was inches away from that happening
to him. Just imagine that is so crazy. It's crazy,
so crazy.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
So the thing with the Charlie Kirk streaming video when
you saw it were first from one side you saw
him hit and go down, and then the other angle
came where the blood came splurting out, and I can
never forget that there was no way, you know, it
became clear this was a kill shot.

Speaker 4 (16:57):
And now you're seeing, by the way, even though they
have arrest, even though they have evidence, even though they
have a potential explanation, there are still people who have
conspiracy theories and believe that Charlie Kirk was assassinated by
someone or some country. It doesn't end. You mentioned something before,
like how do we come together?

Speaker 2 (17:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
I think with the advent of social media, no matter
what happens, no matter what explanation you have, there are camps,
there are teams, people are fighting. No one wants to
accept anything. There's always conspiracy theories, whether people really believe
it or they're doing it for profit. That's the scary part.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Well, on this note, I'm not quite sure how to
move on. I really wanted to focus on the fact
that we as a country, we as a people, are
not the same country. We were, and we used to
be able to rally around things and agree on things
and be Americans together. And as I said earlier, when
you saw people dancing in the videos being put together,

(17:56):
dancing to the YMCA and Donald Trump and the new
Donald Trump dance, and I would go to vnshall summer
long seeing people dance, I thought we were on our
way to recovering the country. That we were, no question.
I'm discussing Charlie Kirk briefly to make a point that
nothing else. The man did not deserve, that, his family

(18:18):
did not deserve it, The country in the world didn't
need to see this. We have to move on. So
those of you listened to me usually I'll talk about
these subjects because I admit readily what am I just
another person with an opinion. But I'd asked that you
please don't let me be misunderstood. I'll be back in

(18:38):
a minute.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
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Speaker 3 (18:42):
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Speaker 2 (23:07):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Hey, there, this is Mark Webber, this is always in fashion.
I'm about to try and enjoy myself. I watched the
Emmys this week from cover to cover, Jesse, you watch them?

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Not really?

Speaker 4 (23:25):
No, I'm tell you why. One of the reasons I'm moving.
Gave up all my cable in the meantime, and after
everything I read about it, I don't think I missed much.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Well, here's the thing from my vantage point, when I
think of myself as an individual, when I was a
young guy, I was more flexible. I graduated from college.
I'm like a lot of these other college students graduating now.
I didn't know very much of anything, although all these
years later I realized that I absorbed an awful lot
of information. I was a better student than I gave

(23:58):
myself credit for. However, over time, living a corporate life,
being responsible adult, all these things impacted me, and I
changed and I started to look at the world very differently.
Doesn't make me right, but nonetheless I did. And I
have to ask a question, GQ, what the heck happened

(24:20):
to you? This is not the first time I'm going
to say it. It's not the last time I'm going
to say it. You want to make comments about the
way people dress, do it responsibly. I don't understand where
you guys are coming from at all. I don't get
it now. You know, earlier I talked a little bit
about politics, and I made it a point that I'm
an armchair quarterback. I know what's going on after it's happened.

(24:43):
But when you talk fashion, I have a pretty good sense.
Two CEO jobs, two books, radio show, talk show. I
think I know a little bit about men's fashion. I've
developed it. I've sold billions of dollars worth of products
I've wanted. I know it works, I know it doesn't.
And GQ you put together the ten best looks and
I just gotta comment. I gotta comment now. I'm a

(25:05):
James Bond fan. The first time I saw what's his name,
Jesse Allen coming.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
Uh yeah, Allan comming, Yeah yeah, in GoldenEye.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
He was in GoldenEye, which is a movie you loved.
I didn't. But he had played a very cool role.
He was very different, very energetic. I liked him. He
shows up the Emmys wearing I don't know how to
explain it. It's a black suit with white piping everywhere.
And what went through my mind is it's god awful, ugly.
It's screaming. Hi, take a look at me. And I

(25:36):
said to myself, for the balance of his life, he's
going to be seen in that outfit. And I don't
get it. Now, you're entitled to wear anything you want,
you know. The problem with fashion very often is people
chase it and we often go down the wrong streets.
And my view he did that, I don't get it.
I don't get it. And they have him as one
of the best dress Do you see the way he

(25:56):
was dressed.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
Yeah, well he wasn't on he was number nine, he.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Was and then one of my favorites of all. So
I'm an equal opportunity offender at all men. There's what's
his name, Seth Rogan? Is that his name?

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, what a buffoon. Now you're a funny guy. I
laugh at your stuff. You're a very talented guy. I'm
sure you're very wealthy. I'm sure you've done a lot.
I think you have the respect of the community. What
are you doing in a brown velor suit. This is
not the first time you've won the suit, which is
the point I'm about to make. Jesse, did you see

(26:32):
when he turned around to go up and get the award.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
I didn't. I think seth rogen he's he's an interesting guy.
Why what did he do?

Speaker 3 (26:43):
The whole thing was worn out, velved, wears out. He
stood up to walk the whole back. The seat of
the bands is all worn out. I don't get it.
What is the point you're trying to make. It's just unbelievable.
Then there's a guy. I really like this guy. His
name is Trammel Tillman. Do you know who he is?

Speaker 4 (27:01):
He's great, he's in severance, he's amazing.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
Is that where he's from. I watched the first season
of Severn, so I got through the whole thing. It
was particularly weird. I didn't understand what this whole thing
was about, but I watched it, not enough to want
to see the second season. Did you watch it?

Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yeah? I loved it, really loved it.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
Did you learn anything about what's going on and where
they are? Yep, you did great. So if I watch it,
I'm going to hold you responsible.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Well, let's be intellectually honest. Did you fall asleep in
the first season? No, I watched and it was weird
as did you pay attention you're on your phone?

Speaker 3 (27:36):
John Tetero.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
Christopher, did you pay attention because it was it was
very clear what was going on in the end of
the first season, and.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Was what was the end? Be a spoiler? What was
the end? It was?

Speaker 4 (27:46):
I'm not going to be a spoiler.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
I'm not.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
I will not do that because the show's too good.
I do not want to give it.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Any you're telling me at the end, I should. Anyway,
There's this guy. His name is Trammel Tilma. Now why
do I know him, I don't know. But when I
saw him on the red carpet, he had such a
great energy and such a great horror around him that
I really kind of was taken by him. Did great
in the interviews, and I was willing to forgive him

(28:12):
for wearing white after Labor Day because because it's sat
all night and Sunday night and I'm wearing white. But
I was willing to forgive him because so many people
wore white dinner jackets and white stuff. And Okay, but
his pants looked like he never had them altered. They

(28:35):
were big and bagging, and they're dragging on the floor.
They are for one of a what a words, so amateur,
so terrible that I can't believe when I looked at
and what I'm looking like at the picture and GQ
gave him one of the best dressed. There is no
excuse for that. He might be a great guy, but
this doesn't look like And by the way, the jacket

(28:56):
fit him really well. But this, yeah, was a catastrophe
of the high order. Anyway, I could go on and on.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
Well, can I tell you who was dressed awesome? James Marsden.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yeah, he looked great. White dinner jacket, tuxedo, shoes, tuxedo.
He's dressed really.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Well, which breaks Lauren Ralph, Lauren Purple.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Oh is that it? Well? Then we share a jacket.
Now the point of all this. Here's a guy. Let
me give you another guy. He's Brian Tierry Henry. He's
wearing again, a white dinner jacket like it's cropped, it's
like tail. Yeah yeah, but he woren't with white shoes,

(29:36):
and it really ruined the whole look. And I don't
want to get there, you know. I could go on
and on about how terrible people are dressed and what
is the impression they're trying to make, and GQ, I
don't know what you're doing. Then I would just say
to you. There was one other guy I never want
I want to mention his name. I never knew who
he is. I still don't know what he does. Walter Goggins.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
Yeah, he's an actor. He's in like a he's and
a lot of stuff.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
So he's hot right now, right yeah. I just saw
him dancing at a Walmont commercials. So he's he's apparently
appealing to a lot of people. He's an unusual looking man.
But he showed up. He looked amazing. He wore a
white shirt, black pants. I'm trying to remember exactly what

(30:21):
he wore. And he looked great. And here's the thing.
There's no rules anymore in this world, and there seems
to be no rules when it comes to fashion. There's
gotta be rules. There are rules about black tie events.
What was the dress code established? I wonder what the
message went out, come to the Emmys and wear what anything?

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (30:43):
What it was? There was one There was one I
don't know her name. She was a little overweight, and
she wore a white T shirt and blue jeans and
she looked like I don't know how you explain how
she came to the Emmys. Who let her in? See
here's the thing I love in a winter. I love

(31:03):
what she represents. I know who she is. I've spoke
to her a few times over the course of my career.
I respect that the fact that she rules her empire
with an iron hand and an incredible taste. I wish
Hollywood was the Hollywood of este less outspoken comments about
the world that nobody's interested in your opinion. Certainly they

(31:24):
don't have both sides represented, but there was a class
to it. The Golden Globes, the way people were dress,
there were rules. I am at the point where it's
hard for me to watch any of these things from
a fashion point of view. They're expressing themselves. What are
they expressing? I believe there should be rules to the Emmys,

(31:45):
the Oscars and all these events. And I will tell
you I will. I will offer up myself right now.
I will be the arbiter of what has taste and
what does not. If you're going to go to the
Academy Awards and the dress is called black tie, even
if you want to call it creative black tie, you

(32:06):
have to send your outfit to me in advance for approval.
Now here's where it gets tough. You send me a
dress that I don't think is appropriate. There's a guy
in a picture here. I just looked in a blue suit,
white blue suit. There's a guy here with no sleeves.
Guy with no sleeves. You want to come to the
Academy Awards, you're invited to be a presenter or a winner,

(32:27):
Then you have to dress the part. You have to
dress according Send those outfits for me, and me and
my staff will approve them. If we don't approve them,
I'll give you ample time to get something to wear
that we will approve. However, if we don't, you can't come. Now.
Do you think the Academy would have the guts to
stand by me on that one?

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Jesse, No, I don't. I don't.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
I don't think it's going to work. But I give you,
I give you credit for trying to promote that, trying
to petition that it's interesting.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
You say, now I feel like Trump coming with up
an idea that absolutely makes sense, that it is good
for everyone, But nobody will even listen to me.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
You know what, even if you had a shot of
doing it, because you just made that semi positive comment
about President Trump, you will definitely not be elected to
help with the Emmys.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Yeah, well, the Emmys are behind this. I'm focused on
the Academy Awards. Ladies.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
That's going to be much better of.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
The Academy Awards, of the voting public, whoever you are
out there the Academy. I'm Mark Weber volunteer to turn
the event into a class filled act once again. I'm
looking at these beautiful actresses. I want to see them
in beautiful clothes, with taste, with dignity, with elegance. Julia
Roberts did it when she won our Academy Awards. She

(33:42):
wore a retro gown I forgot from Moom, but it
left an impression on me. These are people trying to
do things right. We used to look forward to these events.
One of the reasons was to look at the fashion.
I'm willing to help. I'll set the rules and I'll
be the gatekeeper. Now having said it, ladies, you're beautiful.
You're some of the most beautiful people in the world.

(34:04):
The camera loves you. That's why you're on TV, that's
why you're in the movies. You're talented and the camera
loves you. You're not all beautiful, You're not all thank you,
some of us are character actors that we played parts
were different, but you still could look elegant and write
I offer my services. I know I won't get a
pickup on this, but nonetheless, I really was disturbed by

(34:26):
watching the Emmys take a break back in a moment.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
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 tonight. An extraordinary collection. But

(34:55):
the interesting thing Donna Karen had a young daughter, and
she had friends and they couldn't have award to buy
the Donna Karon collection. And Donna invented dk NY Donna Aaron,
New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection.
The same concept a lifestyle brand. Then we talk about
lifestyle brands, What does that really mean? Simply what they
say there are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle.

(35:18):
You 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
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

(35:43):
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 sports where that
make women look great as they navigate their busy lives.
Whether you go into soccer games for your children or

(36:05):
whether you're going out to the movies, whatever you want
to do, Dkny Jenes dk Y sportswear is there for you.
That's what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention
DKY Activewear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,
the sweats. You can wear DKY activewear certainly in the gym,

(36:28):
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 takes you from

(36:48):
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 career to make EYESOD

(37:11):
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 material is unique

(37:35):
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 ISOD. They

(37:55):
always fit, They'll never tug on you. You put it
in your waist that they'll fit your 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. Isaad is the

(38:16):
brand for you. I know I was there when it
was created. The strategy behind that brand is brilliant. That'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 brand and
story and history. Isaad makes salt weather programs. They have

(38:40):
great printed woven shirts, short sleeves. 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 shirt

(39:00):
and pants of a range of colors and fabrics. That
are perfect for a guy wants to go casually in
the spring and summer of this year. And here's the thing.
Ison is affordable. Everyone listening to me talk about this
brand can afford to buy it and know that there

(39:21):
are a lot of other brands that also have a
look like EID. Although I don't believe it's fun as
ISID is. The brand has a lot 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. And I help you by telling you
if you were Eion, You're going to look great.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Welcome back to it. Always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Webber tonight's show. I'm very opinionated. I'm hoping I'm making friends,
no enemies. I'm just giving opinion. No one has to
agree with me. You want to complain, you could reach
me on LinkedIn. Just go on there and tell me
whether you like the show or you didn't like the show.
Maybe I'll respond, Probably I won't, but I'm saying things
In the title of tonight's show, I thought about it,

(40:08):
what should I call it? And I'm gonna I guess
I'm going to reach out to you and ask you please,
don't let me be misunderstood. I only have good intentions
involved here, which make me think about some of the
funny things that have happened along the way. I was
thinking about traveling the other day, and I have some
great stories about travel that I've shared with you along

(40:30):
the way, from taking the concord to going to various
places around the world. But I came to mind when
I was thinking about Fashion Week and all the runway shows,
and the first time I showed up at fashion Week
by mistake, I didn't even know I was there. It
was before I became what's the right word, I guess sophisticated.

(40:51):
I was a young guy. I was sourcing products all
over the world. I was a negotiator to buy production
by garments. You know, you buy factory deals. You buy
ten thousand dozen shirts a month, or you buy five
thousand flannel shirts, or you go in and buy a
pair of sneakers that you like for the company and
you buy ten thousand units of the sneakers. I did

(41:13):
all those negotiations. I negotiated the textiles. I negotiated with
manufacturing for what it would cost to manufacture them. I
did this my whole life, and in one in particular,
my first trip after a five week trip to Asia
and Europe, I was working my way home through Milan,
and it was the first time I had ever been Milan.

(41:33):
And I stayed at a hotel. If I'm not mistaken,
it was called the Principi a Savoya. It was a
cool hotel at the time. And I remember I remarrived
around eight o'clock at night from Hong Kong and I
get the limo and it takes me to the hotel
and I show in and checking in, and I'm wearing
I'll never forget I was wearing green khaki cargo pants
and I'm matching green khaki puffy jacket. I hadn't shaved

(41:56):
in a few days. I just got off the plane
twenty four hours with commuting.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
I'm now in Milan.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
I walk into the hall, tell I'm checking in. I
can hardly keep my eyes open, and there in the
lobby are the one hundred most beautiful people in the
world in me looking like a schmuck. I couldn't believe
what I was looking at. All the models, the guys,
the girls, they were all lining up to do a
fashion show, either at the hotel or on the outside.
Because it was fashion week in Milana and I was

(42:23):
there and I was taken aback, and I said, Wow,
this is amazing. What's going on? So when I checked
in at Tough Front, I said, your hotel seems very crowded.
In this beautiful Italian accent. This guy says to me,
it's fashion week. Of course, these are the models, these
are the runways. We have a show here tonight. Blah
blah blah. I said, can I go to the show?
He says, probably not, but you could be in there

(42:43):
beforehand or afterwards if you like. So I went to
my room and I'll not forget. I got a room
that had a bed in a bathroom there was nothing else.
Took a shower, and because I had been in Hong
Kong and negotiating products, I had, you know, my suits
with me, and I remember I decided and and I
would wear. I had a black, beautiful double breasted blazer.

(43:04):
I had my jeans, black sweite shoes, white shirt, got dressed,
combed my hair, went down to the lobby. The place
was packed, and again all the beautiful people in the world.
What am I doing? It just gonna walk around and
look around. I did for a few minutes, and I decided,
you know, what is a cool guy doing Milan in
a hotel when he just checks in? I said, you
know what, I'll go to the bar. So I sit
down at the bar. There's one seat, and to my

(43:25):
right of me is this beautiful model. To my left
of me beautiful model. And I'm in between them. And
I ordered a club soda with lime. Guy brings me
the drink, brings me some olives. So here I am
looking around and I decide, you know, I stiff in
my drink. I take a potato chip and then I
noticed this some kind of peanuts to my right, and

(43:47):
I go to take one of the peanuts and I
almost break my tooth on it. And the woman next
to me starts laughing. And I take this thing out
of the mountain, I said, what. And when I was
eating his herb used olive pits. So much for being cool.
It always fashion, you know, thinking about funny stuff or whatever.

(44:07):
Life in general, I've been watching everybody is buying everyone. Recently,
Sachs bought Sachs Global bought Neiman Marcus and Burgdoff Goodman
months ago. I was gonna have the CEO the show
agreed to come on, and then he didn't agree because
he had to deal with a whole lot of things,
including finding a loan of six hundred and seventy million

(44:29):
dollars to help pay the overhead for the debt. He
just incurred in buying Nemens and Bergdoff's, and you know,
but they bought it and they merged it, and I
don't know how they're doing. But it's complicated, I'm sure.
Then there was rumors, was it last week that LVMH
is selling Mark Jacobs. I wonder why, I wondered to
whom I kind of know some of it. You know,

(44:49):
I know the players and I wish them luck. But
you know, acquisitions and buying companies is a very complicated
set of affairs. You can have the world's great, greatest company.
If you don't grow at the rate that Wall Street
expects you to grow, you're nobody. If you're a privately
held company like Jojo o'money was. No one can question
the way he spent money, no one can question his growth.

(45:11):
Nobody even could question that he make money lose money.
No one knew the only thing he had to do
is pay off his lenders. He was owned pretty much
the only the entirety of his company. Judjio o'mony in
his will just passed away and said he wants either LVMH, Lexotica,
which is a big eyewear firm in Italy, or Laoreal
to purchase his company. And in his will he stated

(45:34):
the percentages of the company that he wanted to be
sold immediately. I think he went up first to eighteen
percent this year, then fifty four percent, and he wanted
to encourage these big companies to come in and acquire
the brand. I'm hoping for LVMH. My former players. I
respect them. I know they'll do the right thing with
the brand. They'll make it better, they'll make it interesting,

(45:56):
they'll make it saleable, I hope. I've seen some of
the dresses they put on these celebrities at the Emmys,
and I'm not sure LVMH is not going a little
off the edge. But they didn't ask. But I'm telling you, please,
don't let me be misunderstood anyway. Make a long story short.
Everyone's buying everything, and if you're private and it's your company,

(46:16):
you do what you want. But if you are a
public company, and in a stock exchange anywhere in the world,
you only get rewarded for one thing. You'll get purchased,
you'll get hype, you'll get everything you want if you
have a good story to tell. But if the stock
is to go up, it only goes up if in
fact you're going to grow. And if you're not going
to grow, you have to do something. And what it's

(46:38):
called growing is you're organically growing, meaning the company that
you own within its own four walls is growing. It's
not like you're going out and buying something else to
grow it. And a lot of people are making acquisitions,
and I've talked about this before. The largest acquisition my
former company, PVH Phelps Venues and the owners of Calvin

(46:58):
Klein and Tommy Hill Vigor and using a bunch of
other brands we needed to grow. We had one of
the world's great companies, made a lot of money every year.
We had a big shirt business and we're the largest
in the world, number two, and I left by the
time I left with the number one shirt company in
the world. I always have to put a qualifier on that,
because somewhere in the world there may be a company
in China making a billion shirts for a billion Chinese.

(47:20):
Who knows. But as far as branded companies went, we
were the largest and we were amazing. Company made a
ton of money, but we were growing and our stock
was floundering. We had a stock that at one point
was in the thirties and forties and now it's eight
dollars a year. Nobody cared about the company because they
had no growth. We had to make an acquisition, and
I was at the forefront of this. I was the

(47:41):
if not the president. At the time, I was a
vice chairman of one of the groups. There was a
Dreasuer group of sports for a group, I was vice chairman,
corporate guy. We started looking at companies. I'll never forget
the decision making. We needed something. It was called a
transforming transaction, something that would change the way the world
looked at us, kind of like in America right now.

(48:03):
We need to come together so the world sees us
as a leader again that we see ourselves as leader.
But I don't want to go there. I did that
in the first segment. So we needed something that would
rocket our stock and rocket our view of the world.
We needed to be rock stars first company. We looked at.
It was a company called Kelwood, probably never heard of.

(48:24):
Kelwood was a two billion dollar company that was primarily
made of private label making shirts and knitwear for other
companies brands. So if you are Macy's and you have
your Alfani brand, Macy's owns Alfani. It's a made up
brand that you could only find in Macy's. Somebody would
have to design it. Somebody has to make it. Most

(48:46):
of what they do they would do by Macy's. They
have their own team, the designers and importers will put
it together. But they would also go to the outside
because they knew they didn't know everything, and they would
go to other companies. So Kelwood may have been one
of those companies and they were pressed if they made
a good living. And at the time they were about
two billion, we were about two billion. If we bought them,
it would be double the size. We liked their CEO,

(49:08):
we respected him, but were sitting in meetings and really
at the time, our strategy was to build retail. We
wanted more retail. We had a big wholesale business manufacturer,
we wanted more retail. I remember the CEO of the
company was very anxious to buy Kelwood. You checked off
all the boxes and made all the boxes. And I
remember looking at him saying, you know, we spent the

(49:29):
last two years cleaning up our company, getting rid of businesses.
We don't need building our retail group opening outlet stores
with multiple brands, believing that owning retail was important. Tell
me one brand that Kelwood owns that we would put
the name over the door and be proud to say
we're going to open up another one hundred and fifty

(49:49):
stores with this name under Now, I'll give you example
of their brands. My Michelle Briggs, Jack's. They had no brands.
I remember saying to myself, He's looking at me like
I'm making sense. See he doesn't like what I'm saying.
I feel like I'm being misunderstood. But I was dead right,
and I said to him, we don't need to take
another company and fix their problems. That's the way they

(50:09):
want to sell. We just fixed our own. Do me
a favor, find something else. I can't tell you whether
he listened to me. I can't tell you whether he
thought I was right. Kind of made a lot of sense.
From there, we went to Seattle. North Face was the sale.
It was owned by VF Corporation, north Face the great
out of work company, and we sat in the meetings.

(50:30):
We listened to what they were doing. We understood what
they were trying to achieve. We were impressed by the brand,
but was this a transforming transaction? Would it change the
nature of our company if we bought an outiwear company?
With the world and the Wall Street say these guys
are geniuses? The answer is no. Might have been a
great company whatever needed to be fixed and needed to

(50:51):
be fixed, but it didn't feel right, didn't feel like
it would be wow, and we didn't buy it. From there,
we went back home, started to look at other companies
and lo and behold, Tommy Bahama was for sale. Now
that was back in the day, call it twenty five
years ago. Now, I can't believe how many years it's

(51:12):
been since I've been at van Uesen eighteen years. I
haven't been there. Anyway, Tommy and Bahama was for sale.
The owners and the principals of the company asked us
to come to Seattle, and they wanted to start the
meeting and the Tommy Bahama compound. What was the Tommy
Bahama compound? You want us to join you know, we
want you to see it by yourself. It was a

(51:33):
big store with a big restaurant and bar. We went there.
The experience was brilliant. We loved what we were seeing.
We thought it made a whole lot of sense and
it was really impressive how that company had had grown
and where they were going. But why were they selling?
The owners wanted to cash out. I guess it was
a great company. Everybody in the country loved tom By Bahama.

(51:55):
They didn't go on and sale very often. Their retail
prices were very high. It was a great brand. As
we sat around and looked at what was going on,
my boss at the time leaned over to me in
the public meeting and said, what do we do in
the winter? Hm, well, I'm very confident that we could
have a very important sweater program. We could do men's pants.

(52:17):
Of course, they have men's pants for sering. We'd do
the winter versions. There's a lot of outer where we
could sell. After all, Nordica when it was in the
heyday and the huge company and sitting right next to
Tommy and Ralph, one of the big three in traditional clothing.
We could do polar fleets, we could do all kinds
of winter things, and he looked at me and said,
I love the brand, but I don't love what the

(52:39):
future looks like. It wasn't transforming. And then from there
we got to Calvin Kline, and the minute we started
looking at it, we realized that that's bigger than life.
If we were to acquire a Calvin Kleine, it would
change the tenure of the company so much so that
the dialogue became changing the name from Phillips Venues and

(53:01):
or PVH to Calvin Klein. The reason being that Calvin
Clin would be recognized with Wall Street would be able
to say, Calvin Kline stock more shareholders, what have you.
But the reason we wanted out of PVH because it
was not reflective of the brands we owned, and we
discussed an odd and for item. I can't say I
had anything to do with the decision on whether to

(53:22):
name the company Calvin Kline or not. I can only
tell you I was very proud of the heritage of
one hundred and fifty year old company called PVH and
I grew up with it, so I didn't vote for it.
But I don't think my vote counted. What did count
is acquiring that brand. And I tell you, the minute
we acquired everything we ever did change. I worked with
a lot of brands in the companies I worked for,

(53:43):
and yes, you would go to a retail you go
to Macy's or to Make Company whomever, Dillard's or whatever,
and you pretty much begged for them to buy your product.
If you were selling Macy's and you went to Dyllard's
and they didn't want to share brands with Macy's, you
could stand on your head no matter what you did.
They wouldn't do it because they could walk away and

(54:04):
they didn't feel they needed And when it came to
Calvin Klein, I saw the biggest auction every major in
retailer in America, from Macy's to the May Company. At
the time there used to be two of them. Macy's
was three billion, May Company was three billion. They fought
tooth and nail in every city in America, where the
CEOs were saying, tell me what you want, I'll do
it for you, just tell me what you need. And

(54:26):
we ended up deciding we're going to sell everyone we
think it makes sense to sell. And they all bought it,
and they all did well with it, and the idea
for us. At Calvinwoad, they had the biggest jeans business
in one of it in the country's, the biggest fragrance business,
one of the greatest underwear business in the world. Would
you believe the Calvin Klein, who began as a women's designer,
didn't have a women's collection except for the collection which

(54:49):
goes down the runway, which was small twenty million dollars
at best. So we thought we knew right then and
there we could find a partner, do it ourselves and
build a billion dollar women's business from there. There was
no men's company anymore than jeans, So without doing anything,
we saw a couple of billion dollars worth of opportunity,
which is known as sweat equity. You don't pay for it,

(55:11):
you pay for what the company's doing. You invest because
you feel what you can do to make it bigger
and better. And just that alone, two billion dollars with
a professional management of our team overseeing the existing business,
we realized right away that this could change the tenure
of the company and the company would be something forever.
Now having said it, I voted for that one. We

(55:34):
bought it, and everything is history. Since that time, we
bought Tommy Hillyer and it's one of the world's great companies.
And why am I telling you the story? Because I'm
an outspoken guy, because I have a point of view,
because I think different than mostly everyone else. Because I
think I'm a fair guy, and I'd like to voice

(55:56):
my opinion and at the end of it say to you,
please don't let me be misunderstood. Good Night.