Rambling Man

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.

It's for all about vanity, for people who only care about how they look. I could be further from the truth. This industry, we're responsible or participating in making people feel good, feel comfortable, respecting themselves, giving them confidence, self esteem, increasing self worth. Well, it shouldn't matter how you look, it does, and we aim to help you look and feel good. On a strictly business note, our industry provides millions of

jobs here in the US and around the world. These jobs provide for housing and education for the poor, the middle class, and the wealthy. When you consider the world, often in third world countries, the first industry developed is clothing manufacturing because relatively inac spencers to start up, but more relative it's important and easy to teach people to sew. I think of that great quote by Laos Sue. Give a man offici she eats for a day, Teach a

man offici she eats for a lifetime. Same in our industry. Give a guy a shirt, he wears a shirt for the day, Teach him to make a shirt. He has a career for a lifetime. It's true we don't cure disease, but I will tell you that whenever there is need, whether it's disease, health issues or natural disasters. Our industry is there with money and there with clothes to help. It's an industry that wants to do right by people. Tonight, I want to talk strictly business. I've been observing my

former industry former because for now I'm in broadcasting. But I will tell you when it came to my earlier careers, I'll humbly stated, I'm sorry, but I'm an expert. I'm an expert in retail luxury fashion. I'm watching what's going on and where we are. I'm watching where we're going. I don't i don't like it. It's all ready fire aim. You know what that is, ready fire aim versus ready aim fire. People are making decisions without thinking about the outcomes.

There are problems, and rather than curing problems, for creating problems. The future is here and everyone is confused, losing sight of what's important. And on that note, more importantly than anything, I want to talk about tariffs, but I'm gonna do that in a minute. What is important as you remember that your brand, your reputation matters. My brand, Mark Weber stands for honest, tough and fair. That's how I'd be described with me. You knew what you were getting, you

knew what you heard was the truth. You would need to be smart and thorough in dealing with me, but you would be treated fairly. I put my company first always, but so would you. In fashion, retail, luxury, the same holds true in any industry, the same. It's true. It's about what's good for you first. What is your brand? What do you stand for? What is your position? Where do you belong, whether you're Ralph Lauren or General Motives. You have your space. Those spaces are different. You own

your space, whether your Vetone or Rolls Royce. You have to understand the luxury market. If you're in technology, Apple does what they do and Microsoft does what it does. Your brand, your products are your truth or your integrity. Where you sell, whom you associate with. What do your facilities look like, whether their brick and mortar or you're online, whether your airwaves are clean or not. You have to think about your navigation, how you treat your customers, how

you package yourself is now in your future. Don't ever forget it. I think about Ralph Lauren, who's respected and admired, Amazon respected and appreciated hermes, desired and rewarding. I'm out, I'm about. I'm watching what's happening in business, and I choose to talk about what I see and what I think is important. I have some positives and many negative connotations, and I need to make this clear from the onset. The following opinions in this show tonight are mine and

not the opinion of the sponsors nor the station. They never are. They're always mine, But I may have to apologize in advance tonight. This is me talking no one else tonight business for business sake. I'm looking at what's going on. Retailers, you're cheating. The look of your stores is not improving. The gap hasn't changed in twenty years, nor improved in twenty years. And I look at American Eagle,

the competitor, and they're always doing the right things. After all, not only the American Ego outfitters look good, they also started Airy, which is a great brand for young women. I also look in stores where they're replacing corporate brand marketing with generic marketing. Retailers are not letting brands put up that stuff that they put the time and energy

making their brands look special. After all, when you walk in a department store, or any store for that matter, you're going in there for the brands that are represented. Why wouldn't you scream about them and tell people that they're there. Then I look at quality deterioration, anew of quantity. The bigger you get, the worst the quality. I don't think that's a good formula, selling your brand, your name

where it shouldn't be sold. I've seen a lot of brands showing up in places I wouldn't want them to be. I've seen a lot, and I want to talk about a lot. And first off, I want to talk about tariffs. And before I go there, Jesse's here tonight, Jesse, my son, my co host, my lawyer, Jesse Webber. Hey, Jesse, how you doing.

at least the Trump campaign was welcoming it. Now, there wasn't a conspiracy, but at the very point is was it valid to open up an investigation?

and I applaud you for it. I've also applaued you in trying to get countries to buy as much from US as we buy from them. And to your credit and to your administration's credit, you went back and realized that you can't expect a country like Bangladesh to have the same needs and the same dollars to invest in our country because we're much bigger, we buy more, we're a wealthier country. And now that you've moderated that, you still should make it demanding that they by certain products

from US if we make them. Were important trading partners, but you've made that correction I think all as well. However, there is so much confusion still out there. You made it clear you went as high as one hundred and forty percent duty on Chinese goods to force American companies to move to other countries. In so doing, you caught China's attention, and you clearly brought them to the battlefield, and clearly they need to make a deal. All well

and fine, except where have you left our industry? Our industry moved to Vietnam, Bangladesh are the countries, and then you inserted new tariffs on them, and the frankly speaking, at China now registering at fifty percent on our products and Banglades' thirty, it's far more efficient to stayed with China than in Bangladesh. Everyone's confused. No one knows what to do, no one knows how to price their goods.

The retailers are saying to the manufacturers, I'm not raising my price, so don't you dare try and sell me an higher prices. There is havoc going on, uncertainty, and it's not helpful. You have to get your guys in close to get rid of all this uncertainty in confusion. I presume that was clear no. Having said that, Jesse, you want to make a comment.

to create havoc and uncertainty, and that's the byproduct. So go back, look closely. I applaud you for what you did. You know, I want to talk about retail. I have a story really close to home. You know, Jesse, you remember that convenience store we used to drive up to and buy whatever you want, like soda or bread or whatever.

need diekop, I'd dried up. I would drive up. Whatever it is you need tide, I would drive up, and there it was Napkins tooth based. It seems like they had everything. You're right, But I loved it. And it closed and forever reason. I think it had to do with the rent related I'm not sure. And after a while, as I said to you, it's being rebuilt and it's coming in a beautiful new standard. It's being built really really pretty, not like the other one that looked like

a barn. Maybe it was cold the barn, I don't remember.

He said, I was excited to see what's coming back. And I asked him, what are you building? And he shared with me that he began an idea for coffee stores on the go. I think, he said in Poughkeepsie was his first, and this is his eleventh store which he's building. And we're standing on the ground and I asked him what in fact he would offer in the store, and he told me they would be offering boutique coffee that people love. He's proven, and he's very excited about

bringing it to the neighborhood. Now, I don't drink coffee, you know, I don't drink coffee, So I was curious what else would be in the store, and I said, what kind of iced tea are you going to have in the store? And he said, we don't do iced tea. And I said, you don't do iced tea. Okay, how about Dia cookes or other softties. No, we don't do that either. So I'm listening to him, and I said to myself, I should this guy knows what he's doing,

but what's going on here? So I said, hey, then what kind of cakes or scones going to offer with the coffee? And he said to me, we don't do that. Listen, I'm shaking my head, and I'm thinking, you know, let's be frank. America is overweight. Who's gonna buy coffee without something to drink with it eat with it? I think about Starbucks.

What do you think? He says, I know my business, but I thank you for telling me. And I said, oh, okay, I'm excited you coming. I'm waiting to see what it looks like. I want to consider it. And I was going to leave with that, and I did, and it reminded me of a story of Coal's Department Store. Everybody out there should know Coal's apartment store. There are a thousand of them in the United States. I remember when Cole's was being built. I remember what it stood for.

I remember how they did it, and I'm going to talk about that in a little while. But I remember visiting Cole's. The last trip that I went to Cole's, I was in there in September, and I remember meeting with a fellow, the CEO guy named Kevin Mansfield, Kevin Mancell, who was the first CEO after the founder. He was a Midwestern guy, very basic in his approach, smart as

could be. And we were there it was hot as can be in September, and we were discussing the fall business and what we were going to do for the next fall. And he looked at me, and he looked at the product and everything we did with sweaters and fleas and long sleeve button down shirts, and he said to me, thank you for coming up to Milwaukee. Really hot here this time here, don't you think? I said yeah, and Milwaukee expected to be cooler. He said, it's about

ninety degrees now. I said, yeah, Kevin, it is hot. He said, I'm looking at all these products, and I noticed you're not offering us short sleeves in September. It's all fall and heavyweight goods and all long sleeves. Is that right now? What goes through my mind is if you start shipping short sleeves in September at the end of the season, you're going to be marking them down

in a couple of weeks. They can't have a shelf life because the minute September ends in october's here, it's gonna be forty or fifty degree And I don't want to take the goods back. I don't want markdowns. I don't want things that don't sell. And I said to him, I had a choice to what to say to him, and say, now, not going to do short sleeves. You don't believe it. But then he looked at me, said, Mark, you have to have short sleeves for coals in September.

And of course you're right, Kevin. I'll tell you what, why don't we pick out some of the patterns now and I'll put him into work for short sleeves, which reminded me of this fellow that I just was talking about opening up a coffee store with no tea, no cake, no coffee, nothing other than coffee. And whether or not he took the cue from me, But that's what I see going on in the world, and I wonder whether or not we're figuring out what is important, what's happening

in retail? Are we doing the right things? I have been out and about, you know, being that I mentioned coals, being that I gave you a disclaimer that whatever I'm about to say is a problem and it's only on me. I'll take a break and we come back. I'm a rambling man talking about a lot of stuff and running around back in.

are endless and every one of them looks right. You could really really look the part. I believe that in packaging yourself is as important does the products you package, and wearing a suit is one of those things that make men look their best. Then, using invented a new idea. It's called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility. It's 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 shop while feeling cool and comfortable is amazing, and I'm so excited that the van Using company is involved in this new technology and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget van Usen made its name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the soup business follows strongly in its way. You can find van Using Kolflex Men's stretch suits at

jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great. You should go look at them. My favorite brand has always been Izod. My company at one time bought that brand. The CEO of the company handed it to me and said, you better make it work. And I put everything in my career to make Eyesod work and I fell in love with that brand, and to this day it is one of the most exciting endeavors I've ever gotten involved with. Isod is an incredibly strong golf brand. If you play golf,

if you play tennis for that matter. They make a great polo shirts. I mean great, They're fit perfect. The material is unique because it's a PK fabric that waffle leave, you see, and it's made of a blend of cotton and microfiber that allows you to stretch and very often they are treated with solar protection as well, so they stretch, they're comfortable, and they breathe well. And one thing about isa they always fit. They'll never tug on you. You put it in your waist that they'll fit you great.

The colors patterns are sensational. Now I will also tell you Isaac makes great shorts and great golf pants. You're a golf friend. You want to look good. You don't have to think about how do I look. You want to think about how you play, not how you feel. ISAAD is the brand for you. I know I was there when it was created. The strategy behind that brand is brilliant. That's one of my favorite brands. While I talk about it, I should tell you about the men's sportswear.

ISOD wasn't enough being a golf brand. It wasn't enough being just great polo shirts with logos, without logos, incredible brands and story and history. ISAOD makes salt weather programs. They have great printed woven shirts, short sleeves that look excellent with colors, excellent with shorts, excellent with cotton pants,

of which they also make. This whole salt order relaxed line from ISOD whether it be fleece, cotton sweaters, knit polos, woven shirts and pants of a range of colors and fabrics that are perfect for a guy wants to go casually in the spring and summer of this year. And here's the thing isod is affordable. Everyone listening to me talk about this brand can afford to buy it and know that there are a lot of other brands that are also have a look like Eyesid. Although I don't

believe it's fun as Eyesid is. The brand has a lot of energy in it, but at the price points no one can compete. You can find eyes that at You're leading retailers and online at ion dot com. Talk to you latery guys. I wish you are very happy springing summer, and I help you by telling you if you were eyes On, you're gonna look great.

their brands. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I started to wonder if because I've been spending time in calls now I was active. I was the president's CEO of van Usen when Coles started building. Coles was an interesting retailer. They were like a department store, but not a department store. What is a department store? I guess when it comes down to it, the term was invented back in the day. Macy's might have been one

of the early ones. They built a store with various different departments, offering many different ideas to customers to come in and shop at one location for very often different things. Kids clothes, women's clothes, men's clothes, fragrances, watches. Those are the department stores now Coals In the beginning, I may have called themselves a value department store. I don't think they called themselves a discount department store, but that's in

fact what they were. When you look at at Macy's, Messi's invests heavily on the interior of the store, their presentation. They built shops, They built special designated areas to showcase brands and feature certain products. You walk into Macy's, you'll see beautiful Ralph lauryn shop. You're walking to Macy's, you'll see great underwear shops for men or dress shirt shops. Coals doesn't really do that. Coals has a different approach.

They have central cash wrap, which means you go to one place to purchase all the goods, all the registers are there, which is generally a designation of a value oriented store. They're also not in malls calls. They're in strip centers where the real estate is different prices, which allows them to sell at lower prices than Macy's's in premium space in the best malls in the country. And that's what started to differentiate these brands, meaning these stores.

And in order to make a decision on whether your brand should or should not be in a store like Coals, in a store like J. C. Penny, or in a store like Macy's, you have to ask yourself who you are and who you want to be. Jesse. There are two considerations on whether or not a brand sells a specific store or a specific distribution. Do you want to guess what those two things are?

that it may you won't find that it calls. Doesn't make one better than the other. And part of the reason is stores are like banks. Some stores you're making deposits in and some stores you're making withdrawals in. You want your brand to be at the level that you're making a deposit. Van Usen had descermined a long time ago. It was a people's brand. It belonged with people in

the moderate area. J. C. Penny and van Usen made the first deal of its kind it was hidden at the time, we didn't talk about We made one hundred million dollar deal back in nineteen ninety six ninety seven to put the van using brand to J. C. Penny. When we did it, we recognized that the Penny customer or the brand in j. C. Penny might get hurt. The cachet of van Usen might get hurt by being

in j. C. Penny. However, if we've established beautiful product and they could sell our price points, we were willing to look away and take the chance. We also guaranteed one hundred million dollars in sale. Today this is not as frequent as it is, but people are making decisions to sell their brands in different channels of distribution, and these are very very difficult decisions because the future of

your company is in place. And you mentioned when you talk about coals have a thousand dollars, they buy your product, They can buy a lot of it. So there's a big temptation. But if you believe it will ruin your brand in the marketplace that it grew in, like Macy's or Dyllard's or Sacks or what have you, that's a big conversation. You don't give it away for money. It's your future. But I was in Coals this week.

cargo pants. Some of their genes are sensational. I found them at Coles and I'll buy them there. So yeah, you'll find me wearing a Ralph Lauren sport code that costs more than my first car with a pair of Lee jeans that are thirty eight dollars. So I'm a man of people.

They were ridiculous. They felt like plastic, they felt like rubber, and I wanted to return them, and I go to return Coals. They have a very convenient arean calls to return genes to return merchandise. It's actually the place that they take returns for Amazon, which is a very smart move they made. Amazon and Emmerine have a joint venture that Coals will take returns for Amazon, which makes it good for Amazon. I guess it brings more customers into

their store, so it's good anyway. I guess there and there's a line around the block. It has so many people in the line I want to scream. And there's one woman servicing that line. I asked the person in front of me to hold my place and I walk around the line. I walk by thirty forty customers to watch what's going on here. And I see this woman processing one person and I'm saying to myself, she's sufficient.

And I walk back to play my place holding thirty and I'm saying, what the hell is this all about? This is crazy. I see other people walking around doing different things, returning merchandise, you know, putting merchandise back in stock. I'm sure all that work is important, but you have customers to consider. I'm thinking Coals. And as I'm standing there waiting, I look on the wall and there's a sign and the sign says Coals Cares. And I'm online, and you know me, Jesse, Hey, everybody you see it

says Coals cares. They don't care off of us to have more than one person to take returns. But Cole's cares. Forgive me calls because I like your store. But you know, if you're going to put it on the wall. Now, what Cares was referring to is they care about their community, they care about human rights, they care about the environment, And I get it. But you know, charity begins in

the home. We are there standing on line. You should care about my time, should care about the thirty other people behind me, and you should have more than one person processing returns. But that's not the part that I really wanted to talk about. You know, I talked about brands making decisions. And when your brand is strong, what your brand is strong, you can do whatever you want and you will. You will win this conflict of where

you should be. Think about Dura cell batteries, Jesse, where can you buy dur cell batteries?

mentioned and cold. If you search, if you hunt, if you know what you're looking for, you could find great things in that store. I find a lot of home products in jcpenny. You need towels, you want to pay a fair price for towels. I bought towels and restoration hardware. A hand towel was thirty dollars. I didn't realize. I got embarrassed into it. You know. I bought ten tows for three hundred dollars. I walked into j C. Penny. It's not the same, not the same, but they're pretty serviceable.

And that thirty dollars towel was twelve dollars. So there are a lot of great things you can buy. But if restoration Hardware put their talent in j C. Penny, chances are restoration hardware with feel it hurt their brand, which brings me to my former company, Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein Underwear is probably one of the best businesses ever invented in the history of apparel and accessory. Calvin Klein Underwear is like a bank. It sells and sells, and

sells and sells. The quality is great, and for whatever the reasons, whether they're out of smart decision making for the Calvin Klein company or out of desperation, they needed to have more volume. They decided to put the Calvin Klein underwear brand in calls. Now back to the issues. First issue, will it hurt my brand? They made a decision that they felt Coals would work with Calvin Kline.

I don't see em selling any other other products. I don't seem selling dresses or women's wear, or men'swear or genes, just underwear and maybe underwear. If it's a wrong decision, scoots in under that unique situation where you can sell fragrances in any store, you could sell underwear. And I go over to see the Calvin Cline I wanted to buy underwear, and I had it on my mind for while there. It is a cold. My former colleagues at PVH madted decision to sell the Calvin Cline brand a cold.

I get that the fixturing was not good. All the shelves were broken in sizes and empty. You couldn't buy white basic Calvin Cline knitted briefs, knitted box of briefs in any size you wanted. It was a mess. And here's the issue. If you're going to make a decision to risk your distribution to put it in a brand like Coals, which may or may not be the right

place for it. If you believe the three pair of underwear for forty eight dollars is a price point that the Coal's customer is willing to purchase it rather than buying Coal's private label brand or Jockey or Hagar any of those other brands that are price oriented. If you're willing to do it, PVH. If you're willing to do it, PVH CEO. If you're willing to do it, PVH. Business

managers PVH presidents, PVH, shareholders, stockholders, and whatever. Don't you think you should have a system for keeping those products in stock. We all know that the retailers do not invest time and money in replenishment. They do not spend the money on keeping stock in place. They can't afford to. And we have agreements with every retailers to have a replenishment business that's automatic, and we know we have to help them. And here I am in coals looking at

Calvin Klein, willing to buy the underwear. I could afford to pay forty eight dollars for three pair, and I couldn't find my size in anything other than stuff. We are ruining this industry. We're doing it to ourselves. We have to be smart. We have to know where we're selling. We have to understand whether a consumer could afford to pay it for the channel that we're in. And when we're in, we're there to win. Go in, go big, make sure you win, make sure it's successful. Don't create

a self fulfilling prophecy. I couldn't believe what I saw. We're doing this to ourselves, and I'm just a rambling man. Back in a minute.

clothes went from day and tonight extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing, Donna Karen had a young daughter, and she had friends and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Karen collection, and Donna invented dk NY Donna Aaron, New York. It's an offshoot of the Donna Karen collection. The same concept a lifestyle brand. Then we talk about lifestyle brands. What does that really mean? Simply what they say, there

are brands that follow you throughout your lifestyle. You get up in the morning, you start to get dressed Donna Karen decan why as intimate apparel, as hosiery, as all those products. You're getting dressed for work. You get accessorized shoes, handbags, and it takes you through the day. The remarkable thing about DK and Y clothes for work, they work into the evening. The dresses, the suits, the pants, the sweaters, the blouses, extraordinary clothes at affordable prices that go from

day in tonight. Part of your lifestyle is active. You have weekends, you have events, you participate in sports. Donna Karen's casual clothes did that under the DK and Y label. A vast array of casual sportswear that make women look great as they navigate their busy lives. Whether you going to soccer games for your children, or whether you're going out to the movies, whatever you want to do. DCN y Genes, dcay Hy Sportswear is there for you. That's

what a lifestyle brand is. I need to mention dk Y Activewear, which is extraordinary, the leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You can wear dk Y active Wear certainly in the gym, certainly when you're working out at home, and certainly if you want on the street, because it's that well done. The quality of dk why is nothing short of exceptional. And why shouldn't it be because it was born from the idea of luxury made affordable for

women of America. DKY and Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day and tonight, from the week into the weekend, DCN Why, DKNY and Macy's DKNY dot com. As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Carl Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through Car Lagofeld Paris. He has women's collections men's collections,

ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagofeld also offers a range of watches, I wear and premium fragrances. You can explore the car LAGOFL collection at car Lagofelparis dot com. But it's more than that. I have, for one, love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make me feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and

they look amazing. If you want to look right, you 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 com Paris. 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 carl Lagafel is my buddy. Calls 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 Carlagafel because he's always been, he always had been one of the world's great designers, and this legacy and goes on and on. I can't speak enough about it except to say to you, you

want to feel good about yourself. You want to know that you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld Paris at Macy's Orcarlagafel dot com.

news and all these different things. Jesse, you care about your brand?

person or make this point. Because they wanted me as like the I forgot the word, but basically, oh, what's the word I'm trying to use.

reasonable price points sixty five dollars dress shirts. But this guy was a young guy who was starting his career. He needed like ten shirts, and I said to myself, I'm going to tell them something different. I told them to go to TJ Max. If you go to TJ Max, one of the greatest companies in the world to sell first of all the solid they're well financed, they pay their bills, and they don't call out your brand dress shirts. It's all in call them bins. They're all mixed together.

If you could find a Ralph Lauren or a Lauren dress shirt, or or a Calvin or a Ptomy or a Venues and they're all mixed together, they're not featured by brand. So you go in and you're lucky enough if you're a fifteen and a half to find a brand or a shirt that you like in your size and in the color you're looking for. They don't guarantee that if they you want a white shirt, you'll have it the exact white shirt you want, in every color

or in every bin and every size you want. But you will find a white shirt, You'll find a blue shirt, you'll find a striped shirt. You'll find products that you can relate to at fail prices. Because the reason TJ Max can do that is they provide a service to the manufacturing industry. They buy the surplus at the end of the season. If you haven't sold everything you needed to sell, what do you do with it? See, fashion and clothing is not like fine wine. It doesn't improve

with age. You have to sell it while the going is good. And while TJ Max understands this business well, they understand that dress shirts have a different shelf life. They can keep them longer, and they put them together and it's a great place to buy product. I gave them a recommendation. Then there's Costco. Yours truly as a Costco discount card, Costco membership card. I guess what it really is. I joined Costco a number of years ago. I go there very rarely. I bought I mentioned earlier.

I bought batteries there. You can buy one hundred batteries for less than you'll buy them somewhere else. You can buy tissues, you can buy all this stuff. And there's a lot of apparel at Costco. Now there are times, well you'll find great brands at Costco, and they'll find times you'll find secondary brands. But there's some of the greatest deals you can find. I made a decision at DKY. President of DKY came to me and said, Mark, we really want to do business in Costco. I said, you know,

it's dk andy. I'm not sure that's good for our brand. You know, I have a concept of store that make deposits and stores that take withdrawals. What about Costco? Said Listen, we'd be amongst good company. At the time, Lauren by Ralph Lauren were there, Michael Kors were there, some of the contemporary brands were there, and Mark, all we would do is put in one gene style and a range of colors. It sits on a palette, it comes in, it stays for a few weeks, and it's gone. That's

the Costco formula. Because they don't want to get stale other than their tower racks that you'll see for socks or underwear. The fashion comes and goes, and Mark we could do a lot of business there. So I agreed to meet with the Costco people. They came to their office, They explained the premise. They told me why DK y be extremely important. They told me why they thought it would be good for the brand. Now we're going back fifteen years in this time and fashionable brands were few

and far between in the store. But they convinced me to try it, and overnight we were doing thirty million dollars profitably at Costco. In my entire time at Costco, I never once heard someone walk into a DKY store on Madison Avenue and say, I'm not buying eu jeens anymore because I saw them at Costco. I never heard of retailer say to me, you know, Mark, Macy's or Dillard's or anyone else for that matter, I'm not buying

eu genes anymore because we saw them at Costco. There's a way to do these things, and a way to do them right. Our positioning at Costco was DK. Why if you're in it, you're in it to win it. The price points were represented of DK and y. We didn't discount. We gave a fair price. We compared it to what we would have sold those streams at one of our alt stores. Now, our holot stores could have complained, but they'd have to come to me and I would

throw them out the door. But we made a decision, and Costco is one of those fine retailers that office his service. Here's a trivia question. What is the retailer in the United States that sells more wine than any other retailer in America? Times up? It's Costco. Go no. Now. Having said that, we as manufacturers, we as brand managers, we as brand owners, we as designers, we as merchants and marketeers of our brand have to recognize who we are.

We have to recognize the quality and the level of quality that we should make in the products bearing our name. Once you start taking quality out, which has seen a lot from a lot of brands this week, you're looking for trouble. I used to buy all my VNX sweaters at Target. Why I had bought my VNX sweaters from Isazart. I left the company. I didn't want to wear the brand anymore. I do again now, but I didn't then

I found target by accident. I was looking for a bookstand for my TV, and there, lo and behold, I saw that PK polos, which of excellent quality. I saw the v Nex sweaters excellent choirs started buying them profusely, and for a period of a few years they were my go to place for polos and sweaters until they started making lighter and lighter and lighter, to the point that I could see through them. They lost one of their most important customers because when I was in the store,

I found out they seld food and household appliances. I bought an iron, I bought all the things. But they disappointed me because they forgot that customers know what they're doing. Those of whose shop we come in with our time and money, we expect the quality and integrity in return. Having said all of this, I've been out there. I'm a rambling man. I'm moving around, I'm watching what's going on, but I'm also making observations. And those observations say, we

are hurting ourselves. No one's forcing us to. You're making short term decisions rather the long term decisions. You're ready fire aim rather than ready aim fire. Think strategically, think smart, always put your brand first. If you don't, who will With that? I say good night,