Speaker 1: This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber. The
Speaker 1: show is sponsored by G three of Parol. The views
Speaker 1: expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor
Speaker 1: and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor or iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made business executive
Speaker 1: here to help you find your success from the New
Speaker 1: York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His
Speaker 1: global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational.
Speaker 1: He's gone from clerk to CEO twice. Mark is classic
Speaker 1: proof that the American dream is alive. And well, here's
Speaker 1: your host of always in Fashion, Mark Weber.
Speaker 2: Mark Weber, Everyone's replaceable. Corporate rules say everyone can be replaced.
Speaker 2: Have a question, then, whyrah corporate office so highly paid.
Speaker 2: Let's come back to in another time. One lesson I
Speaker 2: learned the first time I demanded a race that was
Speaker 2: really ugly. I learned quickly you don't make demands. But
Speaker 2: that's not the point. My exact quote to the executive
Speaker 2: vice president of the company at the time, I'm as
Speaker 2: good as anybody in this company at their job. And
Speaker 2: he looked at me and said, is that right? Mark?
Speaker 2: As executive VP of this organization. I'm in the position
Speaker 2: to know that you're not. I don't know where you
Speaker 2: get off even saying it. I suggest you regroup, come
Speaker 2: back to me when you're ready to act intelligently. I
Speaker 2: remind you mark, no one's irreplaceable. Ooh, yikes, that's a threat.
Speaker 2: I learned my lesson on demands. More importantly, it taught
Speaker 2: me to think. Taught me to think about everything I
Speaker 2: said in the future. Anyway, it's so easy to second guess.
Speaker 2: Everyone could be a Monday morning quarterback, know the right
Speaker 2: moves after the game is played. Everyone has answers once
Speaker 2: it's done. However, being out front and understand what needs
Speaker 2: to be done, that's a different question. That takes visionaries
Speaker 2: to know what's happening in the future. It takes a
Speaker 2: visionary to look around quarters. It takes very talented people
Speaker 2: to understand where is the future? Where is it going?
Speaker 2: One has to wonder at the moment, do we see
Speaker 2: around corners, do we understand where we're going? Do we
Speaker 2: envision the unintended consequences of our actions. I've often explained
Speaker 2: the law of unintended consequences, and the way I do
Speaker 2: it is very simple. Picture yourself standing in front of
Speaker 2: a body of water, and you throw a pebble into
Speaker 2: the water, which the pebble disappears immediately, which is the
Speaker 2: decision you make the pebble, But the ripples go on
Speaker 2: and on and on, which is the outcome of you
Speaker 2: throwing that pebble in the water. The decisions being made
Speaker 2: here and now as relates to the future are a
Speaker 2: big question mark in our lives. One thing, current events,
Speaker 2: the tariffs, the future of our country will have many
Speaker 2: unintended consequences. The key, the key is to think through
Speaker 2: the decisions we're making before you make them, and we
Speaker 2: understand what will affected by the situation. I can tell
Speaker 2: you the power, retail and luxury world is in chaos
Speaker 2: and there's a probable now. This approach to life creates
Speaker 2: a situation where business life is always unfinished. One of
Speaker 2: the great choices in life. You never really know where
Speaker 2: you're going. There's always surprises, some good and some bad.
Speaker 2: But planning and understanding of the outcome what you decide
Speaker 2: is critical. Jack wallsh famous CEO of General Electrics, said,
Speaker 2: and I plan for the worst and I hope for
Speaker 2: the best, because whatever you plan by the nature of
Speaker 2: the word plan is unfinished. Ah. Yes, they say everyone
Speaker 2: is replaceable. I've always wondered whether that's the truth, in
Speaker 2: spite of the norm understanding, the collective wisdom. Sure is
Speaker 2: everyone replaceable? Sure? At the moment again current events, the
Speaker 2: president stands at the precipice to be the greatest president
Speaker 2: in modern times. President Trump, you looked invincible. You're unreplaceable. However,
Speaker 2: you're blowing with the tariffs. It's an unforced errup. You
Speaker 2: have to straighten things out with China. Please talk to China,
Speaker 2: talk to g privately. Get this behind us. You're right,
Speaker 2: you need to hear it. You're right. However, the execution
Speaker 2: is horrible. Now I'll get back on point because I
Speaker 2: don't want to talk about that anymore. There are some
Speaker 2: people I believe that are irreplaceable. I know you could
Speaker 2: argue it. It's the correct business approach. I tell you,
Speaker 2: when I was CEO or a president, I always said
Speaker 2: everyone who's repriceable. You have to take that position. It's
Speaker 2: the only logical place to make your stand. Anything else.
Speaker 2: You sound a full But when you lose a good person,
Speaker 2: when you lose someone who's special, when you lose someone
Speaker 2: who has a spe skill set. When you lose someone
Speaker 2: who makes a contribution, a difference, a light goes out,
Speaker 2: a star goes doc. Something is missing. Yes, you'll find
Speaker 2: someone else. You'll find someone to do the job differently,
Speaker 2: and yes they may do it well. You find a
Speaker 2: person in life who might suppress the person that left.
Speaker 2: But you can't take the idea that everyone is replaceable.
Speaker 2: It's just not true, even though it's the common law,
Speaker 2: the unspoken word, those things you need to say in
Speaker 2: front of your board or other management people. Everyone is replaceable,
Speaker 2: and it's true, but it doesn't mean that the new
Speaker 2: person is of equal value. Tonight, I'm going to evaluate
Speaker 2: irreplaceable versus replaceable. I can talk about the beginning with
Speaker 2: the LVMH in mind when I started my role there,
Speaker 2: or the men's industry position at COVID, or the reaction
Speaker 2: to Trump on the Campan Trail, but it comes down
Speaker 2: to the idea of replace versus Irraoble I have something
Speaker 2: to say now, I, for one, have developed a purchasing
Speaker 2: sickness over time. I used to be very careful of
Speaker 2: every purchase I bought. I remember one day I was
Speaker 2: working at a company. I was working with a team
Speaker 2: of people. It was casual Friday, and I was wearing khakis,
Speaker 2: black swede loafers, white T shirt, black sweater, and I
Speaker 2: commented to myself, you know, I like the way looking funny.
Speaker 2: I go into a design meeting and one of the
Speaker 2: women says that look is great for you. I said, well,
Speaker 2: thank you. I bought the sweater at the Gap. I
Speaker 2: really liked it. I'm concerned that I'll get it spoiled.
Speaker 2: I'll get something on it. And she looked at me.
Speaker 2: She said, you only have one? I said yeah. She said, Mark,
Speaker 2: you can afford more than one. Why don't you go
Speaker 2: back to the Gap and buy more of them? I
Speaker 2: said why, she's just for the reason. You said. If
Speaker 2: you spoil it, what are you going to do? Got
Speaker 2: me thinking, and sure enough I went back to the
Speaker 2: Gap and I had five of black sweaters in my sides.
Speaker 2: I bought all five, and from there, everything I purchased
Speaker 2: that I liked I bought more than one. I recently
Speaker 2: saw a pair of Levi collection I forgot what they
Speaker 2: were called, white cargo pants five pair, five pair. Ralph
Speaker 2: Lauren had a beautiful cardigan sweater and black and I
Speaker 2: tell you it's extremely expensive. In the Purple collection, I
Speaker 2: bought two in black, one in khaki color. I bought
Speaker 2: everything they had in crew NECKX two of each gap
Speaker 2: jeans jacket. I now have five. They have a great
Speaker 2: spring one for summer. Here Altho has white shoes. Bought
Speaker 2: two pair. I bought two white off white sport coats
Speaker 2: from Ralph Purple label, including a third one which is
Speaker 2: a white dinner jacket. I bought Ralph black double breasted
Speaker 2: sport coat than a navy double breasted sport coat. Even
Speaker 2: got crazy last week and bought it off white double
Speaker 2: breasted sports coat. I don't want to be without. And
Speaker 2: if you get me started on black cargo pants. For
Speaker 2: the last two years, I have more black cargo pants
Speaker 2: than most stores have. And white, forget it. If I
Speaker 2: told you the number of white pants I have, you
Speaker 2: wouldn't believe it. And why am I saying this? And
Speaker 2: why am I doing this? Because my wife one day
Speaker 2: said to me, I can't believe they discontinued the makeup
Speaker 2: I buy, and she was crazed. She went online started
Speaker 2: to try and find it everywhere, eBay, here, there, and
Speaker 2: she was not She said, you can't afford to lose
Speaker 2: products now from evermore, I'll always buy more than one
Speaker 2: and that's what I did. So you can say that
Speaker 2: products are irreplaceable. You get comfortable with something, you like something,
Speaker 2: you stay with it. You don't want it to go out,
Speaker 2: you don't want it to be discontinued. I have underwear
Speaker 2: styles that I had from Ralph or from Calvin Klein
Speaker 2: that were discontinued. I was really lost and upset about it.
Speaker 2: So if products can be irreplaceable, are people irreplaceable? When
Speaker 2: we say that everyone is. I have a great story
Speaker 2: to tell you. It has to do with COVID has
Speaker 2: to do with dress shirts. I'd love to talk about ties,
Speaker 2: but there and I don't know, and if you're seeable
Speaker 2: future with the ties will come back. Although there at
Speaker 2: certain times I wear them. I fear it completes the
Speaker 2: outfit and I like the way it looks. But COVID
Speaker 2: dress shirts, the dress shirt business disappeared completely during COVID.
Speaker 2: I remember right before or right after COVID, I went
Speaker 2: into Macy's to look for dress shirts because I'm always curious.
Speaker 2: I spent time in the dress shirt business. It was
Speaker 2: a very important part of my background. Nothing on the
Speaker 2: floor zero heretofore, if you would go on Macy's thirty
Speaker 2: fourth Street, half the main floor and men's were, maybe
Speaker 2: more than a half was dress shirts from every brand,
Speaker 2: every color, every design you can manage, because it was
Speaker 2: a staple of men's dressing. Dress shirts are worn with ties,
Speaker 2: or they're worn casually. They're a great, great compliment to
Speaker 2: casual dressings or for fine casual dressings, or even pulled
Speaker 2: out of your pants and war on tuck. Dress shirts
Speaker 2: were always a major, major staple, and now all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, because of COVID, they disappeared. The retail community
Speaker 2: decided that because of COVID, because of the nature of
Speaker 2: the business, they didn't need dress shirts on the floor anymore,
Speaker 2: and they had a few at most in Macy's going forward,
Speaker 2: but they forgot how I replaceable dress shirts were. You
Speaker 2: go into a store right now, and half the floor
Speaker 2: at Macy's again in the first floor is dress shirts
Speaker 2: because they are such an important part of the business.
Speaker 2: Which also gets me to believe and think about Donald
Speaker 2: Trump and dress shirts. I think I've told you that
Speaker 2: the President and I met before he was president. He
Speaker 2: wanted to venture into the shirt business to suit business,
Speaker 2: the tie business before he became president. A big part
Speaker 2: of Donald Trump's net worth is licensing a lot of
Speaker 2: what you see. A lot of the golf courses he owns,
Speaker 2: they're licensing his name that not necessarily Trump owned golf course.
Speaker 2: Same thing for buildings. While I'm sure certain buildings he
Speaker 2: owns outright he developed them, there are buildings that are
Speaker 2: made that pay him a license for the use of
Speaker 2: the name. His job in those circumstances to make sure
Speaker 2: they look like Trump buildings, behave like Trump build a service,
Speaker 2: but they not necessarily so. Donald Trump came to me,
Speaker 2: his people came to me and asked us to do
Speaker 2: dress shirts. I've talked about this with the largest shirt
Speaker 2: company in the world. He wanted to be with us.
Speaker 2: I said, we don't need it. Next day, I know
Speaker 2: Donald and his entourage are in my offices convincing me
Speaker 2: to do dress shirts. Don't need him Donald. The more
Speaker 2: I said no, the more he pushed. The only thing
Speaker 2: I'll tell you about it if you read my book
Speaker 2: Always in Fashion, chapter seventeen, Negotiating with the Master Donald
Speaker 2: Trump was very convincing, and I could tell you Donald
Speaker 2: Trump that I know the Donald Trump that I knew
Speaker 2: honored every obligation that he had. Now after I left
Speaker 2: Van using the Donald Trump issiness for nine years in making,
Speaker 2: I had left, and I remember reading one day Donald
Speaker 2: Trump had become president. I think he was a candidate.
Speaker 2: He was a candidate at the time. Not long after,
Speaker 2: he came down the stairway and he said at that time,
Speaker 2: I want to eliminate illegal immigration. Everyone already went crazy.
Speaker 2: You can't eliminate immigration where a country of immigrants, blah
Speaker 2: blah blah. They didn't listen that he said illegal immigration.
Speaker 2: But furthermore, what he said was these people coming in
Speaker 2: a rapist, murderers, They're the worst of the worst. We
Speaker 2: don't want them. The entire Latino community, the entire Hispanic community, erupted.
Speaker 2: He's a racist, he's a racist. He's this, he's that,
Speaker 2: he's this and that, and Macy's after nine years of
Speaker 2: successful relationship with Donald Trump, Apparell discontinued it immediately. You
Speaker 2: couldn't give away the shirt, you couldn't sell any more product.
Speaker 2: The business was over. It was probably one of the
Speaker 2: first interruptions in his income that he's had to live
Speaker 2: with since becoming a candidate. And then President twice. It
Speaker 2: was really sad because nobody anticipated that, because in the
Speaker 2: end it was true, there were a lot of problems
Speaker 2: with the immigrants, illegal immigrants coming into this country. I
Speaker 2: don't think he made it as a racist comment. I
Speaker 2: know he didn't. Well, it turned out there are a
Speaker 2: lot of problems in that migration here. But I'll keep going.
Speaker 2: I spent, as you know, many years at the Venues
Speaker 2: and Shirt company developing shirts. It was a major love
Speaker 2: of my life. It was an exciting love of my life.
Speaker 2: When you consider shirts, how important they are to a
Speaker 2: men's wardrobe, how much volume sales are done in shirts,
Speaker 2: how they're of interest to men and women, how they
Speaker 2: correctly frame a man's face, make him look better, make
Speaker 2: him look elegant, make them look drushy, just look right.
Speaker 2: I always thought a great deal about it. I always
Speaker 2: appreciate it, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. When
Speaker 2: I joined LVMH as CEO of the LVH Group in
Speaker 2: the United States, I was given the responsibility for the
Speaker 2: oversight of the Thomas Pink luxury shirt business that exists
Speaker 2: that around the world. Thomas Pink was in many countries,
Speaker 2: many real estate stores, many many shops everywhere, impressive as
Speaker 2: can be, twenty one stores in the Greater Area in
Speaker 2: London in the UK, and I used to go back
Speaker 2: and forth so many times managing or overseeing a luxury
Speaker 2: shirt business. I'll never forget the first meeting I had
Speaker 2: when I met the CEO of Thomas Pink. I flew
Speaker 2: to London. I met with the president of LVMH who
Speaker 2: introduced me to the then CEO of Thomas Pink. His
Speaker 2: name was Jonathan Heilbron, who had become over time a
Speaker 2: great ally and I suppose a business friend that I
Speaker 2: really admired and trusted. Here he is the reigning CEO
Speaker 2: of a shirt company getting a new boss out of nowhere,
Speaker 2: Mark Webber from the United States. That in itself is
Speaker 2: a problem, but I remember there was a certain degree
Speaker 2: of respect on his side because my reputation preceded me.
Speaker 2: But it was an awkward meeting. I was the second
Speaker 2: in command there, so we focused on the president of
Speaker 2: LVM eates citing the rules, explaining why I became the
Speaker 2: guy I became, why I was now in charge. He
Speaker 2: was reporting to me, and it went as best to
Speaker 2: go an awkward situation. The second meeting The next day
Speaker 2: I came alone to meet with Jonathan, and in that
Speaker 2: meeting I told him how impressed I was with his background.
Speaker 2: I understood his resume. He was the chief financial officer
Speaker 2: Thomaspink before he became the CEO. He had spent many
Speaker 2: years from the onset of the company. He understood retail,
Speaker 2: he understood the finances, he started to learn the operations
Speaker 2: of the company. By the time I was there had
Speaker 2: a staff of people from all over, very diverse group
Speaker 2: of people. The interesting thing I noted right away on
Speaker 2: a cultural side that there are so many different dialects
Speaker 2: of English spoken in the UK. I guess from the
Speaker 2: Scottish side to the best neighborhoods, the lords. I did
Speaker 2: so many fun things when I was UK working with them.
Speaker 2: But on the second day, at the end of meeting
Speaker 2: all the people, at the end of me telling them
Speaker 2: that I view my management role as wanting to have
Speaker 2: the best people that I could possibly have working with
Speaker 2: that I want to be in a position to struggle
Speaker 2: to be valu added, so the better you are, the
Speaker 2: more I appreciate you, and I'll find a way to
Speaker 2: give input, make my contribution. Felt if in fact I
Speaker 2: could now, between you and I, I would always find a
Speaker 2: way to make myself valuable to the people I work with,
Speaker 2: but in the spirit of anyone replaceable or replaced so
Speaker 2: that the story gets interesting. Because the next time I
Speaker 2: met with Jonathan privately and I asked him what he
Speaker 2: thought about yesterday, I said, listen, I have to report
Speaker 2: to someone, and I'm fine reporting to you. I think
Speaker 2: it's a great opportunity for a collaboration. I know who
Speaker 2: you are, I know your background. I'm excited to be
Speaker 2: involved with you, and I'm looking forward to seeing what
Speaker 2: we can do together. I looked at him and I said,
Speaker 2: I can't tell you how happy I am that you're
Speaker 2: saying to me, Because Jonathan, I as I said, I
Speaker 2: like what you represent. You live here, You're the day
Speaker 2: to day guy. I can never spend the kind of
Speaker 2: time that you do, so we have to forge your
Speaker 2: way to do business. And what I'd like to suggest
Speaker 2: to you is you and I have an agreement that
Speaker 2: I could say anything I want to you any way
Speaker 2: I want, and you won't take it personally. That I
Speaker 2: could be completely honest. If you show me something that's great,
Speaker 2: I'll tell you I think it's great. If you show
Speaker 2: me something that isn't I'll tell you. If you give
Speaker 2: me a concept, I'm either excited about it or not
Speaker 2: excited about it. But I can help. We'll find a way.
Speaker 2: And he in turn said, I promise I could do that.
Speaker 2: But I said, the same goes for you. I want
Speaker 2: you to feel comfortable telling me whatever it is you can,
Speaker 2: whatever things bother you. Let's have that kind of business relationship.
Speaker 2: Let's call it a friendship. Let's agree that together we'll
Speaker 2: make it work no matter what. And we did after
Speaker 2: the course of call it a years. Him and I
Speaker 2: worked so well together in Thomas Pink. I loved the brand,
Speaker 2: I loved going there. I'd never been involved in true
Speaker 2: luxury goods. Yes, I was involved in designer goods at PVH.
Speaker 2: We had Calvin Klein, we had Donna Karen, we had DKY,
Speaker 2: but never Thomas Pink. These were dresser. It's the least
Speaker 2: expensive one at the time, going back to twenty fifteen
Speaker 2: or one hundred and seventy five dollars apiece, where most
Speaker 2: of them were in the two hundred to two hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars area. But we forged this relationship in
Speaker 2: this working relationship. Now, as I studied the business, those
Speaker 2: of you who were familiar with Thomas Pink, you would
Speaker 2: have noticed that they had big stores. The biggest store
Speaker 2: in New York was on fifty third Street and Madison Avenue,
Speaker 2: actually on Madison at fifty third. They had stores on
Speaker 2: Wall Street, they had stores in sixth Avenue, had stores
Speaker 2: all around the city. It was a great place to work.
Speaker 2: But the store on Madison was huge. And when I
Speaker 2: got into it, I realized that they had women's product,
Speaker 2: and that had a twenty five percent of the store
Speaker 2: averted to women's wear. Now, success is a funny thing.
Speaker 2: Sometimes a little success can cause a lot of problems.
Speaker 2: In the case of Thomas Pink, it did. And I
Speaker 2: want to talk to you about that because when people
Speaker 2: thought of Thomas Pink, the question is did they think
Speaker 2: of women's shirts. I want you to hold that and
Speaker 2: put it aside. I like doing this. I like being
Speaker 2: in a position of coming back to things when I
Speaker 2: find them interesting. I'm working at van Usen. I am
Speaker 2: now in addition to the president of the company, I'm
Speaker 2: the head of marketing of the company. And when it
Speaker 2: came to van Usen, we always struggled with the advertising.
Speaker 2: We had some great advertising over the years. One of
Speaker 2: my favorites had a guy on two pages in a magazine.
Speaker 2: One shirt is thress, shirt and tie, completely made up,
Speaker 2: close personal, beautiful look, and the next page he's pretty
Speaker 2: much the shirt is being taken off. His back is
Speaker 2: showing he's taking his shirt and tie off, and it said,
Speaker 2: what a changing America is changing into van use it cool,
Speaker 2: cool concept, but here we are. Van Usen at the
Speaker 2: time had outlet stores. Fifty percent of the outlet stores
Speaker 2: with women's product. We was selling men's belts, men's ties,
Speaker 2: men's underwear, men's sports, and men's dress shirt, men's pants,
Speaker 2: men's outerwear, men's everything. And I was sitting in the
Speaker 2: boardroom one day. I was on the board and I
Speaker 2: was waiting for the entire board to come in for
Speaker 2: our presentation, and I was with a woman. May she
Speaker 2: rest in peace. Her name was Estella Els. She was
Speaker 2: a marketing girl at the time. She was in the
Speaker 2: company shoes in her eighties. She was a contributor. She
Speaker 2: was one of my favorites. She liked me, I liked her.
Speaker 2: I liked talking marketing, and I remember sitting there talking
Speaker 2: to her about Vanyus and I said, I'm struggling. I'm
Speaker 2: doing this great campaign. Let me show you the pictures.
Speaker 2: I haven't put them out yet for the magazines or
Speaker 2: on television. I'm struggling with what is van Usen. She
Speaker 2: closed her eyes, smiled and looked at me and she said,
Speaker 2: Mark van Usen is shirts for men. Said that's it,
Speaker 2: and she laughed, this is what else you need? I said, well,
Speaker 2: we make all these other products. She said, forget it.
Speaker 2: Van Usen is a shirt company. You're offering value added
Speaker 2: by giving them those other products, but by driving home
Speaker 2: shirts for men, you're making a powerful statement on behalf
Speaker 2: of the brand. And I remember thinking that coming back
Speaker 2: to Thomas pink that Women's in the store because of it.
Speaker 2: We had women's designers, we had people sourcing women's product,
Speaker 2: we had more space in the store, we had engineers
Speaker 2: dealing with women's We had all these things. When Thomas
Speaker 2: Pink Win is in effect shirts for men. Ultimately speaking,
Speaker 2: that caused this great difficulty on the financial side until
Speaker 2: we found a way to extrapolate ourselves for women's shirts.
Speaker 2: The point being are products are people disposable? Are they replaceable?
Speaker 2: The bottom line. Thomas Pink doesn't exist anymore. One of
Speaker 2: the companies I know just put it as an online business.
Speaker 2: It's not the same company. It's not based on German
Speaker 2: street being, it's not using the greatest European factories that
Speaker 2: are ever developed. It's not being made in countries across
Speaker 2: the world. It is not the premier shirt brand you
Speaker 2: see on the street corners anymore. It's not on anyone's tongue.
Speaker 2: No one's looking at us, no one's looking at the press.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you why, because somewhere along the way,
Speaker 2: Thomas Pink lost its way. First I was gone, then
Speaker 2: Jonathan was gone. The saying is is everyone is replaceable.
Speaker 2: However there's no more Thomas Pink, and tomorrow, of course
Speaker 2: is everyone's replacements. So the saying goes the truth is
Speaker 2: great is often not replaceable. You left with massive companies,
Speaker 2: they'll tell you everyone is replaceable. I could tell you
Speaker 2: I worked at this company. No one remembers me, no
Speaker 2: one even knows my name. That's life. I also know
Speaker 2: that I left a vacuum when I left, and maybe,
Speaker 2: just maybe I was irreplaceable. Back in a.
Speaker 1: Minute, Always in Fashion.
Speaker 2: Donna Karen began her career as one of the finest,
Speaker 2: most successful, powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed
Speaker 2: a collection aimed at the luxury market for women on
Speaker 2: the go, women who were powerful in their workplace, women
Speaker 2: who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and her
Speaker 2: clothes went from day and to night. An extraordinary collection.
Speaker 2: But the interesting thing Donna Karen had a young daughter,
Speaker 2: and she had friends and they couldn't afford to buy
Speaker 2: the Donna Karen collection. And Donna invented DK NY Donna Aaron,
Speaker 2: New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection.
Speaker 2: The same concept a lifestyle brand. Now we talk about
Speaker 2: lifestyle brands, what does that really mean? Simply what they say,
Speaker 2: the brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get
Speaker 2: up in the morning, you start to get dressed. Donna
Speaker 2: Karen dcan why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all
Speaker 2: those products. You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags,
Speaker 2: and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing
Speaker 2: about DK and Y clothes for work, they work into
Speaker 2: the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters,
Speaker 2: the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from
Speaker 2: day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You
Speaker 2: have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna
Speaker 2: Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label,
Speaker 2: a vast array of casual sportswear that make women look
Speaker 2: great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you going
Speaker 2: to soccer games for your children, or whether you're going
Speaker 2: out to the movies, whatever you want to do, dcn
Speaker 2: Y jeans, dcaan Hy sportswear is there for you. That's
Speaker 2: what a lifestyle I need to mention DKY activewear, which
Speaker 2: is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You
Speaker 2: can wear DKY active wear certainly in the gym, certainly
Speaker 2: when you're working out at home, and certainly if you
Speaker 2: want on the street, because it's that well done. The
Speaker 2: quality of DKY is nothing short of exceptional. And why
Speaker 2: shouldn't it be because it was born from the idea
Speaker 2: of luxury made affordable for women of America. DK and
Speaker 2: Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day
Speaker 2: and tonight, from the week into the weekend. DCN Why
Speaker 2: you can find DCNY and Macy's dky dot com. As
Speaker 2: one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld
Speaker 2: was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style.
Speaker 2: His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through
Speaker 2: car Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready
Speaker 2: to wear, excess shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagofild
Speaker 2: also offers a range of watches I wear in premium fragrances.
Speaker 2: You can explore the Carlagophil collection at carlagofilpowers dot com.
Speaker 2: But it's more than that. I, for one, love to shop.
Speaker 2: I love going around and seeing what's happening and what
Speaker 2: catches my attention, what would make me feel good to
Speaker 2: wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but
Speaker 2: I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you
Speaker 2: want to look right, you want to have clothes that
Speaker 2: fits you well. You want to look like you're wearing
Speaker 2: something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you and yours.
Speaker 2: You can find it at very affordable prices at Macy's
Speaker 2: Orcarlagofel dot com Paris. The women's ready to wear fashion
Speaker 2: is extraordinary, as well as the handbags and the shoes. I,
Speaker 2: for one, wear men's clothes unlike my appreciation of women's clothes.
Speaker 2: I'm a modern guy. I want to look current. I
Speaker 2: want to look the way I want to feel. I
Speaker 2: go out at night, I'm in black and carlagof is
Speaker 2: my buddy. Calls are great. They fit great, and they
Speaker 2: have little tweaks and touches, whether it's a stripe on
Speaker 2: the sleeve or button at the neck or on the shoulder.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of details that go into Carlagafel because
Speaker 2: he's always been he always had been one of the
Speaker 2: world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and on.
Speaker 2: I can't speak enough about it except to say to you,
Speaker 2: you want to feel good about yourself. You want to
Speaker 2: know that you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that
Speaker 2: fits you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarl Lagafel dot.
Speaker 1: Com, welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host,
Speaker 1: Mark Webber.
Speaker 2: Everyone's replaceable. So they say, I kind of like this
Speaker 2: subject because I don't agree with it my whole corporate life. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I had no choice. I'd have to say everyone's replaceable.
Speaker 2: It's interesting phenomena. But here's something I want to think about.
Speaker 2: I gave some thought to people who may or may
Speaker 2: not have been replaceable, and perhaps what the world would
Speaker 2: have been different. First of all, Steve Jobs. What if
Speaker 2: Steve's Jobs were still alive? All that thought? Tim Cook
Speaker 2: number two to Steve's Jobs operational guy, financial guy, not
Speaker 2: a visionary but extraordinary. He's led Apple since Steve Jobs
Speaker 2: left to the most successful tech company in the world,
Speaker 2: in fact, the first trillion dollar valuated company. Now he
Speaker 2: might be irreplaceable, but think about Jobs. He was replaced,
Speaker 2: So I guess Steve Jobs was easily replaced. However, it
Speaker 2: makes me think what about the invention Steve's Jobs would
Speaker 2: have created? What had he created if he didn't pass away,
Speaker 2: and didn't he move on with the products he brought
Speaker 2: us that we didn't know we needed ever been created?
Speaker 2: What is out there that was in his mind that
Speaker 2: didn't come through with those ideas he would have had
Speaker 2: ever be in our hands, our homes, in our cars,
Speaker 2: or linked to our brains. We'll never know. I believe
Speaker 2: Steve Jobs was irreplaceable in spite of Tim Cook, who
Speaker 2: gets my award for the greatest CEO I've ever seen
Speaker 2: in person. I only a stock. I'm thrilled. What a
Speaker 2: great company. And then let's get closer to our industry.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about fashion, retail and luxury. There's a guy
Speaker 2: named Mickey Drexler. Most of you, none of you, probably
Speaker 2: all of you, ever heard of him. And he is
Speaker 2: and was a genius in retail, fashion and luxury. The
Speaker 2: only thing I don't like about is and I try
Speaker 2: to get him to come on the show and he
Speaker 2: didn't want to. But he's still a genius. And a
Speaker 2: little background information. There was a Fisher family, I think
Speaker 2: Donald Fisher was his name, the patriarch of a company
Speaker 2: investor who began and created a company we all know,
Speaker 2: but Mickey Drexler made that company. There was this hippie
Speaker 2: jeans company started in southern California, rolling out stores. They
Speaker 2: were somewhat successful. They were limited in scope, they were
Speaker 2: targeted probably at a small segment of the population until
Speaker 2: Mickey Drexel showed up and was hired. See Mickey Drexel
Speaker 2: was a merchant prince who brought you what is known
Speaker 2: today as the Gap. Yeah, his innovations in style color
Speaker 2: products marketing brought gap to the peak and retail. Think
Speaker 2: Uniclow now. The gap that he created was the epitome
Speaker 2: of the greatest retail stores ever. Think of American Eagle Outfitters,
Speaker 2: Think of Uniclo, combined them, improved them by one hundred percent,
Speaker 2: and you have what the gap was. It was the
Speaker 2: most amazing brand retailer that in the world. No one
Speaker 2: in fashion would begin a season without first walking into
Speaker 2: the gap for direction for their ideas. I can tell
Speaker 2: you years later after he left, I remember sitting in
Speaker 2: my favorite restaurant in Hong Kong, in the Intercontinental Hotel
Speaker 2: leijinge faudein. I think that's Mandarin rather than Cantonese, but
Speaker 2: that's okay, the Lai Jing chowd'em okay, whichever it was.
Speaker 2: I was sitting there and I was at my restaurant.
Speaker 2: It's a steakhouse. In that hotel, it was usually called
Speaker 2: the Region Hotel, then changed the Internet Continental Beautiful, Beautiful
Speaker 2: restaurant that was on the water in that hotel, looking
Speaker 2: out at Hong Kong Bay, I had the Hong Kong Harbor.
Speaker 2: Big boats vessels would constantly be going by. It was
Speaker 2: one of my favorite spots in the world to live
Speaker 2: those if you have the air me asked the question,
Speaker 2: where would you be if you wouldn't be here, I
Speaker 2: might be sitting in that hotel, in that restaurant. Loved it.
Speaker 2: First time I ever had GROUPA. I never had group
Speaker 2: of fish grilled group It's as thick as a steak
Speaker 2: with British mustard baked potato. I could eat that meal forever.
Speaker 2: It was their greatest place in the world. I walked
Speaker 2: in one night and there was a table with thirty
Speaker 2: people at it, all Americans sitting around this table, thirty
Speaker 2: people and at the time, you know what a trip
Speaker 2: to Hong Kong courst of an airplane, to stay at
Speaker 2: that hotel, to eat in that restaurant, to bring thirty people.
Speaker 2: I remember sitting there and saying to myself to the waiter,
Speaker 2: I asked him, do you know what company they're from?
Speaker 2: And he says, I'll find out, thank you. I knew
Speaker 2: the waiters, of course, because I was there so often.
Speaker 2: And I said to myself at dinner, whatever company they say,
Speaker 2: if I own the stock, I'm selling it. The following
Speaker 2: day I sold the stock in the gap. You don't
Speaker 2: send thirty people to Asia, Mickey Drexer would have done
Speaker 2: it and anyway, to make a long story short, this
Speaker 2: guy was amazing then the most amazing brand retailer then
Speaker 2: in the world. No one fels fashion would begin a
Speaker 2: season without looking at the Gap and Mickey Drex's rain.
Speaker 2: He then does the following. There's a sleepy dying retailer
Speaker 2: positioned as a desert gear company with an army jeep
Speaker 2: in the center, and they were purchased by the Gap
Speaker 2: with Mickey Drexer putting his impurtuur on it, his a
Speaker 2: vision of what it would be, and he turned it
Speaker 2: into this sleepy company, the most successful, cool, modern men's
Speaker 2: style retail in the world at that time, and he
Speaker 2: called it Banana Republic. He took the Banana Republic, who
Speaker 2: was dying, and made it into one of the greatest
Speaker 2: stores ever. They simply became the store for dress up
Speaker 2: and refined casual clothes. Everyone shopped them, everyone copying them,
Speaker 2: everyone bought there. He wasn't done out of nowhere. Out
Speaker 2: of his brain, he invented a store you now know
Speaker 2: as Old Navy. He put style and cool into discount retail.
Speaker 2: He changed the landscape and made low price fashionable, the
Speaker 2: first store to link the associates on earphones and tablets.
Speaker 2: Drexler was a genius. He sat on Apple's board. Steve
Speaker 2: Jobs knew what he was, and then one day out
Speaker 2: of the blue, he got fired. Fired, if I recall correctly,
Speaker 2: they didn't think he had the persona and the wherewithal
Speaker 2: to be the CEO of a ten billion dollar company,
Speaker 2: although he had been. He just needn't do much. You
Speaker 2: just built the company. Fast forward. All these years later.
Speaker 2: Gap has never recovered from him leaving. They've had fifty CEOs.
Speaker 2: They've tried this, They've tried that Old Navy, I'm told
Speaker 2: is struggling to exist. Banana Republic is fair at best.
Speaker 2: Although I like the way they look. I still like
Speaker 2: the way they look. I go in every time I'm
Speaker 2: in a mall, I'll shop and on a Republic. But
Speaker 2: they're not setting the world on fire. In the Gap,
Speaker 2: it's still a wannabe. They don't look as good as
Speaker 2: American Eagle Outfitters. They're basics which built them. The core
Speaker 2: color programs that built them aren't as good as Uniclo.
Speaker 2: They're just not the Gap. By the way, after Mickey
Speaker 2: Drexel was fired, he bought Jay Crewe, the three hundred
Speaker 2: million dollar company family run, and he turned into three
Speaker 2: billion dollar company that you know today. He's no longer there.
Speaker 2: J Crewe is not at the precipice of the greatest.
Speaker 2: They still look good, look Nikki Drexler Forth. The norm
Speaker 2: gap never recovered from him, And all I could tell
Speaker 2: you is we can say everyone is replaceable, but he
Speaker 2: was irreplaceable. I'll continue to go on and make my
Speaker 2: case is that everyone replaceable. I don't think so. I
Speaker 2: think a lot about when founders leave companies and they
Speaker 2: decide to live the American dream. Hold that thought. I
Speaker 2: used to believe and I still do that in this country,
Speaker 2: anyone could be successful. I'm not one of those guys
Speaker 2: who can tell you go out and follow your passion.
Speaker 2: I want to be a singer. I'm not good enough.
Speaker 2: I watch American idol. I can't hold a candle with
Speaker 2: those people. If I tried to be a singer, maybe
Speaker 2: I would do the happy birthdays in the restaurants they
Speaker 2: called me over to sing with the group. I have
Speaker 2: no talent compared to those people. So following your passion
Speaker 2: is not the answer. You have to find something that
Speaker 2: you're good at what you could be great at, and
Speaker 2: follow that and hopefully, with a little luck, you'll enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Because work is work. If it's work, if you like
Speaker 2: what you're doing, you're never going to feel like you're working.
Speaker 2: But the reality is, what is the American dream? Go out,
Speaker 2: find a job, make a success of yourself. It was
Speaker 2: I then got into understanding entrepreneurs, and I realized that
Speaker 2: entrepreneurs were truly the American dream. That from their own ideas,
Speaker 2: from their hard work, their grit, from investing their own money,
Speaker 2: they start a business and make it successful. It's incredible.
Speaker 2: If you're an entrepreneur and came across me, whether I
Speaker 2: was interviewing you, whether I was in the corporate seat,
Speaker 2: whether I was a president, CEO, I wanted to talk
Speaker 2: about how you became an entrepreneur and whether or not
Speaker 2: you were scared, whether or not you lost money. Was
Speaker 2: it easy because to me, entrepreneurs or the American dream.
Speaker 2: But what I learned was the true American dream when
Speaker 2: it came to entrepreneurs, is buying a company and selling it,
Speaker 2: selling it, cashing out. That's the American dream. There are exceptions.
Speaker 2: There are family held business. For one, hundred years and
Speaker 2: families continue to run. And that too, is an American dream.
Speaker 2: You start a business, you have a daughter or a son,
Speaker 2: you want to leave the business to teach him the business,
Speaker 2: Let them carry on for their children, and on and
Speaker 2: on and on. Amazing. That's another version of the entrepreneurial
Speaker 2: American dream. However, what happens when the founders leave? I
Speaker 2: wonder whether founders are irreplaceable. Take Bernard or No, the
Speaker 2: founder of LVMH. He's just recently admitted he wants to
Speaker 2: stay on till he's eighty five years old. Changed the
Speaker 2: corporate bylaws. I forgot what they were, might have been
Speaker 2: sixty five, but he changed it. He's going to stay on,
Speaker 2: and I'm grateful I still own this stock I had
Speaker 2: when I was with the company. Thank god. Company's done great.
Speaker 2: Although the luxury world at stock is not very good
Speaker 2: right now. There's a problem. Tariffs aren't helping, for sure,
Speaker 2: But there's a little bit of a shakeout in luxury
Speaker 2: right now. For another day to talk about. But founders.
Speaker 2: I think of these two women. I forget their names.
Speaker 2: I apologize. Two ladies had a vision on the West coast.
Speaker 2: They decided by looking around that they wanted to recreate
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles, La lifestyle for young girls and young women.
Speaker 2: And they called a brand that they developed, Juicy Couture,
Speaker 2: and they built it to a billion dollar empire. Their
Speaker 2: advertising was extraordinary. The clothes were better than the advertising.
Speaker 2: Everyone was wearing it. It was the hottest brand in
Speaker 2: the world, a billion dollar empire, and then it was
Speaker 2: sold multiple times, first to this guy, then to that guy,
Speaker 2: then to this guy, then to that guy. My son's
Speaker 2: company currently owns it and license the brand of many people.
Speaker 2: Juicy Coutur is still there, but it isn't what it
Speaker 2: was since the founders left, never was, never will be.
Speaker 2: They were irreplaceable. Another one Liz Claiborne talking to people.
Speaker 2: I guess if you're younger than fifty, you might have
Speaker 2: never heard of this Claiborne. I could tell you. In
Speaker 2: my day, Liz Claible was the finest company in America.
Speaker 2: Four billion dollar company created by Liz Claiborne and her
Speaker 2: husband Arthur Ortenberg. Both made their rest in peace. They
Speaker 2: had a CEO at one point. They continued to build
Speaker 2: it another company. They were the finest sourcing arm in
Speaker 2: the world. If I was going to hire a person
Speaker 2: to source product for me at van Ues and PVH.
Speaker 2: I would go to Liz Claiborne first and see if
Speaker 2: I could recruit their people. If you were in women's design,
Speaker 2: there was no one better. Their operational skills were perfect,
Speaker 2: their approach to the business was perfect. They were in
Speaker 2: every major store in America. I don't recall the terminology,
Speaker 2: but Liz and Author sold out company that ran for
Speaker 2: the existing CEO did a good job. I won't name
Speaker 2: him because he did me wrong. He dissed me and
Speaker 2: I don't want to talk about it. That's a story
Speaker 2: perhaps for another day. But then the company was sold again,
Speaker 2: and I can only tell you the CEO that it
Speaker 2: was sold to running it and the come company they
Speaker 2: brought in. This guy ruined the company even further. Four
Speaker 2: billion dollar company in two thousand and six, they were
Speaker 2: admired by all that were the darling of Wall Street.
Speaker 2: They retired and they left the founders and now where
Speaker 2: they are they well the news. The last CEO that
Speaker 2: I could think about, the Winner, Real Winner, destroyed the company.
Speaker 2: Liz and Author were replaceable. I do see this season's
Speaker 2: collection at j C. Penny. J C. Penny is where
Speaker 2: Liz Claiborne can be found. J C. Penny bought the
Speaker 2: rights to it, but obviously there's no Liz Claibord designer anymore.
Speaker 2: It's a private brand used at Liz Claiborne to raise
Speaker 2: the level of the j C. Penny business, and I
Speaker 2: think they're doing a great job. I really really like
Speaker 2: what it looks like. Now I can go on and
Speaker 2: on and wonder about new friends taking over and whether
Speaker 2: or not these companies are right. It's easy to say,
Speaker 2: you know, you can pick your family, but you can't
Speaker 2: pick your friends. And in the world world of business,
Speaker 2: it's not family. It's making the right choices and the
Speaker 2: people you pick. There are some really great companies that
Speaker 2: you got to wonder what's happening to whether they'll even
Speaker 2: be around in any future. All Saints, I remember walking
Speaker 2: down the streets in London and Regent Street, walking by
Speaker 2: a store that blew my mind. The entire window, and
Speaker 2: I'm talking about a huge window. Must have been fifteen
Speaker 2: feet high by thirty feet long, huge, and every square
Speaker 2: inch of that window was filled with antique sewing machines
Speaker 2: lined up one next to the other. It was remarkable.
Speaker 2: I remember walking in and seeing all the leathers, all
Speaker 2: the distress good all the lifestyle, rock and roll. I
Speaker 2: guess you would say it was very very forward, very
Speaker 2: very cool. I would suppose that John Varvados, if you
Speaker 2: look at a current company that would look like them.
Speaker 2: They're in the same league. But All Saints was more exclusive,
Speaker 2: more expensive. I remember coming back and mentioning it to
Speaker 2: Donna Karen. She almost laughed at me, where have you been?
Speaker 2: They're the best? I think they're floundering. I look at
Speaker 2: their product, I look at the size of their offerings.
Speaker 2: All the stores are gone, at least from what I
Speaker 2: can see. The founders are no longer there. Then there
Speaker 2: are companies who lasted the test of time, who were
Speaker 2: bringing around for over one hundred years. Burbery, what's going
Speaker 2: on with Burbery? They are tired, They're not exciting. They're
Speaker 2: not the darlings anymore. They're not the go to brand,
Speaker 2: They're not the it brand. What has happened? I could
Speaker 2: trace it to Angela Errence and Christopher Bailey. Angela Arens
Speaker 2: was one of the most talented CEOs and women executives
Speaker 2: in the history of the luxury fashion retail business. She
Speaker 2: left the company I don't remember why. I think she retired.
Speaker 2: Christopher Bailey, our co partner who became CEO. He was
Speaker 2: the CEO and also the creative director. He made his
Speaker 2: bones as a creative director. Used to work at Calvin,
Speaker 2: grew from their amazing guy at the time. When he left,
Speaker 2: I think he got plained. I think I don't recall
Speaker 2: that he could no longer be the CEO and the
Speaker 2: creative There's probably too much for one guy to do.
Speaker 2: He probably was not a CEO. But what do I know?
Speaker 2: All I could tell you those two people were irreplaceable.
Speaker 2: There was no replacement for Angela Aarons and Christopher Bailey.
Speaker 2: Look at Burberry and then there's Gucci. Gucci. Tom Ford
Speaker 2: brought it back to life, made it what it was.
Speaker 2: Tom Ford left Gucci started his own business. It was amazing, amazing.
Speaker 2: I'm not so sure if tom Ford is amazing right now.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Don't feel the excitement, I don't feel
Speaker 2: the energy. I know they sell a lot of product.
Speaker 2: I know it's tom Ford. They never veered from luxury,
Speaker 2: I've never I know they've never veered from the best.
Speaker 2: But is it the same? I wonder Gucci without tom
Speaker 2: Ford did okay, But now Gucci struggling like crazy. The
Speaker 2: creative directors have come and gone. The management is wondering.
Speaker 2: They're shaking their heads another with the people that were there.
Speaker 2: Was Tom Ford replaceable? No way I can go on?
Speaker 2: You remember seeing is Sears still out there? Do you
Speaker 2: know how big Sears was in its day? Sears was
Speaker 2: the biggest retail company in the world. Their catalog, which
Speaker 2: is an early form of the internet, selling direct, buying
Speaker 2: direct from a catalog instead of online. They had a
Speaker 2: billion dollar business back in the day before no one
Speaker 2: knew what a billion dollars was. SEUs Does it exist?
Speaker 2: Shows you what happens when management is sold to the
Speaker 2: wrong family. Luck you can pick your friends. The friends
Speaker 2: we're picking are in our friends. Not everyone is replaceable.
Speaker 2: So you could say, and I will. If I wasn't
Speaker 2: on Rady, I'd say as an executive, everyone's replaceable. The
Speaker 2: truth is not. Everyone is back in a minute.
Speaker 1: Always in fashion.
Speaker 2: I spent a lifetime of my career building the van
Speaker 2: Usen brand, and I am so pleased that they're back
Speaker 2: with us now. Talking about suits. Men were dressing up
Speaker 2: again and it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits
Speaker 2: can be won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You
Speaker 2: could wear a suit formally to go out at night
Speaker 2: or to an event. You can wear a suit to
Speaker 2: the office with or without a tie. If you look closely,
Speaker 2: now fashion trends, suits are being worn with turtlenecks or
Speaker 2: mack next. The choices are endless, and every one of
Speaker 2: them looks right. You could really really look the part.
Speaker 2: I believe that packaging yourself is as important does the
Speaker 2: products you package, and wearing a suit is one of
Speaker 2: those things that make men look their best. Venuesn't invented
Speaker 2: a new idea. It's called the cool flex suit. It's
Speaker 2: been engineered with stretch technology giving you the most comfortable
Speaker 2: fit and mobility. Its wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki.
Speaker 2: It makes it perfect for all occasions. As we discussed
Speaker 2: just now, this new style of looking sharp while feeling
Speaker 2: cool and comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that
Speaker 2: the van Using company is involved in this new technology
Speaker 2: and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's
Speaker 2: not forget van using mane It's name with dress shirts.
Speaker 2: It's only proper that the suit business follows strongly in
Speaker 2: its way. You can find van using kool Flex Men's
Speaker 2: stretch suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys,
Speaker 2: they're great. You should go look at them. I love
Speaker 2: Polar fleece. It's lightweight, takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps
Speaker 2: you warm and even if it's warm out, it doesn't
Speaker 2: hamper you. It doesn't make you perspire. I love Polar fleas.
Speaker 2: I also love sweatshirts and sweatpants, love them, love them,
Speaker 2: love them. I'm a big fan of khaki pants and
Speaker 2: a big fan of a golf clothes. And I'm a
Speaker 2: big fan of Izid. I used to be the head
Speaker 2: of Iszide. In fact, my company bought it and aut
Speaker 2: of bankruptcy, and the CEO of the company asked me
Speaker 2: to come in and fix it. And he said to me,
Speaker 2: mark the future of the companies in your hands. Can
Speaker 2: you do this? And I said, I will do it.
Speaker 2: I put everything, my heart and soul into making Eyesid
Speaker 2: the powerhouse that it is today. Now. I left a
Speaker 2: long time ago, and the company just continues to thrive.
Speaker 2: Isaot is one of the great sweater makers. Pant make
Speaker 2: a shirt makers, knit shirt makers, polo shirt makers. They're
Speaker 2: incredible company. The colors are great, the fabrics are great. Guys,
Speaker 2: you ever wonder what you should wear, I'll make it
Speaker 2: easy for you. If you're gonna be casual, go in
Speaker 2: and look at ISID. Now that doesn't say that they
Speaker 2: don't have dress shirts and they don't have suits. You
Speaker 2: go find them. ISAOD is a collective brand that offers
Speaker 2: lifestyle apparel to everyone in America. And it's true, it's
Speaker 2: a fun brand, but it's also priced at fun prices
Speaker 2: everyone can afford it. I love this brand. Of all
Speaker 2: the brands that I'm involved with, and you can name them,
Speaker 2: think about PVH and LVMH and all the brands, ISAOD
Speaker 2: is the one that's most personal to me because I
Speaker 2: was involved in crafting the future of this brand. The
Speaker 2: clothes are great, they're doing well. ISOD dot com, isaadat jcpenny.
Speaker 2: Go look for it. I think you can be very happy.
Speaker 2: And ladies, those of you the shopping for the guys
Speaker 2: in your lives, take a look. I think they'll be
Speaker 2: very happy with your choices. Isaac for men, welcome back
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 1: Always in fashion, here's your host, Mark.
Speaker 2: Webber Tonight, I'm challenging the concept that everyone's replaceable. I,
Speaker 2: for one lived a corporate career. I was taught, and
Speaker 2: I use the term everyone could be replaced. If anybody
Speaker 2: walked into me with an attitude, I always knew in
Speaker 2: my head that if I had to had replaced them.
Speaker 2: I do just find this concept of everyone is replaceable
Speaker 2: is drilled into our heads. It's like corporate boot camp.
Speaker 2: You can replace anyone. But now that I'm out of
Speaker 2: the world of corporate life and I'm a commentator and
Speaker 2: I'm a thinker, and I'm wondering about the rules in
Speaker 2: life in general. Is that true that everyone's replaceable? And
Speaker 2: I build a case tonight that it's not. Now we're
Speaker 2: a business show. I spent the first two years doing
Speaker 2: the show, and every time I started, I would start,
Speaker 2: this is always fashion, this is business. And I did
Speaker 2: it because I felt the name always in Fashion might
Speaker 2: be limited and the truck drivers, the people in their cars,
Speaker 2: or people in gyms would hear the show Always in
Speaker 2: Fashion maybe turn off because they're not interested in fashion.
Speaker 2: So my brightest moments are when truck drivers call the
Speaker 2: station said I was listening to the radio. I have
Speaker 2: you tuned to seven to ten? Woor? I heard this
Speaker 2: show coming on always in Fashion. I was tempted to
Speaker 2: turn it away. I heard the opening who is Mark Weber?
Speaker 2: And I stayed with it. I love the show, gives
Speaker 2: me great joy. But in spite of whatever I've done
Speaker 2: at this business show, Apple Spotify, at one point or
Speaker 2: another started categorizing me and this show is cultural and lifestyle,
Speaker 2: and I want to take a moment to talk about
Speaker 2: the culture and lifestyle as it relates to Even though
Speaker 2: we're a business show with a lot of and sense,
Speaker 2: I want to turn to the lifestyle party. It's said
Speaker 2: everyone's replaceable in life. I beg to differ, particularly if
Speaker 2: you'll allow me. When it comes to love. We all
Speaker 2: get a chance to love. I did. I was married
Speaker 2: for a long time and I lost the love of
Speaker 2: my life, and I wondered what would my life look
Speaker 2: like going forward. That's a person who is irreplaceable. We
Speaker 2: all get a chance to love. I would hope every
Speaker 2: one of you gets the chance. The first true love
Speaker 2: is precious. You find it, you fight for it, you
Speaker 2: never give up. Love is irreplaceable, but life is different
Speaker 2: for us. All The funny thing about life. It's life,
Speaker 2: it's living, and you may just get a second chance.
Speaker 2: Those of you getting a second chance or trying again
Speaker 2: have found love again, who are happy when they wake
Speaker 2: up in the morning, who have that spring in the step,
Speaker 2: no matter what comes your way. I remind you that
Speaker 2: your second chance is precious if you get it, never
Speaker 2: take it for granted. Fight for it, keep it, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: The feeling of love is irreplaceable. And don't forget that
Speaker 2: that person you found is irreplaceable. Now. I know it's
Speaker 2: said that no one's irreplaceable, and I know it's not true.
Speaker 2: Lose love. It can't be replaced. Good Night,