You Are Your Best Thing

You Are Your Best Thing

Episode Transcript

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

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

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Mark Weber, be yourself. Everyone else is taken. We have
no choice to be our own self, to thine own self.
Be true. Frankly, I like myself, but it's not easy
being me. I'm an acquired taste. I get it. Either
appreciate me you don't. I don't care, but I care. Yeah.

(01:04):
I think I'm a good guy. I'm known for doing
the right thing always. I want to be able to
put my head on the pillow at night and sleep soundly.
I do care about me. I care about what I do.
I recognize more often than not. These days, I'm often
short on a filter. I say what I want at
the expense of saying what I should. I'll say that again.

(01:26):
I like that I say what I want at the
expense of saying what I should. I can be off putting.
I rely too much on others for giving me the
benefit of the doubt. Yet yeah, I'm often not getting
the benefit of the doubt. I'm losing more friends than
I can to admit kissing people off. I can see perfectly.

(01:49):
I'm on the wrong side of good guy at the moment,
say Levie, that's life. Such as life. I draw a
distinction for myself. If you know when you're being a
schmuck you're in it's okay. You can either apologize or
just behave the way you are, don't care and suffer
the consequence your choice. You get to decide, and you

(02:10):
shouldn't be surprised when you come out low on the
likability scale. Now, why am I being condescending? Why am
I being hard on myself? Why am I self deprecating?
Because I always want to put the good in the
bed together. I want to make sure that I'm humble
in myself, whether I talk about success or finances or

(02:32):
what have you. I'm a man of the people, and
yet I've had a very gifted, fortunate lifestyle. So I'm
making a point. I am my best thing. You are
your best thing. That's tonight's show. You are your best thing.
How do you protect you? It's a great question by

(02:53):
doing the right thing easy but not so easy. And companies, beware,
are you doing the right thing? We're watching you. More important,
we're engaging with you, and perhaps we don't like what
we see. In particular, Hey, luxury companies, I'm getting to

(03:13):
the point where I can't stand you. You are so annoying.
Have you forgotten how to behave You've abandoned your manners.
You're taking your customers for granted. You remember what respect is?
You recall the importance of keeping your affluent customers happy.

(03:35):
Is there any surprise with the price escalation, increased lead
times to get what we want, waiting times getting even longer,
giving only selected access to brands, and your attitude to
the customer they have that. Is there any wonder that
the attitude of the customer that they're interested in the
luxury business is helping the business decline? Is there any

(03:58):
wonder I figure you tonight I'll give you a reminder.
I want to talk about what's going on. I want
to be talking about how important it is to know
yourself from the behavior you have. You only get one shot. Now.
I've been out and about, I've been shopping. I'm not
feeling special in spite of special spending, I must admit.

(04:21):
And I want to give you a list of grievances
or observations I've had. And I'll try not to lose
these important stores and brands as friends, all my place
in line for that matter, and try I'm thinking this
slowly as I say it, to exempt myself from being

(04:43):
black bowled by brands. Can you imagine being black balled
by a brand they won't sell you? Well, what happens anyway,
I've got an idea. Here's what I'll do. Where I
care about the particular brand, I'll obscure the company name.
With that in mind, let's go xury spending up first,
moronic Michael. Course, I don't care if they like me.

(05:09):
I have no skin in the game, no personal benefit.
But I do admire the management. I know them and
they're good. The other evening I visited the Americanon Mall
in Manhasset, a great luxury mall. It's a strip center.
It's not indoors. You walk it. It's about a mile.
I think they call it a miracle mile, if I'm
not mistaken. It's a mile of stores, everyone more special

(05:32):
than the next. If you're a European luxury brand, you
want to be there. If you're one of the important
American brands that's trying to be a luxury brand, you
want to be there. If you're Apple, you're there. If
you're Brooks Brothers, you're there. So it has all the
brands and all the want to be luxury brands, but
all those brands that are familiar to you. Even Tesla
has a store there, a great mall. I was actually

(05:55):
there for dinner with a small group of people, I
have to admit, truly beautiful men and women, really good looking,
all dressed to the nines, and we all parked, and
as we were walking to the restaurant, I was explaining
the Senate to one of the women, beautiful woman five

(06:16):
for ten blonde hair. We reached Michael Cores on the
mannequin's was this incredible women's outfit? Oversized wide black pleated
pants with a sea through oil silk tied blouse. The
minute she looked that she had to have it. I
would have bought it if I could wear women's clothes.
She didn't have to love it to prove a point,

(06:37):
but she did, and we all decided to go in.
Now the door was locked, so I was pushing on
the door, and I think it was security.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I looked up.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
There was a course person at the register. She was
checking out a sale with another woman. When she saw
us try to open the door. She shook her head,
pointed at a watch. I looked at mine. It was
five pm, and she basically mounted the word sorry with Cloe.
Now considering that the pants on the mannequan were eighteen
hundred dollars and the blouse was fifteen hundred dollars. What

(07:08):
kind of moron in a luxury center sees a well dressed,
affluent group of people at their door and refuses them entry.
It wasn't stupid enough that they're closing the store in
a weak night at five o'clock, but the lockout customers
was moronic. Shame on you, Michael Cores. Are you kidding me?

(07:30):
You're supposed to be your own best thing. Now, I'll
admit it seems that luxury customers are like abuse. They
don't care how they're treated. And if they put up
this nonsense and remain customers, they deserve what they're getting.
You too, have to remember your best self. You are

(07:51):
your best self. You're the customer. It's your money. Shame
on you, and Michael Cores. You don't wake up. You'll
be finished now before you're in folk. As far as
suckers go, we went back. She bought the pants in black,
the black shirt, a white shirt, and camousols. Shame on everyone.

(08:13):
But I, to my credit, with my lack of filter,
asked to speak with the manager privately now before I
told him the story. I asked them to promise me
that the salesperson would not be in trouble. This is
how can I do that in advance? But he promised.
I told him the story. I got here five or five.
The woman who was at the registers, she saw us

(08:34):
standing there. She wouldn't let us in the store. We
were pointing to the outfit we wanted it. He was
shot flat out. He said, if I saw you guys
at the door, if it was midnight, I would let
you in and never turn away people who look like
they'd be customed. He ended up saying, He'll have a
talk with the with the salesperson, I have to tell

(08:55):
you there's inside you know, as a student of luxury
and fashion and Michael Courts assortment at the moment is extraordinary, beautiful, weary,
well well made. Quality, fabric is great, color is great.
I could have bought twenty five pieces. But having said that,
luxury is still getting on my nerves way beyond course.

(09:19):
When I worked most of my career, I can never
wear other brands. I only had to wear the brands
that my companies produced. So if I was a TKM
why I would wear D Camy. If I was Calvin,
I would wear Calvin Klein. I always had an affiliation
for other brands, but in particularly I never wore them.
But now, when I retired from luxury retail and fashion,

(09:42):
for the first time in my adult life, I could
wear any brand I like with no repercussions. And I
was always an admirer of Ralph, and I found myself
losing a lot of weight. Having time to luxuriate and
have time to do things and go to events and
what have I found Ralph Lauren Private label, and I

(10:03):
built an exclusive wardrobe of Purple label. When I say exclusive,
it's all I wear, with the exception of some Bruno Kuchinelli,
which is crazy. For another reason. For what it's worth, Ralph,
Ralph Lauren, the mansion, the sellers. I thought they liked
me for when I spent the last few years. They
should love me just for spring and summer. I'll take

(10:26):
you through it. I bought a light blue linen sport
coat right off the runway kirt Ching, of course more
than my first car. Crazy. Then I ordered a custom
made double breasted black linen sport code from Italy. I
didn't have one. For whatever reason it was in my head.
I wanted this double breasted sport coming. They didn't even
have it stock, so I custom made it for Italy.

(10:49):
Cost the fortune, but it's luxury. Oh well, say love me.
Then I bought a double breast off white cream colored
sport coat Kurtschhing, and lastly an echo single breast silken
linen sport code. A great wardrobe. I should tell you
it took too many fittings to get it done. Ralph Lauren.

(11:09):
That store has a tailoring problem for those who know
how things should fit. I've been trained in tailing clothing,
trust me, I know, and they haven't fixed this problem.
But back to what I bought. I threw in some
shirts and pants. I'm a big customer of luxury at
the Mansion in the first half of the year, yet
I can't get a table at the Polo bart for

(11:31):
the last few years. I've been a guest of Ralph
Lauren at the US Open. A month ago, I inquired
about when can I go? Never got an answer back.
When I saw the guy who handles me and the store,
I asked him. He told me this year you weren't
granted tickets to the US Open. I said, while I'm here,
could you take a look at what I've spent? He said,

(11:52):
I don't have to look more. I know what you spent.
You're a great customer, but it's not what was the
word he is, I can't guarantee you every year. So
I'm not whining. I'm just wondering what's wrong with luxury
and customer service? Are appreciating and starting to hate luxury. Now,
don't get me started. I'll continue. You want to buy

(12:14):
a rolex, you can't go into Rolex. Anybody looks at
a Rolex store right now, all the watches on display
simply say that these are here for display. You can't
buy the watches that you want. You need to cultivate
a relationship with the Rolex salesman or the Rolex manager
to buy a watch you want, aside from waiting. Aside

(12:36):
from waiting, you can have to wait two years and
other years. When they leave, they laugh at your back.
You ask for a Rolex, they don't it. They're laughing sometimes.
To buy a watch that you want, you have to
buy a watch that you don't want to get an
desired model. Give me a break. It's my money and
they're not cheap. I could buy a Cassio for one
hundred dollars. Why am I spending ten eleven forty thousand

(12:59):
dollars on a watch? You're making me Beg to get
Hermes no skin in the game. I don't care about them.
I don't buy them, I don't pay attention to them.
But they have the boss to tell you it could
be five year wait for hermas bad. Can you imagine
that five years for a Beg cars? I'm a car guy.
I like Range Rove, I bought an suv, but sports

(13:22):
cars are my passion, and at the risk of being
black bolled, I won't be specific. I'll just say I'm
a proud owner of one of these brands, and it's
always one of these brands are in my garage. It
could be evently a Porsche, and ask the Martin and
Ferrari or Lambaghini if you then can buy one if
you go to the show winner new model comes out.

(13:43):
The minimum weight now is two years. Two years. You
know what that really means. When you go into one
of those dealerships and you give them an order, they
want to fill their order books. They want to guarantee
production for the next two years. They want to make
sure that every single car that they can produce is sold,
and they're gonna make you wait two years to get it.

(14:06):
Same thing. It's crazy. Sometimes if you walk in and
you want to buy your first one, they won't sell
you the car. I have too many other idiots waiting online
to buy it. They force you to buy a used car,
which establishes you as a customer. Then at a later
that you could buy a new car and be on
the waiting list for two years. I want to scream,

(14:27):
is this about exclusivity. I don't need exclusivity.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
I don't care if there's another guy miles from our
house with the same car who kids. I don't care
where they are he has my car. I only care
about me having my car enough the last one, not least.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
I would just point out that Laura Piano from my
former company Helthymates has changed. I will say they look
amazing right now. But in addition to being insanely expensive
to their bay, they've introduced a modern interpretation of dressing.
It's extraordinary, the colors, the silhouettes. If only it was

(15:08):
affordable to anyone. A simple blue sun jacket is five
thousand dollars. With eleven hundred billionaires in this country and counting,
with six million millionaires in our country, and in New
York City alone, three hundred and eighty five thousand millionaires,

(15:29):
I guess there are customers. The product looks great, I
said it, Ralph. My recent sport code purchase costs more
than my first car. Cucinelli costs more than a jet.
For our billionaire friends, luxury brands, you need to start
treating us with respect. You are your best thing and

(15:49):
your ruining it is. Anybody listening to me, This sucker
doesn't want to be black mold because I like what
you're making Back in a minute.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, car
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 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 in

(16:21):
premium fragrances. You could explore the car Lagovil collection at
Carlagofelparis dot com. But it's more than that. I have
for one, love to shop. I love going around and
seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would
make me feel good to wear Now. I don't wear
the women's wear, obviously, but I can appreciate it and
they look amazing. If you want to look right, you

(16:43):
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 at very
affordable prices at macy'socarlagofel dot com, Paris. The women's ready
to wear fashion is extraordinary, well as the handbigs and
the shoes. I, for one, wear men's clothes, unlike my

(17:05):
appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a modern guy. I'm gonna
look current. I want to look the way I want
to feel. I go out at night, I'm in black
and Carl lagafeld Is, my buddy. Clothes 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 carlagathal because he's always been he always

(17:27):
had been where the world's great designers, and this legacy
and goes on and on. I can't speak enough about
it except to say to you, you want to feel
good about yourself. You want to know that you're dressing properly.
You want clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris.
Carl Lagofeldparis dot com. My favorite brand has always been ISOD.

(17:49):
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 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,

(18:13):
if you play tennis for that matter. They make a
great polo shirts. I mean great. They're 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

(18:33):
they are treated with solar protection as well, so they stretch,
they're comfortable, and they breathe well. And 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 sensational. Now I will also tell you ISOT
makes great shorts and great golf bands. You're a golf friend,

(18:56):
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. ISOD is the
brand for you. I know 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

(19:17):
great polo shirts with logos, without logos, incredible branded story
and history. Isaad makes salt weather programs. They have great
printed woven shirts, short sleeves. They look excellent with colors,
excellent with shorts, excellent with cotton pants, of which they

(19:37):
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 and fabrics that
a perfect for a guy wants to go casually in
the spring and summer of this year. And here's the thing,
ISOD is a ford. Everyone listening to me talk about

(20:05):
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 of energy
in it, but at the price points, no one can compete.
You can find Isaac at your leading retails and online
at Ison dot com. And I help you by telling

(20:27):
you if you were isa on, You're going to look great.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Welcome back to it.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
It's September. It's the super Bowl of fashion. All the
magazines were released, all the runway shows at the beginning.
It's Fashion Week in New York, and I figured, what
the heck I'll talk about it and what do I
want to talk about? First up, first thing. Hannah Winter.

(20:55):
Anna Winter a remarkable woman. She's been in a business forever.
She has focused and functioned at the highest level. And
she has just stepped up by stepping down as editor
in chief of Vogue in June twenty twenty five. She
names some new person, Chloe Malley, as a success that

(21:17):
in September, and she remains the global Chief Continent Office
of a Conding Ast, overseeing all the company's brands, and
continues as the global editor director for Vogue. It's part
of a restruction. She's in charge.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Now.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
I know Anna Winter. Now that's putting it more credibility
than it deserves. I don't know her well. We've spoken
a couple of times, maybe a number of times. I've
been involved with the met From time to time she's
asked me to contribute to charities. I've done it. But
Sa Noah is a little bit of a stretch. But
I do know of her. She's an extraordinary woman. We've

(21:54):
also had the devil with us product. She's dedicated, she's brilliant,
she doesn't mess around. I respect. Why am I saying this?
A friend of mine sent me some of the tweets
that are going on right now about pushing her out.
It's time to step down. We haven't had enough. Vogue
isn't what it used to be. Why is she being
allowed to stick around for so long? Well, there's only

(22:16):
one answer. She's great at what she does. She's been
great and continues to be great. She is someone who's
risen above our industry like Michael Jordan did in basketball,
Tiger Woods and golf, Tom Brady in football. She's amazing
and she deserves to be in space. No, I gotta

(22:38):
say in business, you gotta look at there are people
lucking up to start a career and end a career
in the same place, are more importantly to last the
test of time. Look at Jamie Diamond, at JP Morgan Chase.
He's an institution and he deserves to be. I'll never
forget when Bess Sturns went bankruptcy bought him and I
had money in best terms, I was so happy in relief.

(22:58):
So I'll always be this man and forever dedicate it.
Look at Tim Cook at Apple. Who ever thought, who
ever thought Steve Jobs could be replaced? And yet Tim
Cook came in I don't know, is it twenty years,
twenty five years and built the largest valued company in
the world at trillions of dollars. Apple was an incredible store.

(23:20):
The other day, now that I think about it, I
was out and about. I was in that center. I
mentioned earlier America, ANAM and Hasset more and my camera
stopped working on my phone was peculiar. I'd turned it on,
it wouldn't work, So I decided to bring it into Apple.
I went to the guy wearing the blue shirt with
the Apple logo, and I said, I have a problem

(23:41):
with my camera on my phone. Can I talk to
some He said absolutely. Asked my name, he said, go
sit at the table. Someone will be there in ten minutes.
Before ten minutes was up, guy walks over to me
and says, what can I do for the name is job?
I said, John, my camera's not working. Cook the phone?
He said, man, I look at it. Can you turn
it on for me? And he went through a couple
the diagnostic test and he instantly figured out that one

(24:04):
of my lenses wasn't working properly and the other one
wasn't working at all, and it needed to be repaired.
I said, oh, q wis could it be done now?
He says yes, Let me first check to see if
we have the parts. Check the parts, sure enough, they
were in. He says, yes, we could fix the phone.
He said, let me give you an idea of what
it costs, and he gave me a bill, told me
it cost a little over two hundred dollars. Now at

(24:27):
the time, you know, we're talky September. This is the
month that they usually introduced the next phone, the IPOX seventeen,
and I'll probably wait for that. But he said to me,
it's only going to cost me two hundred and twenty dollars.
For two hundred and twenty dollars, I hold onto my camera.
I keep going, and you know, when seventeen starts, you're
gonna even if you buy it, you're gonna have to
wait a while. Luxury you don't get him at once.

(24:47):
But anyway, make a long story short. He analyzed the problem,
told me it would be an hour and ten minutes,
and sure enough shop them all came back. And it
was extraordinary, how well that was. So kudos to Tim
Cook and what he's built from Steve jobs, and amazing
that he has his job. And therefore Annah Winter, in

(25:09):
my view, deserves to keep her job forever. You know,
I often think about this, you know, I said to you,
why she have a drug, because she's great at what
she's doing. If I were to ask you, let's make
believe you're an executive. I asked you, who do you
work for? Some of you might say you work for
your supervisor. Interesting answer. Some would say I work for

(25:32):
the vice president. Some who were maybe more success ulet'
say I report to the director. Some might say the
president a company. Some might even say the CEO. And
the interesting thing about all those answers, they're all wrong.
You don't work for any of those people in a company,

(25:54):
particularly a public company. Those of you now paying attention,
those of who you are politically, those of you might
have an idea of how corporate America works. You might
say you report to a board. Yere. Again, you would
not be correct because who you report to are the shareholders.

(26:17):
The board represents the shareholders. When you work for a company,
you have only one role to deliver the financial results
that the board of directors and the CEO has told
Wall Street that you would deliver. The board of directors
has a sole covenant with the shareholders. They are there.

(26:39):
Sometimes they're ten people, twelve people, sometimes more, sometimes less.
The only reason they're there is to protect the shareholders
by understanding what is going on in the company and
making sure that everything that the management says they're going
to do, they will do, and any financial number that
is put down will be delivered, because that is the

(27:00):
role of the board. They are the middleman between we,
the investors, and privately held companies. They could be bankers.
It doesn't need to be a public company or the shareholders.
So big change is taking place right now. In Vogue
and Conde asked an a winter stepping up and is

(27:20):
made a replacement for the first time, and I'll call
it twenty five thirty forty years and it's a major
thing what it's also interesting and out and about. I
was in a CBS drug store and I happen to
notice magazines. I'm not quite sure what's going on. Maybe
because it's a September issue, it's probably what it is.

(27:40):
But Harper's Bizarre was a little more than a half
inch thick now and in the old days it was
two inches Vogue and an inch and a half of Harper's,
et cetera. But something's going on, and it was interesting
seeing print advertising again. I love magazines. I love the articles,
but I love looking at the advertising, the pictures. It's
easy and looking at bouncing on a screen and being

(28:03):
interrupted by other advertising at every second, and so many
influences and so many stimulus that you can't enjoy it.
You look at a magazine, you're looking at Alesia, and
I can safely say, without a shadow of a doubt,
almost all the ads were crap. They didn't appeal to me.
They didn't make sense, they weren't laid out well, they

(28:25):
didn't represent the brands well. They didn't speak to the
DNA of the brands. They didn't get me excited. And
as they sit here and I looked at Vogue and
I looked at Harper's, I looked at Cosmopolitan, maybe a
couple of it. Nobody is doing compelling advertising. Nobody is
on their game. I was shot by it. Now there

(28:47):
was some maybe here or there would be okay. But
you are your own best thing, and what you do
to project your image and tell your story is incredibly important.
And if you're going to spend one hundred thousand dollars
on an add in the magazine, and I'd like to
think you would think it through. I don't know who
your creative directors are. I don't know what these people
are drinking, are taking at night. But I got to

(29:09):
tell you there's something really wrong. You could put anybody's
name on any advertisement. So if you would look at
Mew mused and put Proder on it, you wouldn't know
the difference. If you take Proder and put Michael Coyes,
you wouldn't know the difference. Vetone looked like vitone. Even
Hermes was confused this time. I didn't understand the DNA.

(29:30):
You are your best thing and you're blowing it. That's
my fashion prediction for the moment. And before I go,
I'm talking about companies and being out about I've spent
a lot of time watching Apple. I spent even more
time watching Amazon. I love that company. I'm extraordinarily impressed

(29:51):
by that company. I've been at events recently and I
met some people who worked for Amazon, and I found
out some interesting things. One First of all, there is
no one who gets a big salary in Amazon. The
big opportunity is in stock. All these people, for all
these years have been getting stocked. I don't remember how

(30:13):
long ago, call of five years, maybe ten. Amazon split
twenty for one and that didn't swow the stock down.
So these employees at Amazon making handover fi. I hope
they're not selling the stock. I'm a stock older. I
can't believe how great Amazon has been and will be.
They're so genius at what they do. They're so easy
to deal with. What they do need to do is

(30:35):
get more brands. There's a website for sas now on Amazon,
which is a very interesting revelation about luxury on Amazon,
except if you look closely, they don't have all the
brands they need. My son's companies involved, but it's very
very interesting. I met Jeff Bezos right at the beginning.
I think I've told it, maybe recently came in. We

(30:57):
wanted to put our shirts on website Jeff Bezos Books.
That's when we met him. My CEO said, you know,
if they could sell books in wrapping paper and to
the thousands, and he was a book reader, as I
would I, he said, we should be able to sell
our shirts. We brought him in. We met Jeff Bezos.
He was unusual guy, happy, confident, knew his stuff, brilliant, brilliant,

(31:22):
and we told them we wanted an exclusive on all
the dress shirts on Amazon. And he explained to us,
I can't do that now that I'm telling us, I
think I've told this recently. He used an example of
American Allies when they built a website for only American
flights and said it didn't work. It's called saber. If
my moms they get s Abri. So it didn't work.
But people want to fly to Miami, they want to

(31:43):
fly to Boston, and they want to fly to London.
They want to know all the flights are available so
they can pick and choose. They don't only want to
shop American. And he said to us Mark Bruce, the
guy I was with, he said, look, we'd love to
have you on shirts. We'll give you your own dedicated
space you could put whatever brands you wanted. You are
the biggest and best shart company in the world. We

(32:03):
want you, but you can't tell us we can't have
Ralph Lauren or Michael Kore's.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Or other brands.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
We love Calvin Klein and we're glad he's part of
his stable, but we need it all to be violent.
In the end, he won, we went, he did well.
We did well, and that's how he's built that website.
So there is a great example of responsibility in corporate
editing in you are your best thing and Amazon, I
applaud you back in a minute.

Speaker 3 (32:30):
Always in fashion, I spent.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
A lifetime of my career building the van Usen brand,
and I am so pleased that they're back with us
now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again and
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be
won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear
a suit formally to go out at night or to

(32:52):
an event. Could wear a suit to the office with
or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion
trends suits are being worn Withers or mark next. The
choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that
packaging yourself this is important, does the products you package

(33:14):
and wearing a suit is one of those things that
make men look their best. Venuesing 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 wicki it makes
it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed just now,

(33:36):
this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and
comfortable is amazing and I'm so excited that the ven
Using company is involved in this new technology and is
embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget
venues and mane. It's the name with dress shirts. It's
only proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way.

(33:57):
You can find van Ues in Cool Flex Men Stretch
suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys,
they're great, you should go look at them. 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,

(34:20):
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 the interesting
thing Donna Karen had a young daughter, and she had
friends and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karon collection,
and Donna invented DKNY Donna Aaron, New York. It's an

(34:41):
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 get up in
the morning, you start to get dressed Donna Karen decan
why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those product
You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,

(35:04):
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 go from
day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You
have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna

(35:26):
Karen's casual Clothes did that under the DK and Y label.
A vast array of casual sportswear that make women look
great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you're going
to soccer games for your children, or whether you're going
out to the movies, whatever you want to do, dcn
Y Jeans, dcay Hy sportswear is there for you. That's

(35:49):
what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention DKY
active Wear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras,
the sweats. You can wear DKY Activewear 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.

(36:09):
The quality of DK why 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 day and tonight, from the week into the weekend.
DCN Why. You can find dcn Why and Macy's DKY

(36:32):
dot com.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Welcome back to it. Always in fashion, here's your host,
Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
It's September and it's Fashion Week in New York. Fashion
Week is an incredible time when you're in this industry.
I used to love fashion Week. I used to park
myself in the city, staying at apartment rent, the hotel room,
and from Sunday night to Friday night, lived and read

(37:00):
the city, lived and breed fashion Week. Now what is
fashion Week? It has two components. Basically speaking, one component,
it's a get together with all the brands, all the designers,
all the people selling product with their customers, the retailers
from all over the world. You will see the buyers
from Costco or TJ Max. You'll see the buyers from

(37:23):
London coming from Selfridges or Harrod's. You'll see Norts, jum Sacks, Bloomingdale's, Macy's.
And not only will you see them, you'll see the
most senior management of those organizations. Because this is an
opportunity during one week to get quick previews of everything

(37:43):
that is being offered in the marketplace. So even though
you're a CEO and you're managing the finances, I don't
care who you are. If you're not getting a look
at the product, you'll never be successful. You need to
know what's going on. I remember meeting the Macy's people there.
I meant them at the fashion shows everywhere. These retailers
are in to get a look, and that's the first

(38:04):
function of fashion week. Now, surprisingly you're not aside from
the hanging out, aside from the great meals, aside from
the business meetings. My favorite part of fashion week was
runway shows. I had been involved in so many runway

(38:24):
shows over the course of my career. I was in Paris,
I went to Beton, and I'd been in New York.
I went to the Armory Michael Cors. I oversaw my
own fashion shows for Donna Karen, for gkm Y, the
Calvin Klein. I was very much involved in that'llc and
I used to ask the question, what would you do?

(38:46):
How would you if you could spend between two million
dollars and ten million dollars in fifteen minutes, and you'd say,
unlet's you're board to Jeff Plaine, it's pretty impossible to do,
and it is. But if I asked you and you
spent two to ten million dollars in fifteen minutes, it's
a runway show. Runway shows are broadway shows brought down

(39:11):
to fifteen minutes, their events, their operation, their financial investments.
They aimed at people and making a statement fast, quick
and to the point. Runway shows are incredible theater and
I love them dearly. Now what is the purpose of

(39:32):
a runway show? We would get different answers if I
asked you, if you called up, what you say, Well,
one of the astute people who is not in our industry,
isn't an opportunity for all your customers to see your products,
the new line, the new collection. And I'd say yes,
But that's not the purpose of a runway show. And

(39:54):
I will tell you all our buyers, all our retailers,
everyone affiliated with this brand will sit front row at
or in the back rows or wherever they fight to
get seats to come and visit and be at these
runway shows. They will. Those are our customers. But the
real purpose of the runway show is the press. The

(40:19):
international and domestic press covering your show is worth millions
and millions and millions of dollars. And that is the
payback for runway shows, getting articles, getting your clothes picked
up in Vogue, picked up in Italian Vogue, picked up
in any of the magazines around the world priceless. All

(40:40):
the Internet site, the coverage and the influences seeing your
show and reposting them is worth millions. It's kind of
like the Golden Globes with the international foreign press is
covering movies. They come in, they see all the movies
they want and dine the celebrities they want, and done
the celebrities want and dine them. The movie reduces wanting
to all to get articles. And that's the purpose of

(41:03):
a runway show. And I gotta tell you runway shows
are real, real production. Do you ever think about what
it takes to put on a fifteen minute show. I'll
start right away and I'll give you a handsome idea
of what it is. First of all, someone has to
have a concept. The concept what is the line represent
this season and where would it make the most sense

(41:25):
to show it. DK Well, I would always pick a
situation and a place that was reminiscent of the heart
of the city, young, aged, vibrant, something cool going on,
and create that vibe, so to speak. They would pick it.
Donna Karen was always something more elegant. Calvin Klein is
always something more sexy. Because Calvin built his brand on

(41:50):
sex appeal, love and sex appeal. So every brand kicks
a venue that meaning something about the brand. When I
went to Vitona embarrassed they picked the museum because the
clothes are like museine pieces their art. Once you do it,
you have to stage the show. What do you want
the stage in the show to look like. You hire

(42:11):
a producer who has a crew. They have a point
of view. They've done this before. They know what the
sets should look like, and with the designer and the
pr people, they create a venue on what it should
look like. Something has to be built. I've been at
shows where the entire walls were covered in fabric. I
went crazy at the court. It's not enough to put
down carpet, it's not enough to cover the chairs in

(42:33):
white linen. They have to cover the walls. Not according
to me, but they did it. It's crazy the expense
and the effort that goes through. Then the models. Every
model has to be hand picked. There needs to be diversity,
There needs to be beauty. There needs to be different
color hair, everything is different, everything is sped. They're all special.

(42:55):
They all have to look good in the clothes and
of all the models. A good runway show like a
done Karen would probably have no less than twenty five,
maybe thirty models. Each one would have to be coming
and fitted with the clothes, altered with the clothes so
they look picture perfect. Now, having said that, don't forget
a collection has to be developed, It has to have

(43:16):
a theme, that has to purpose, It has to have
a runway share those pieces and that no one in
the world will ever buy or ever wear. But boyd
they create a statement? Boy do they shock the world
or do they say something? I would say of those
kind of pieces. Balance is the stuff that's on the
runway or those things they never see.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
You don't put.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Bixits on the runway. You're expected what you see them
in the show. You are wanting to make a statement.
You want to pick through the clutter, and once samples
of the are and they're altered. Talking about hair pieces,
here about all kinds of successory dresses, pants, shorts, shoes,
hand There tremendous undertaking and each of one of those

(43:55):
items that a model wears down the runways his hintsified
for the particular model. Tenruly speaking, there are thirty to
forty looks in a runway show, one at a time.
Marching down walk in that walk that those models want.
Now in the background, all the press is invited, all

(44:15):
the retailer is invited. The entire auditorium or venue is
selected by person where they should sit. You see the
chart for seat selection and negotiating that goes on. I
am representing Bloomingdale's, my customers, Bloomingdale's, your customer's North's term.
You can't put your Bloomingdale's person in front of the
north from person. That just doesn't work. You have to

(44:38):
do what we need. We need to make sure all
the customers are happy. We need to make sure they're
all sitting where they need. We're going to have celebrities.
The reason for celebrities and influencers. Anyone who want to guess, well,
the influencers will be seen and everyone will write about them.
More importantly, the influencers will write about being at the

(44:59):
show and what they've seen. Priceless. You don't get them
for free. They're priceless. I have seen sums paid to
summer Hollywood's a list to sit in the front row
and shows that are crazy. Sitting here talking about that.
Those models just showing up, those celebrities just showing up
and sitting in front row at a runway show. Make

(45:21):
more money for that one show than most people in
America make in a year. It's big business and involves
big payouts. Legal speaking legal, by the way, everything has
to be under the ausice of a contract. You have
to hire security, your fire department. You have to pass
all the legal remlications for safety. Invitations must be sent

(45:47):
in advance, everything after parties, everything you can imagine. We
have a list of people we must greet. I as
the President's CEO, made sure I had to be making
sure that I meet the powers to be. Every single
retailer in the world. They expect to come to the show,
They expect to have good seats, they expect to shake
my hand, and all of this is taking place at

(46:09):
fashion weeks capture the minds and hearts of consumers all
over the world. Now, as I said earlier, the most
important part of this fashion week is sitting with the
retailers in your showrooms, either before or after the shows.
Some shows take place at the end of market week.

(46:31):
Some people have seen the product already by working in
the stowrooms, but it doesn't change the abviance or excitement
of being in a runway show. You're getting your orders
for that season right then and there. That week priceless.
You're finding out how your business is going to do.
So when you start seeing the coverage and you start
watching what's going on, and you start seeing the celebrities,

(46:53):
they're all in New York for the for the what
for the privilege of being at a runway show. It's
good for you, it's good for them. This is a
big week in New York. This week, I've been out
and about. I've been shopping, mostly luxury. I've seen some

(47:13):
good things, I've seen some great things, and I've seen
some stupid behavior. After all is said and done, the
luxury experience is starting to wane. Luxury stocks are starting
to suffer. Consumers are spending less on luxury, They're spending
more on experiences. They're questioning where their money should go.

(47:34):
I'm addicted at the moment to nice things. I've worked
a lifetime to be able to afford them. When I
was a young man, I was intimidated I would never
walk in these stores. It took me a long way
into my career to realize that I could not only
afford to walk in those stores, but I have a
right to like anyone can. I was a problem for

(47:55):
me in my early days, I must admit, but now
I'm good with it. I made money the hard way.
I earned it. The interesting thing about New York is
it's one of the most exciting cities and luxury as
side lots going on September comes, the World Series is coming.

(48:15):
Yankees are in the hunt. Yay Yankees. But the reality
is New York this time of year is about back
to school. All the kids are back in their classes.
Will be able to judge in a few weeks whether
business is successful or not, because back to school has
always represented a huge part of the success of failure

(48:37):
of retail, hostel and luxury in the end of the year.
But that's his fashion week in New York. And as
I said, a lot goes on, a lot of preparation,
a lot of money, spend billions of dollars worth of
money over time for the police. They're everywhere, because people
are everywhere. And all I could say is is when

(48:57):
I think about all of this, I admit up front
that sometimes my behavior is less than stellar. I don't
have a filter. I say what I say instead of
what I should say. I remind you. I remind you,
the individual, you, the company. You are your best thing.

(49:18):
Don't ruin it, don't mess it up. Don't be a moron.
Ah having fun anyway. You're your best thing protected. Good night,