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 Tenor or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark
Webber. He's a self made business executive here to help you find your success
from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global
success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational. He's gone from clerk
to CEO twice. Mark is classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber. Mark
Weber, there's lots to be thankful for. I don't intend to give you
my list, and you and I can do our own lists at the right
time. The key is to recognize life isn't easy, but it's beautiful if
you take a moment to think about it. There's a lot of bad stuff
out there bringing darkness. I have to work towards finding the light. The
good news we're not alone. The bad news, we're not alone. We
may elect our leaders, but we're not making the decisions. And that's a
problem. They are and I have to have my fingers crossed that it's going
to get better. It's the time of year to be thankful. I remind
you of a quote I like on this subject. The hardest arithmetic to master
is that which enables us to count our blessings. Think about that one.
As I worked through this year this week, avoiding humans, hoping for the
best, avoiding phone calls, ignoring tests, canceling appointments, doing what I
want to do when I want to do it. Being a recluse, I
do spend time appreciating. I gave a great deal of thought about what the
show would be about tonight, what to talk about. It's been an interesting
week for Always in Fashion, signing new sponsors for next year, got some
great comments on recent shows, some insults to balance out to euphoria. The
show, I remind you, is original content. Apple Spotify categorize us as
a cultural and lifestyle show. I've learned to embrace this latitude. Even though
I viewed it as a business show. I take culture and lifestyle as a
broader opportunity for the audience. The expansion, I believe has made the show
more interesting, more relevant. In spite of this week's insults. Now,
I don't like being told what to do by anyone. You don't know what
it takes to put this show together, and I just thought of this.
I have a very close friend. Every year he organized two golf events at
Seabrook Island in South Carolina. It's a hot ticket invitation, only twenty four
guys each hoping they're going to get the infight. Each season, Spring and
four a tournament for tournamental players. Every guy who makes the cut loves the
competition. You can never convinced them. This wasn't the PGA Tour that we
weren't twenty four years old, competing for the trophy, competing for the prize
money. I, like everyone else, was thrilled to be there and get
the invite. My friend planned the entirety of the event, the dates,
the hotels, guests, houses, the rates, the golf tee times,
the teas, the teams, the timetables, all the meals. Huge undertaining.
But guys would be guys. Some had thoughts on how to improve this
tournament. Some even had complaints, and my friend, the commissioner, they
would seek out. Now when the complaints were lodged with this commission of my
friend who made all of this happen. He always had the same response,
when you get your own tournament, you can do what you want. To
those complaining about the show I had criticism last week, I won't say those
Maybe I'll say him to you. When you get your own show, you
can do what you want. Back to the point I want to make,
we're original content. I don't do sports, I don't do traffic and weather,
little politics. Only if I have a different approach to what's going on,
If it's been said before, if it's obvious what's being said, you
don't need me to repeat it, and I won't. Each week. Something
must capture my attention and drive me, compel me to talk about it.
That's what original content is. And this week, of all things, of
all people, it was Jim Carrey, actor and comedian, who caught my
attention. He announced his retirement from acting. Now, why did it catch
my attention? If your fans have always in fashion, I've never mentioned this
on air, but I'm extremely proud of our episode titles. Each week,
Jesse or I give a great deal of thought to make sure those titles are
clever, short, succinct, and interesting. There to capture your attention.
Here. I am this week observing and reading as much as I can find.
And Jim Carrey made a statement, short, succinct, interesting, and
caught my attention, and he spelled it out. I wish I did,
because he completely accurately articulated exactly how I feel where I am in my life
and my career, how I feel about the contributions I've met. It was
perfect. He was talking about me, but he was talking about himself,
and he said, I have enough, I've done enough, and I am
enough, and I'm retiring once again, where do I find inspiration? One
of my longest running friends called me this week. His name is Stuart Rosenthal,
and unlike the detractors, he said, talking and referencing last week's show,
I'm a mountain climber. He said it was brilliant. I don't know
how you do it. Mark, it's just inherent talent. You have something
most people don't have, multi talented business skills, your writer, producer and
talk show host. It's genius. Well, thank you, Stuart. And
yes, as Steve Martin said in one of my favorite movies, my favorite
comedic movie maybe of all time, when he said he was talking about himself,
and he said, sometimes I maze myself. Yep, sometimes I do.
And I'm so grateful and thank you, and this week to Jim Carrey,
thanks for your help and making always in Fashion interesting tonight because our show
is I've had enough, I done enough, I am enough. Where am
I? What am I? Who am I? I have enough? I
have my home, I have my clothes, my toys, I've saved enough.
I've done enough. I've accomplished many things. Can't say I accomplish what
I set out to do because I didn't set out to do anything, didn't
have a plan, certainly, never set my goals this high. And I
am enough. That's about me and how I feel. I was never supposed
to to have this career, no guidance, no internships, no head starts,
and yet I'm proud of what I am. Therefore, I'm ready to
talk from a different perspective on gratitude tonight. And joining me at this time
of thanks and introspection my lawyer, my co host, and most importantly,
my son, Jesse Webber. Hey, there, everybody, good to be
back. It's funny you get all these bad criticisms. I seem to only
get praise I'm always happy about that. I don't get any bad reviews.
I don't know what you're doing, but it's interesting. I think it's funny
when you talk about Jim Carrey. By the way, great quote by him.
I watched it. I heard him say it, job well done.
The problem is you're using his quote. Isn't he going to be upset?
Isn't this going to be like you took my idea? Mark? No,
because I gave him credit. I'm not plagiarizing it. I didn't make it
as if it was my idea. I gave him credit right out, and
he should be flattered like I would be if he used any of my quotes
around any of the people that do that. You are definitely expanding on the
concept, and so I like that you're doing that. Okay, got it.
Thanks. What do you think about his approach to a job or a
life well done? It makes sense Jim Carrey if you look at his whole
career, the guy is a comedic genius. He did things that nobody ever
did. I mean, the movies that he made were instant classics. He
was one of the stars of the nineties and the two thousands, and he
branched out into doing dramatic roles too, and killed it absolutely there. So
when you look back on it, of course he should say that I've done
enough. I am enough. You know. It makes complete sense from a
guy like Jim Carrey. I don't love the idea of him retiring. I
think he's got more to offer. It's funny he does the Sonic movies now
and he's still hilarious. But in light of his comments, I completely understand.
I wish him the best, you know, I still think he has
a lot to contribute, but I wish him the best. Well, he
did say if somebody handed him a golden script that came down from God,
he would consider it, and so he left a door open. And I
get it, and that's smart too. But I am curious though to hear
you apply this concept, and I'm eager to hear you apply it. The
only thing I'm gonna say is the caveat whatever you do, I don't want
to hear this. I'm not important anymore. I'm not I used to be.
Importantly. I don't like when you do it, and I don't think
some of our listeners like if it like that you do it. So by
the way you talk about criticisms you're receiving. That's one of them. They
don't like when you say it. Well, that's not carry it away.
On the criticisms I'm receiving. They're few and far between. It's my style.
I hate them, and yet I have to comment on them now and
then. Now. As far as me not being important any longer, it's
true, I don't feel that I am. And I also think it's a
natural cause of events. When you're at the top of the mountain, when
you are the big player, when you're the big cheese, when everybody's waiting
to hear what you have to say and you have thousands of people relying on
you, you're very important. I'm no longer that person. I recognize that
anybody who listens on the radio and takes time to hear of might learn from
it and benefit from it. And we hear this all the time, all
the time. People are writing me the minute they listen to my podcast,
read my book. I'm giving it to my children. They got a lot
to learn, and that's a great thing. But I realize I'm not what
I once was on that important meta. But at the same time, I
don't expect to be, says you. I think you still have a lot
to contribute and you still are important. Okay, well, thank you.
I don't necessarily agree. I think it's your time, and I guess to
say to you this way. Aren't I allowed to retire? No? What
do you mean? No, I haven't worked hard enough. You've definitely worked
hard, but you're not there yet. There's still so much left for you
to do. You have too much to say, too many lessons to give
to people who need to hear it. You got funny stories to tell.
I get to work with you, so that's always a joy. And by
the way, who are you kidding? You still have the drive to work,
the drive to do things. You have this boundless energy. You're never
sleepy, so give me a break. So when I'm on my porch looking
out the water or at the trees, I'm not allowed to do this.
I gotta keep working. First of all, you don't have a porch,
So there's number one time out. What do you call in the back of
my house? If not a porch, it's not really a porch. It's
like a deck. Okay, you the same principle, it's a terrace.
You got a terrace. Thank you. I'm not allowed to sit on my
terrace in my rocking chair and just relax. You don't have a rocking chair,
so let's calm down. You know what it is. There's a great
scene from a movie called Something's Got to Give with Jack Nicholson and he sells
all his businesses. He goes to a tropical island and he's gonna, you
know, retire right, basically live out his life on the beach. And
he's talking to Diane Keaton. She goes, that's where you've been for the
last six months. He goes, no, I was there for six hours.
And he could only be there for six hours before he realized he had
to come back and do other things. You're the exact same way. You
would not be able to stay on that porch for two minutes. I'm very
very good at being alone. I'm very very good at keeping myself. I'm
very good, if not expert, at being reclusive. I like to read,
I like to watch movies. I like to I like to I like
to. What I don't like to is being told right now that I can
never retire. I just don't think you like being told what not to do.
You want to come with it on your own choice. But look,
I don't think you're stopping. You're not stopping. Too important to stop.
Well, if that's what you say, I'll say the following your two caveats.
I will try very hard between now and the end of this show not
to once refer to myself again as not being important. And I should point
out to everyone that, on the subject of continuing, we just got a
bunch of new sponsors. Next year. We're fully subscribed. That's amazing.
See congratulations, Yeah, I guess so, okay, okay, so where
are we here? I have to say that tonight's show is I have enough?
I'd done enough and I am enough. I started to think about I
have enough. I live such a full career life. It's been amazing money.
I have enough, But that's not how I want to judge where I
am. When I say I have enough, toys only take you so far.
I work for a public company that stock was languishing in single digits.
We were the fourth horse in a three horse race. I worked for the
fourth largest shirt company in the United States, but we owned a two percent
share of market. The number one shirt company, Arrow owned twenty six percent,
Manhattan owned fifteen percent. In the private label industry owned seventy percent,
and we were left for two percent. And yet I saw people that were
believing in the brand van Usen, believing in the leadership of the company,
that wanted us to grow, wanted us to make a contribution. I was
there. I started as a kid knowing nothing and became the president and CEO
of the shirt company. We became the number one shirt company. This is
amazing. The people everyone wanted to live. The senior management either built a
plan or stumbled on it or envisioned it, but whatever the combination of it
was, it worked. We ended up buying the Arrowshirt Company. Manhattan disappeared
private label styled firm, but we became the number one show company in the
world. And it was such a great feeling of accomplishment to live through this
and watch us and our stock not only doubled and tripled, it split and
doubled and tripled. And it was an amazing run in amazing time. In
the first twenty five years of my life and career. It was unbelievable.
Until such time that the current management of the company, the new CEO,
the outgoing CEO struggled with the core businesses the company owns Calvin Cleine and Tommy
Hill figure with the core businesses they struggled with. They didn't have a vision,
they didn't know how to execute. And while I never said PVH would
have been better if I was there, Eh, you could build a case.
Then when I left over time, something was lost. But that's not
what this is about. Because I had enough in that company. I'll tell
you. When the present company announced that they were selling the van using company
and the izod company, it was the second Lodger's reaction. We've got to
social media. Eight thousand people commented on my show, our show where we
talked about you failed, there's no way around it. The first largest reaction
we got was twelve thousand people with Jesse and I announced that my wife and
his mom passed away. Twelve thousand people. But only second eight thousand people
got crazed when they heard that the van user his company was sold for scraps.
I hated it, but it was part of life. As I talk
about, and on the subject, I have enough. Even more importantly than
money, let me tell you what I have. I learned so much about
people. I realized how important value use were in life than in business.
I realized how important it was for me to build character in the scheme of
things. More than anything. I learned respect for institutions, for people,
for teams, for brands, for companies, for customers. I learned how
to navigate through corporate life. I learned how to have corporate responsibilities. I
learned skill sets that would take me anywhere even now. Pound for pound,
I know more about the verse operating issues than anyone in the fashion, luxury
and retail industry. I could go up against on Jeopardy in any company,
from inception to execution, from design to implementation, from sourcing to warehouse and
distribution. Pound for pound, there's no one better than me. And when
it comes to people, I am an expert world class with world responsibilities,
having traveled around the world negotiating with people, learning that you can be as
tough as you want, but you have to remember everyone has to win in
a negotiation. So what have I had When I say I have enough from
money to character, take a break back in a minute. Always in fashions,
I've been shopping for fun lately, and while I'm out, I always
look at men's and I look at women's what's going on? And I was
particularly interested in dk Y because of their sponsorship of the show. I went
downstairs at Macy's thirty fourth Street to look around and I saw k Y active
Wear, and I promise you, ladies, it is sensational. From the
sports bras to the crop tops, to the leggings and the sweats. It
really is a great look. And dk Y had begun as an all American
brand dressing casual clothes engines, and the stuff looks incredible and right now the
colors and the styles is so exciting that I feel great about the company.
I always do. I wear the men's where all the time. I've had
situations where I've gone to big events and been interviewed and TV or the radio,
and someone comes up to me in the microphone and like they always do,
who you're wearing? And here I am, this big shot with big
company, and they say, well, I'm wearing a DKY and they laugh
and say, no, you're not. I actually have one on the internet
where you could see me. They asked me what suit I'm wearing, and
I say d and why and open it up and there's the DKY label great
fashion, it fits well, it looks right. It's designed to make you
comfortable in the city, goes from day and tonight. You could wear it
in the morning, you wear it in the afternoon, and you look cool
at night as well. It's great for the office, it's a great for
leisure. But I'm talking about the DKY activewear. The first time I really
became aware of that, Jesse and I were up at Sirius Radio. He
was doing a job for Serious he does Dan Abrams show, he fills in
on the Potus Network, and we were in the lobby and this hip hop
group came up. Well, this really great looking Latino singer girl Young beautiful,
and she was wearing a DKY sports bar and I said to myself,
this is amazing. Actually went to Macy's to see it, and I'm excited
about the brand. And I tell you what, ladies, dk Y always
has great fashion for work, always wonderful dresses and things that you'd wear.
Their accessories are great, the shoes are always very cool. But active wear
in particular right now looks sensational and being that everyone's at leisure and active where
it's a great time. DKY go take a look. Been 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 one on multiple occasions,
in multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to go out at night
or to an event. You could wear a suit to the office with or
without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends suits one with
turtlenecks or mark next. The choices are endless and every one of them looks
right. You could really really look the part. I believe that packaging yourself
this is important, does the products you package 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 stretched 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, 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 made it's name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the suit business
follows strongly in its way. You can find van Ues and Kulflex Men's stretch
suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them. Welcome back to Always in Fashion. Here's
your host, Mark Webber. While living life, reading, writing, watching
the world go by, being my recrusive self, something caught my attention of
all things. Jim Carrey announced his retirement from acting, and it was brilliant
in what he had said. I wished I would have thought of it,
because it described exactly how I look at myself and where I am in life.
I have enough, I've done enough, I am enough. The idea
of packaging this succinct statement means so much to me. It got me thinking.
I talked about in chapter one, the fact that when I say I
have enough, it's not just about money. It's the skills, the education
that I've acquired, my understanding of people, how I related them, my
appreciation for the successes that I saw from great people, from great teamwork,
from people believing in a brand and wanting to win. I have enough.
Then I started to think, and here I am now talking about chapter two,
I've done enough. When I left v and Eusen, I thought of
retiring. Had thirty solid years with twenty five different assignments in my first twenty
five years, accomplished incredible things. I began as a kid, as I
said earlier, and turned into a CEO, a board member, a president.
I learned so much, and then, through circumstances that I don't choose
to talk about right now, some great things happened. But I ended up
leaving the company, and I thought about retiring because I said in chapter one,
I have enough. I could have retired and never looked back, and
I thought real hard about that. But I wasn't going to allow three board
members who sat on the PVH board who no longer loved me, to determine
the future of my career. Now, I've got to tell you, it
is not easy coming back. But when you think about having to come back
or wanting to come back at the top of the pyramid as a CEO,
it's near impossible. But what came to mind is George Patten. It's not
how far you fall, but it's how high you bounce back. And that's
what drove me. As I'm sitting there watching the world go by, I
realized I was too young, had too much left to do, and I
wanted to do more. I had not done enough, and I ended up,
through some luck, some inspiration, some hard work, keeping my eyes
open and having this desire to make a statement interviewing at LVMH, the largest
most successful luxury fashion retail conglomerate in the world. The hardest arithmetic the mass
is that would enable you to count your blessings, and that's what I'm doing
here. I went to LVMH. I was a CEO of their corporate office
LVMH Inc. In the United States, responsible for the real estate. I
was responsible for human resource. I was responsible for the legal team, all
of them reporting into me to one degree another. I had something contribute and
always plenty to learn. I ran multiple companies for the group and it was
fascinating and exciting. But what did I bring to the table. You know,
when you work for a company, there is only one reason the companies
exist, Jesse. I always love asking you this, Why do companies exist?
It's a great question. Some people will say, oh, you know,
we want to put out a great product for the world. Others will
say, we want to build up our brand. The only reason, the
number one reason, is to make money. That's it. And anybody that
tells you differently is not a serious person in business. Thank you, Jesse.
I couldn't agree with you more. That's a lesson I got from Seymour
Phillips, the grandson of the founder of Phillips van Using, when he asked
myself and my compatriot right at the beginning, we saw him in the hallway
at the company, said I gotta ask you a question, Guys, why
do you think we're all here. Well, we're here, mister Phillips,
to build the greatest company in the wrong he said, No, my friend
said, we're here to build the most powerful brand. No, we're here
to be successful. He said, what does that mean. There's only one
reason we're here. It's to make money, and everything you do has to
be focused on making money. And with that as a backdrop, I joined
LVMH spent eight years there. Came in with a lot of skills, but
was there for a reason I was the fourth CEO in six years since they
made the acquisition. There were three CEOs before me. Each one of them
was very gifted and very capable. One of them was the former CEO of
Sacks Fifth Avenue. He understood retailing cold. He never was involved with a
wholesale business. We had to turn around and sell people who had to beg
for the orders rather than you sit there be Sacks Fifth Avenue like the Emperor
in Rome with his finger up or down making decisions. He had actually sell
goods. Secondarily, there was an amazing guy who came from Georgie o'manni with
luxury skills, but he too didn't have the experience of what it takes to
do big American brands in America that also operated in the rest of the world.
Unless but at least there was attorney who was an expert in licensing and
international licensing, but he too didn't have the skill sets required to manufacture,
to understand what took to be successful in this complicated global operating company, and
yours truly did. That's why Elvimh hired me. I'll never forget they were
talking about how they were in the Americas taken with Ralph Lauren and that company,
and they readily admitted that they wanted to hire the CEO of Ralph,
but he wasn't interested. And I remember saying in my first interview to the
president with the managing director of LVMH, well you've decided you can't have the
number one company, but you can have the guy who oversees number two,
Calvin Klein. I was the president CEO of that company. I know what
you want it, Ralph, and I can deliver it very compelling argument.
But that's again for another time. My largest area of responsibility was to come
in and turn the Donnakaron Dky Company into a profitable entity for the group.
And because I had enough. As I'd mentioned in chapter one, I wasn't
there for the money. I wasn't there for ego. I wasn't there other
than to prove that I had more in me, and I had more to
give, and I had more than I wanted to accomplish. And what could
be better than the world's largest luxury company, owner of sixty two brands around
the world in the globe, and having a company that they purchased six years
early. They couldn't seem to get right what an opportunity. Well, it
was a little bit about the money. Well, always about the money.
They didn't pay you in IOUs. No, they were very very very very
generous. And you know what, like in most capitalism, I earned every
penny. I delivered what they needed and I did well for it. So
chapter two helped me on the scale of things of having enough. But thank
you for pointing that out. I realized when I joined the Donna Karen company
Decay why I always said that this is one of the great brands in America.
I had been the licensee for that company when we launched DK and Y
dress shirts, and I tell you it was the largest quickest designer growing company
in the history of shirts in America. I saw it firsthand how powerful that
brand was. So I had a history to it. I had an infinity,
and I had a respect for Donna Karen, the woman achieved, and
I was thrilled to be a part of that. So here I am joining
a company elim h who really did everything well, and here I was signed
to one of their problem children. And I had to figure it out.
And when you talk to companies that are failing, and you listen closely and
you keep the mouth close. You have to know when to talk and when
to listen. And I joined this company realizing that there was more that I
didn't know than I did know. And I was very, very careful when
I joined. I knew with in joining a company, I needed to develop
a mantra. I needed to develop something that would work for everyone. As
I became wise, I realized that well done is better than well said.
I call on Benjamin Franklin for that on a night I'm being appreciative. That
was his quote, well done is better than well said. But I joined
this company and I realized that something was wrong. First week, I started
interviewing various different people from all the management positions, and the most popular sentence
to everything I asked, well, can I be honest with you? Let
me be honest with you. Is it okay if I was honest with you?
And I started getting crazy and I said, what kind of what does
that mean? Can I be honest with you? No? Lie to me.
It got so bad that I called my assistant in. I had a
huge chafing dish that I acquired over the years and put it in the center
of my conference room, and I told the management team where they are together
going through one of our exercises, when everyone was saying, can I be
honest with you? From here on in, anybody says can I be honest
with you? They put a dollar. After one week, it became five
dollars. They didn't learn their lesson. We filled up that chafing dish,
that bowl in a month. It was crazy. We gave them money to
charity. I realized when people are saying that they're uncomfortable, they don't feel
good chatting among themselves. Either they don't trust the management and they don't trust
each other. The second third I learned when I was talking to him goes
back to what we said a few moments ago. They thought their job was
to build the best brand in the world. They thought their job was to
be a homage to the Donna Karen person into the company, and it wasn't.
They didn't think about making money. They didn't understand that everything you do
to build your brand is marketing, and the sole reason to market is to
increase the value of your brand. And the reason you're increasing the value of
the brand is that you could make profits. And here's this company with six
years, three CEOs never made a profit. Or certainly never made the profits
that LVMH thought they should. And they called on me to do this,
and I was fanatical about giving them what they needed for giving me my second
career. So I watched, I listened, and I learned, and once
I knew what I wanted to do, once I knew what had to be
done to fix the company, I hired an outside consultant, told them what
I was trying to achieve, told them the reasons, the rationale. I
gave them my plan and asked them to professionally package it for me. What
you say is always important, but how you package what you say is even
more important. And I had these people come in to help me package this
and present it to LVMH, the finest luxury retail fashion company in the world.
I spent three months observing this company, working with them, never giving
them the plan, answering all the questions, providing a source of information,
providing rock hard positions on whatever made sense. I became resolute. If it
didn't make sense, if it didn't build a company, if it didn't of
the value, if it didn't build profits, the answer would be no.
I knew also that wise men speak when they have something to say. Fools
speak because they have to say something. I was very careful on what I
laid out, and with management and with this consulting company, we put down
a plan on paper for turning that company into a profit sector the likes of
which LVMH had never seen. On an execution side, I strengthened on licensing.
Core Licensing is those things you do to extend your brand that will provide
goodwill in categories that make sense for your brand that you do not have the
expertise. So it could be fragrance, it could be watchmaking, it could
be sunglasses. These are fashion accessories that sell like crazy. You find experts
in these business, you rent them the brand, they pay you for use
rent if you will, called royalty, and you go out and do it
and you make tons of money. When I came in, I found that
some of the licensees in the company shared my vision for the company. Either
they were in or they were out. If they were out, I replaced
them. Had one licensing and Intimate Apparel. Liked the small nature of the
business. It was the star at the top of the Christmas tree, as
they explained it. That's not what I wanted. I wanted the Christmas Tree,
I wanted the volume. I wanted to compete with Calvin Klein. Are
you willing to do that with me? No? I replaced them with a
company that said they understood and good and we did that. I changed our
model to a profit model. Don't tell me how good it feels hiring the
finest models in the world. The most exciting actors and actress is to sit
at our runway show. Don't do it to me unless you are going to
prove to me that we're going to do more business. I don't want the
greatest colors in the world if they don't represent the greatest sales business. There's
one reason to be in business, to make money. And that's what I
was focused on. Over the course of my eight year tenure at LVMH and
Donna Karen, every year we had profit records. Even in two thousand and
eight, going back to the recession, we excelled. I remember getting a
call from the managing director to us here in the United States would be the
president of the corporation. He asked me, what do I think about what's
going on? And my exact quote was, well run companies thrive in difficult
times. He said, how can you tell me that Mark? I said,
look, we may not sell as much, but the reality is in
business you make more on what you don't sell than what you sell. Keep
your inventories lean. Don't have surpluses that you have to give away or self
for nothing that you have to discount to Tjmax or Ross stores. You have
inventory, they own you. You sell it below course, you lose your
money. Manage your inventory, put particular intention on the best products. Find
core items that are cleverly disguised as fashion. The little Black dress is one
of the best examples of that in women's wear. I learned that along the
way, the same way white dress shirts or blue dress shirts, or khaki
pants or simple genes. That's where you make your money. You put it
in a store, the customer buys it, you replenish, it doesn't go
out of style. You don't have to mark it down. You don't take
losses. Manage your inventory, have an eye on your markups and your profits.
Do not let anyone bully you. You have great brand. You sell
it where you want to sell it, when you want to sell it.
And explain to him that well run companies thrive in this business environment. One
of my great stories that I'll elucidate in another time. A week later,
letter comes out from one of the managers, one of the senior most people
in the corporation, with the heading well run Companies Thrive in difficult environments.
It was a rara speech to give to the sixty two CEOs and presidents of
the various different divisions. I laughed to myself, never said a word until
I got in the back of a limousine with that CEO and I said,
you know, I really liked that letter. The headline sounded familiar, and
he laughed. He said, you're right, Mark, it was you,
and I thank you for it. By the way, this is why I
had a concern about using Jim Carrey's quote for the show. Well I gave
credit this case, just knowing that he knew was enough for me. I
didn't need the accolades other than from the managing director of the company. That's
good enough for me. So my mantra at LVMH was well done, was
better than well said. At the end of my eight year ten I realized
that LVMH and Donna Karen didn't belong together. We're American company that had a
composite of luxury and modern basic product and LVMH was really about luxury. They
really didn't want companies with components. They wanted luxury companies. And when I
was convinced they wanted to sell it, I reminded them what they said the
week I joined the company, that this brand is bigger than this business,
that I am going to build you a huge business, and if and when,
at the end of my tenure you don't want this company more, I
will sell it for you at more money than you ever dream And I give
you my word of honor out there that I introduced LVMH to the company that
purchased them, and they paid what was a great price for that company,
and they are doing extraordinarily well. And that is G three, my title
sponsor they owned Donna Karen Dky. And I got to tell you, as
I said negotiating, I have to remember both sides have to win. In
this case. I one LVMH one and G three to one. And as
I talk about tonight's show, I have enough. I've done enough, and
I am enough. I'll tell you between what I did at Venues and and
what I did at LVMH I've done enough. I'll take a break. We'll
be back in a minute. Always in fashion, fall is now upon us,
spring is gone, summer is over, and I'm tending to be a
little upset, Except the four brings new challenges and new differences and a great
new environment for us to thrive and enjoy. I, for one, love
the change of the seasons because of the new fashion, and I am excited
about my favorite brand, Iszot and what they bring to the party. When
I used to work at the company and we were reinventing Iszot, which had
always been a golf and tennis brand, we brought it to new heights,
new dimensions. I thought Isaac would be practical in skiing, not necessarily for
on the slopes, but for EPRISKI. What do people wear when they're relaxing,
when they're in those hotels? What are you doing when you're at home?
What are you wearing to the movies? What are you wearing to go
out at night when you're no longer wearing your spring clothes? And here we
are in full and I can tell you what it is. Polar flees,
French dairy, different kinds of fleeces, color block, colors, sweaters,
great, great long sleeve items come into play, and with ISAID, they
were always about color and being colorful. I love what the brand represents,
whether we're talking about color block or solid colors. Always with the logo,
ISAAC brings a dimension to sportswear fashion at affordable prices that you can't find anywhere.
And at the same time, it's all color related, from the woven
shirts, from the nit shirts to the matching sweaters or the sweaters that will
look great layering over these shirts. Always matching pants, beginning with the core
color of khaki, working into the navies and the blacks. ISOD is a
spectacular brand all about colors, and launching in full are the new fall shades
you'll see in the stores. Listen, guys, Isod's a great brand.
It's energetic, it's fun to be around, and it makes you feel and
look your best. And now there's a color palette change and you get to
change with it. ISOD. Come take a look. J C. Penny
Cohal's and online ISID What a history. How much I enjoy this brand.
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld was renowned for
his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit
comes to America through car Lagafeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections,
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also offers a range of watches, eyewear and premium fragrances. You can explore
the car LAGOFL collection at car Lagofelparis dot com. But it's more than that,
I for one, love to shop. I love going around and seeing
what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make me feel good to
wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate
it and they look amazing. If you want to look right, you want
to have clothes that fits you well. You want to look like you're wearing
something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours. You can find
it at very affordable prices at Macy's Orcarlagofel dot Comparis. The women's ready to
wear fashion is extraordinary, as well as the handbigs and the shoes, I
for one, wear men's clothes unlike my appreciation of women's clothes. I'm a
modern guy. I want to look current, I want to look the way
I want to feel. I go out at night, I'm in black and
Carlagofel is my buddy. Cloths are great, they fit great, and they
have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on the sleeve or button
at the neck or on the shoulder. There's a lot of details that go
into Carlagofel because he's always been he's bad, been one of the world's great
designers, and this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak enough
about it except to say to you, you want to feel good about yourself.
You want to know that you're dressing properly. You want clothes that fits
you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot com. Welcome back
to Always in Fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber. If you're lucky
enough to have listened to the show from the beginning, I think you're one
of the few, or maybe the many, or maybe the millions, so
have the opportunity to listen to something that I think is very clever. Of
all things. This week, reading, watching Living, life. I came
across a quote from Jim Carrey, actor comedian, where he mentioned and he
set out right, I'm retiring. I have enough, I've done enough,
I am enough, talking about what he's acquired, what he's accomplished, and
what he feels like as a human. And I was taken with this quote
because it was a perfect way to articulate and sum up a man, and
frankly, for me, it's exactly where I am. I've been thinking over
the course of time about retiring. I've said it to myself. I've done
the accounting, I have enough, I've done enough, I've proved enough.
I am feeling good about myself. And I caught my attention and meant so
much to me. I turned it into Tonight's show, Chapter one, I
have enough, Chapter two, I've done enough. In chapter three, I
am enough. You talked about something before you're alone time. I think you
are a master at being good doing things on your own. I don't know
if it was watching James Bond all those years or reading the books, but
he spends so much of his time in isolation, going to restaurants, doing
things himself. You're very good at that. Not everybody can do that well.
I like my own counsel. Number one. Number two you forget when
you were young, I spent an inordinate amount of time traveling around the world,
and in my early days, of course, I traveled with very diverse
groups of people. Everywhere I went, I either traveled with people, or
when I arrived at a location, I had a foreign office and a group
of people who had met me and take me through what needed to be done.
As I got older, and during my time in LVMH, when you
got to benefit by traveling with me, we were alone. I got to
a point where I felt I would be more efficient traveling by myself than being
with a group of people having to compromise on my time what I wanted to
talk about. I didn't want that anymore, and I did it by myself.
So I went from always traveling alone, having dinners alone, being on
airplanes alone, and then meeting up with people to being on my own.
And I enjoyed that time and it became very productive. I'm not one to
sit there and go duh. If I'm watching a movie, I want to
learn, I want to enjoy, I want to get something out of it.
I'm reading constantly, I always say that success in life or in business
comes from curiosity. There's never a moment in time that I'm not interested in
learning something, And you're right, Jesse. I've gotten very very comfortable being
alone, and I'm very very happy doing what I want when I want.
I've mastered the art of being alone. I am never ever once hesitant being
in a movie theater, being at a dinner table, being at a bar
by myself, not seeking out people to talk to. I am enough.
I am happy, which is the chapter we're discussing now on Jim Carrey.
I am enough when I think about what I've done in life, when I've
accomplished, I have had an incredibly diverse list of responsibilities. I've done things
that include planning, design, sourcing, manufacturing, on and on and on
every discipline. I understand the law from a layman's perspective. I understand manufacturing
from a layman's perspective. I understand warehouse and distribution computer technology because I was
involved in all of this and it all became part of me. I'll never
forget one time and I was looking for a job, and I want to
do this. Number two largest apparel company in the United States, to see
if I could come in. The CEO just retired and he recommended me to
fill his slot. And I was sitting with a headhunter in their firm,
Spencer Stewart. I'll never forget. I don't want to mention the woman's name.
And during the course of my interviewing with her, she was incredibly rude.
She took phone calls, she answered her text she was paying attention to
me. Half asked she was there, but she wasn't there. And I
remember saying to myself, this is not being taken seriously. This is such
disrespect. And as I was sitting there, I had a decision to make.
Should I feel bad about myself or should I count my blessings? And
as I sat there, I realized, during the course of the interview,
no matter what subject she raised and asked a question about in between her Texas
and her phone calls, whether it was finance, I had the answers,
Whether or not it was international negotiations, I had the answer. Whether it
was decision making a way to manufacture. I had the answers, whether it
was retail and what stores my brand should be in. No matter what the
subject matter, down to what are the most important items that a women's sportswear
company should have or a men's sportswear company should have. I had all the
answers, and at that time, I realized, you can take the job
away from me, but you can't take what I've learned, my education and
my skills. And that brought me to new heights. So when I think
about am I enough me the individual? I've learned enough, I've done enough.
I am so happy with what I managed to achieve in my life and
my career. Now I have two amazing sons, one of which you listened
to with me on the radio, Jesse Weber, who's doing amazing things changing
careers from law to entertainment, being on the radio as a host on various
different stations, being on television a news nation, being the host of Law
and Crime Network, unbelievable success. My other son, Jared, works for
a company called Authentic Brands Group. He's risen from a licensing attorney to president
of their Lifestyle, the largest division representing some say, eighty percent of the
entire thirty billion dollar group, relatively overnight. So I'm proud of my sons.
I'm proud of my wife, who was an amazing, amazing woman.
We lost her five years ago, much too young. But she made this
family into what it was. She made me into what I was. She
taught me what right from wrong. I was a baby when we first got
married. She was maturre even though she was younger. What she did for
our family, set the goals, set the rules, set the right and
wrong was amazing. And it turned me into what I think is the right
kind of father. And in turn, what has it done to me?
It taught me again how important people are. Taught me how important it was
to mentor people, how important it was that when someone asks you a question,
you can give him the answer. But his famous loud sue, the
Chinese Feloficis said, give a man of fish'alid for a day, teach
a man of fish, he'll ead for a lifetime. I became a mentor.
When someone needed answers, I gave them stories like I do to you
here. I wrote two books, and both of those books, particularly the
last one, Always in Fashion, is inspiration for people. It's lessons learned
through example. I am told that every time an adult reads that book,
they give it to their children. I've been told thousands of times that have
happened I've been written to to this day. The book came out in twenty
fifteen. I'm still getting lessons that I gave it to my son, or
I gave it to my daughter. So most importantly, I impressed my wife
that I'm a good guy. I've been a role model to my children.
And then, after turning thousands and thousands of lemons to lemonade, I made
a decision to leave everything that I knew to become a radio and podcasts talk
show hosts. What do I know about it? Nothing? What do I
know about gaining sponsorships? Nothing? What did I know about organizing radio and
podcast shows? Nothing? What did I know about writing? What did I
know about developing content? What did I know about getting guests? What do
I know about picking subjects? What did I know about any of this?
The answer was nothing? And yet here we are, in our eighth year
on the radio, on the largest radio station in New York, maybe in
the world. I'm told WYNS WINS because they do news and weather constantly,
is the biggest radio station in the country. But from talk radio, w
R is right up there, the voice of New York. And we are
here in my eighth year. So when I realize I've done all of this
and I'm talking about chapter three, I am enough. I feel great about
what and who I am. I one hundred percent agree with you. What
you've done is incredible. I'm always of the opinion that you have so much
more to offer. But the first thing that I thought about when I was
hearing you say this, do you remember back on Saturday Night Live when they
had that guy who would look in the mirror and he goes, I am
enough, I'm great. You know what I'm talking about. No, but
I'm listening Robert Smiley, the guy with the sweater, like I am enough,
I'm great. Well, if you say it that way, I feel
like Robert de Niro and Raging Bull looking in the mirror and fighting. You
know. That's what I feel like I'm doing right now. Talking about movies,
when you were saying how you made it to the top, took a
step back, had to make it to the top again. That's like any
boxing movie. That's like, you know, you achieved the pinnacle of what
you're trying to do, get knocked off, then you make it up again.
It's so hard to do that and not everybody can do that, So
I always gave you credit a lot for that part of your career, which
was a little bit of a transition for a lot of us. You know.
I mentioned my friend Stuart Rosenthal before. One of my favorite times with
him is when we were young in our careers. Every day where you would
have lunch to get if we could, we'd take a walk to Central Park.
We would eat in the Blarney Stone to save money. But during the
walk he would tell me what's going on good with his company or not going
on well, and I would talk about my aches and pains and the disappointments
I had. And there was one particular case where someone was promoted ahead of
me. I thought I looked better, I thought I acted better. I
thought my approach was better. I thought I was more talented, and yet
he got promoted. And in hindsight, he deserved to be. It's the
powers to be that determine he deserved it. Not me, But my friend
Stewart looked at me and he said, you're looking at it all wrong.
This is a prize fight, Mark, this is the second round, it's
not the fifteen round. You're going to go the distance you have talent in
so many different eras. Talent always wins. You cannot lay down. This
fight isn't over. You're coming back. Never forgot it. Great lesson.
With that as a backdrop tonight's show, I want to thank Jim Carrey again
without plagiarizing. I have to give him credit. Caught my attention so clearly
this week. I have enough, I've done enough, and I am enough.
Hope you enjoy good night,