This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.
The show is sponsored by G three of Parow.
The views expressed in the following program are those of the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven tenor or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made business executive here to help you find your success from the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris. His global success story in the luxury world of fashion is inspirational. He's gone from.
Clerk to CEO twice.
Mark is classic proof that the American dream is alive and well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.
Mark Weber, I ask you what do you work for? I asked myself why do we work? Interesting thing is it depends who asked the question. Ask your boss why he works to help make the company successful? Ask your wife for significant other? Do you work more to ensure we have a secure life? If it's your children? Why do I work to provide you with an education to make sure you have a better life than I have? Now? What would you tell yourself? Well, first of all, I
know work is work. If it's work, if you enjoy what you're doing. It's never work. It's part of a great way to live your life. Having said that, I work, hmm, I have no choice. I have to make a living, I have to provide for my family. I work to afford the best things I can. I work to enjoy my life. I work to achieve success, to be proud of myself, to accomplish something. Now, if you're listen closely, this is starting to sound like you work for your
goals more than anything else. And I think that's true. I think we all have to be happy with ourselves. It's important to be proud of yourselves. And some of us, look, it's not easy out there. It's hard to make a living. It's hard to get jobs, it's hard to say employed. It's hard to deal with the people are telling you what to do. It's hard to deal with life in general. Work isn't supposed to be easy. Nobody ever said it was fair. But if you enjoy what you're doing, it's
really not work. But the more you hear about this, I think that it's true that we work for other reasons, not money. We all have to live with ourselves. It'stand to reason. We should know what we want. Perhaps not how to get there, but we know it could be survival. Some of us work to make it day to day. Some of us live paycheck to paycheck. Some of us get lucky and get inspired. I think about this all the time. It's changed me for years. Over and over,
I've rethought that. At first, my sole goal was to make enough money not to live in the city projects. I didn't want to be poor. My interest shifted as my focus moved away from money. I then realized that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to be proud of myself. I wanted my wife to be proud of me. I wanted my family to be proud of what I was accomplishing. I should also not that I wanted my wife's family
to recognize she wasn't wrong in choosing me. So many years later, I was sitting with my father in law and mother in law one day. I was doing pretty well, and my father in law looked over to me and he said, Susie always said you'd be okay, which you could imagine the conversations all throughout the years and why she picked me. But I wanted them to think that I did the right thing and that she was right
in picking me. I wanted things. I wanted stuff. I never dreamed too high, you know, at the beginning an apartment, I dreamed about a house. I wanted to own my own car, not my parents' car, and then eventually I wanted to own a sports car convertible. I never lost sight of investment. Navy suits, white shirts with ulinks because I wanted the degree of elegance. This was my uniform. I wanted to look the part. I wanted to blend in, but I wanted it to stand out by looking as
best as I could. I keep saying I wanted I'm selfish. I think we all are. It's okay to take care of yourself, to want what you want. It's also okay to have an ego. It'll drive you. I never understood the conversation egos don't work. Anybody without an ego can't be successful. That's the way it is now. I suppose the way you manage your ego making sure your head doesn't get too big for the pillow you're sleeping at night. Well, as life went on, it wasn't about money for me.
It was about accomplishing, having a career, making your name for myself. Work hard, work smart, prove your worth. Make sure the company is paying you what you're worth, because if you're doing what you're worth, you're worth a lot of money. I didn't work for money, though, I worked to quench my unquenchable curiosity, to learn, to grow, to reflect, and to be proud. So why do I work? Funny,
It wasn't about money. Money is simply a means to keeping score, how you're doing against the guy next to you, at the gal next to you. Money for me was about being there. I believed at one point in time that money would take care of itself, as my first mentor advised me prior to my first job interview, I have mentioned this before I was going on my first interview for PVH. I had met a headhunter who was
introduced to me became a mentor to me. That first day I met him and at one point he asked me, how much money do you want to make? I've had fifty thousand dollars and he said, no, that's not the right answer. They're going to ask you how much you want to earn, and the answer you ought to give
them is as follows, money doesn't matter to me. Now what matters me is to establish myself in a good company, a company that can help teach me what I needed to learn and recognize I have a contribution to make to the company. And in time, I am sure money will take care of itself. And I believe that, and it took a very important place within my thinking. Then now forever, I tell you all out there, those are
you just beginning. If you do your job, you do it well, you do it better than the next guy or the next gal, You'll be taken care of, and over time, if you're not, you'll find another company that will. I worked to develop a position in life. The funniest thing is, upon reflection, money as I grew older, was not about money. It became about walking away. It became what we know as few money, the power to do what you want, the power to be able to negotiate
your way through anything. So as I got older and prouder, some say I had the first penny I ever made. Funny the impression I created because I did everything I wanted. I bought everything I wanted. Yet I always preached saying and careful spending. That was part of my mantra. I always felt that I don't mind spending money, but I hate wasting it. And I prepared for my career as it winded down. I walk like a man. And that's
tonight's show. And joining me on Tonight's walk, my lawyer, my co host, my son, Jesse Weber, Jesse, Why do you work?
Why do I work? Money? Now, I look as simple?
Huh.
Well, look, you have to work in order to support your life, make a livelihood, support your family. But you also hope that you do something that you can build a career in and enjoy and look back and say I accomplish something.
Now, Well, money's important. Now I'm going to talk about when you ask me why do I work? But I don't know that's it.
Well, if you told me tomorrow, boom, you get five hundred million dollars, You don't have to work at a job nine to five anymore.
What do you think I'm going to do? I will tell you.
Though I've thought about this, I said, I kind of fantasize what my life would be like.
I still think I would maybe do a little something.
I wouldn't go out where we're crazy, but I might have a little side project of some kind.
Would you look who you're esky. I don't have five hundred million dollars.
But yeah, I wouldn't toil away for no reason. It's a big part of it is too pay your bills, pay your expenses, support your family.
Well, you got to keep your mind busy. And that's a big part of why I'm still going at it.
But here you go.
If I told you, if I told you my life's goal was to be able to walk away, what would you say?
I would say, it's not relevant. Most of our audience is young. They're not thinking about that. They're starting out, they're building their careers from the beginning. I would say, it's not relevant.
And don't you think that I thought like that when I was your age. I remember Larry Phillips, the CEO of Phillips fan Us, and came into one day and had a plan. He wanted to retain his top twenty executives, all of us were averaging below thirty or thirty one or thirty two years old. They came up with a plan that was worth a couple of million dollars based on an insurance policy that said, if you stayed drug free,
alcohol free for ten years. At the end of that ten years, you'd be vested in a plan that would pay you if you stayed with the company for those ten years a million dollars or two million dollars over the next twenty years.
Would you do that?
Well, if that's what you're going with, yeah, I can kind of see that. And I look.
I said to him, you know, hey, you're asking me now I'm thirty two years old, whether I'm going to give up and commit to something that is meaningful. Yeah. I don't need to take drugs, I don't need to drink. But the reality is, do I really think I'll make another ten years? He said, why not? You're one of the great guys herema, I said, everybody around me is being fired, and frankly, at thirty two years old, I'm not thinking about my retirement. But the truth be told,
I got that money and it was amazing. But now, you know, I think all of you tell us the time you plan on walking away the career. You choose, the path you take, the investments you make, where you spend your money, picking that which is important counts.
See, that's important.
If that's where you're going with this, Yes, having a budget, buying what you could afford planning it out. That's important. That's important for all people, no matter of the age. Look, I what do I love? I love Ralph Lauren turtlenecks. I love them, They're beautiful. The reality is, though for one third the price.
I can get great ones at uniclow.
I know young people, they've bought expensive cars like Lamborghini, like the Lamborghini SUV for what three hundred thousand dollars? An Audi you could buy it for fifty thousand dollars. Who are you impressing? I mean, who doesn't love luxury? Everybody loves luxury, but you have to be smart about it. Now,
there's a difference. For example, if I were to buy a beautiful stick with Ralph Lauren, a beautiful Ralph Lauren navy suit that I'm going to wear for meetings that I am going to wear on tip, that's an investment. It's not a car. It's an investment in my actual career. I think that's the difference. If that's the point that you're making, I'm all.
In exactly one of the points I'm making to all of you tonight. Save your money and press your family no one else. I'll tell you a story when I first started playing golf, I was playing at a public course for two years. I loved the course. It was a lot of water holes. It really really was challenging
and I enjoyed it. And then they put in all the tea time booking via computer, and frankly speaking, unless you were up Sunday night at twelve midnight ready to plug in a tea time for the following weekend, you're not going to get a tea time. And if you did, it would be two o'clock in the afternon or three o'clock in the afternoon on the weekends. And it was untenable, and I really got upset, and I realized I had
to join a club. And to make a long story short, I went to the five golf clubs that were relatively nearby me and I walked into each one and I looked around, and some of them were in a little shabby and I didn't like shabby.
Not for this.
I enjoyed golf and I wanted to be in a nice place. And one of the places in particular that looked great. It became one of my two choices. I walked in the locker room. The locker room looked nice. The people were there, and I listened to these guys talking, and there was all these young guys my age, and all they were doing is talk about bragging about money and how much this and how much that. And the one thing I learned about money growing up, if you
got it, you don't talk about it. And if you're one of those people who do, your a moron. I wanted no part of that golf club. The second choice I went into had old, burnished wood, old fashioned, old money. It felt rich, it felt quiet. All the guys there were older, They were genuinely. They talked about their golf game, They talked about what was taking place in the news. They talked about everything but money. Exactly what I said, no money talk. I joined that club. I forgured I'd
be the poorest one there, but I didn't care. I knew these guys understood how to spend money and how to live their lives. I've always spent my money carefully. It didn't want for anything, but I live by the motto I don't mind spending money, I hate wasting it. Speaking of which, do you know, Jesse, what a medium sized dietquote costs at McDonald's.
I don't drink diet coke. But let me take a guess. Let me take a guess. Medium sized diet coke two dollars three dollars.
Okay, a medium diet coke at McDonald's is a dollar forty nine and with tax one dollar and sixty two cents. At Burger King, a small, not a medium, is two dollars and forty seven cents, and a medium is three dollars and eighty two cents.
Wow.
So anybody buying soda at Burger King is throwing away the hard earned dollars.
Don't worry about it.
I think RFK is going to ban it soon, so there's going to be no more die co Ah.
Well that's a different story. But anyway. Credit card debt, that's another one I've talked about on the radio. I want to screen on anybody. If you get a credit card bill and you don't pay it off at the end of the month, you are the dumbest human being life. You're not planning your future better. All you're doing is throwing away money. Credit cards charge you anywhere from twenty to twenty five percent interest. Banks are only paying three
or four percent. Think about what they're charging frankly speaking, I'm gonna do this one more time. If you have credit card debt, go to a bank, take out a loan, make sure you have collateral. That's what they'll need, a house or car something. If you don't pay, they can take away from you. But you're so much better off paying a bank loan now of eight percent than twenty percent on a credit card. I don't mind spending money,
I hate wasting it. The point is save money, let it work for you, and of course be proud when you get older you appreciate it. I'm telling you right now, I never once thought about pensions. I have two of them. I love them. They're the greatest thing that ever happened. Businesses were told back in the day to be competitive, provide for your employees' retirement, and the government would step
in and help. And it's an amazing thing. Now. Some people will tell you I have the first penny I ever made, and it's funny, but I did everything I wanted. Ye'd always preach saying spend carefully, because my goal was to walk away like a man. For now, I'm gonna take a break and walk like a man always in fashion, spend a lifetime of my career building the van Usen brand, and I am so pleased that they're back with us now talking about suits. Men were dressing up again and
it's become cool to wear a suit. Suits can be won on multiple occasions in multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to go out at night or to an event. Could wear a suit to the office with or without a tie. If you look closely, now fashion trends, suits are being worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The choices are endless and every one of them looks right.
You could really really look the part. I believe that packaging yourself is as important does the products you package, and wearing suit is one of those things that make men look their best. Venuesing invented a new idea. It's called the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch technology, giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility. It's wrinkle resistant fabric, it's cool moisture wiki. It makes it perfect
for all occasions. As we discussed just now, this new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and comfortable is amazing and I'm so excited that the van Using company is involved in this new technology and is embracing the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget Venues and Maine It's name with dress shirts. It's only proper that the suit business follows strongly in its way. You can find van Ues in cool Flex men's stretch suits at jcpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great,
you should go look at them. Done. Karen began a career is one of the finest, most successful, powerful women in the fashion industry. She developed a collection aimed at the luxury market for women on the go, women who were powerful in their workplace, women who had lives that extended beyond the workplace, and her clothes went from day
and to night. An extraordinary collection. But the interesting thing Donna Karen had a young daughter and she had friends and they couldn't afford to buy the Donna Aaron collection, and Donna invented dk n Y 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 blouse's 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 go into soccer games for your children or whether you're going out to the movies, whatever you want to do, DK and Y Jenes dk and Y sportswear is there for you. That's what a lifestyle brand is. And I need to
mention DKY active Wear, which is extraordinary. The leggings, the sports bras, the sweats. You can wear DKY 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. DK and Why a true lifestyle brand that takes you from day and tonight, from the week into the weekend. D can why. You can find dcn Why and Macy's dky dot com.
Welcome back to it always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark Webber.
I have never forgotten the Terminator movie. Now. I don't watch horror movies. I don't like war movies. They disturb me. They really disturb me, particular war movies. I saw a movie called Bridge Over Tocoree when I was a young boy, by accident, by accident, and it's a story of a beautiful family. The guy used to be in the Navy. He gets called back in and he goes to Korea and he's a flying guy. And I just don't want to tell you it disturbed me so much. I can't
watch war movies. I've never watched one since maybe Saving Private Ryan. In all my years, I've never watched war moves. But two movies in my lifetime scared me. One was Alien. I'll never forget when that creature jumped out of the guy's stomach. It was the scariest thing I ever saw in my life. And then there was The Terminator. The
Terminator scared me because it was intellectually brilliant. It really talked about machines taking over and killing off humankind because they woke up one day with everything they learned, they realized they didn't need humans. All they needed humans for was maybe some of them to work on some of the mechanics, but really they didn't care for humans anymore, and they got rid of us. I still get scared when I hear that song, the music and here we are.
We're addicted to our machines. Adults to their cell phones. Go into a restaurant for people could be at the table, all four of them looking at the cell phone. There's never a time I don't see a cell phone on the phone or someone in a group of people looking at it. Kids they're addicted to their video games. They're addicted day and tonight. If you let them go, they will not stop, and if you stop them, they will get incredibly angry. And then, of course let's not forget
the real dangers that no one talks about. You know, you go back in time. Nobody knew the sun was dangerous until now. Cumulatively, you know it's dangerous. Nobody realized cigarettes in the beginning because the companies hit it. Whatever research they had, they didn't tell it. People smoked. Today, we use Bluetooth technology with those air parts in our ears. Now, I am an Apple guy. I love the company, I own the stock, I made a fortunate I love them.
But those things are dangerous and so is bluetooth, and no one's saying a word. And now, if you listen to the smartest people talking about artificial intelligence, you hear about inserting chips in our brains so we can mild with machines. We could be part human, part machine. We communicate directly from our brains with a chip. This is the scariest thing I ever heard, because it is determinator.
We're all destined to become cyborgs. Now, I don't know, And I hadn't paid very much attention to artificial intelligence until my other son Jared, started talking to me about chat GPT.
Yes, what's amazing about it is it's incredibly impressive right now. But where it's going to be in the next few years is it's hard to imagine, But yes, it's Is that.
The only artificial intelligence you come across.
No, there's other platforms that you can use, like, for example, if you want to summarize a bunch of articles, you want to find quick information, you want to write something, it can help you. And I think when you look at chat, GPT, or you look at any of these AI models, the thing that I think you have to wonder is a can it be just a useful tool that will help supplement.
What you do.
That's one way of looking at it versus will it replace what you do? And I've heard a lot of different people who are in the space who are very encouraged by it. They're very optimistic about it. They're telling people that it won't replace jobs. It may change your jobs, but there's always going to be a need for a human element. There's always going to be a need for a human to watch over what AI and chat GPT are doing. It's a nice thing to think about, but
as these are getting more and more powerful. I mean, I just saw something the other day where they put together a whole movie using AI. No actors, no production, no script, you plug it in about this is a movie you want to see And they created a whole movie using AI tools. It's crazy and we're like really in the beginning part of it.
Well, I got turned on to it and I got interested because on Instagram I started watching all these videos that they do. One the other day they recreated the Beatles. They actually had the four Beatles talking as if they were right there. And I'm sure you've seen the where they make an actor and actress they're six months old and they show them how they develop and how they grow up, and it looks real like they're right there all this stuff. Yet it's hard enough to know what
is going on. What I find really concerning is it's so intrusive. You know, I just while I'm sitting here, Jesse, I put in your name.
Okay, it's a trat GPTA, Yeah, and it's a Jesse.
Cord Weber is a multi fascinated professional, combining his expertise as an attorney with roles in broadcasting anchoring. He serves as an anchor reporter for the Long Crime Network, founded by Dana and Briomsbury, hosts and executes produces syndicated true crime show Prime Crime. Additionally, Jesse co hosts the Always In Fashion radio show with his father, Mark Weber, airing on seven to ten War and other podcast platforms including
Apple and Spotify. He also contributes as a freelance radio host and Serious potem Serious XM's Potus Channel one twenty four and his guest Nankor on twelve News Long Island. Beyond his hosting Dude, Jesse provides legal alison networks such as Fox News, CNN, E T CVS, CNBC News Nation and Doctor RS.
Look at this some of it.
Some of it's true, some of it's true, some of it's not, some of it's outdated.
I looked up myself too on it, and it's a little bit of a different description.
I did like this part. He's known for his engaging style and ability to break down complex legal issues for a general audience.
I'd like that. I will tell you it's funny.
I looked up if it got who if I was right, who I was married to, and it was completely wrong, which, by the way, I don't mind. I don't mind that it got my wife's name wrong. But it was that I was married to somebody completely different.
It's interesting you say that, because a lot of things come up. But then I thought it was great. I played a little game today. I just looked you up and I read to you what it said, and it's so accurate. It's scary how they get all this information compile it. So then I did a few on me. You ready, yeah? First one is Mark Weber? Interesting?
How about that?
You're ready? Yeah?
What I say?
Mark Weber is definitely an interesting figure, especially if you're into fashion, business or leadership. His background as the former CEO of lvmh Ink, the US branch of luxury conglomerate that owns brands like Vitone, Dior Gavanci, gives him deep industry insight. What makes him compelling, I'm compelling. I like that is he didn't just work in fashion. He played
a major role in shaping it. Compelling and shaping fashion, he climbed the corporate ladder from modest beginnings, eventually leading major brands like Phillips van Uzen, where he helped drive global expansion. His experience gives him a unique perspective on business strategy, branding, and leadership Beyond fashion. Look at this, His radio show Always in Fashion, His book Always in Fashion From Clerk to Ceo off for stories, career advice,
and insights into the industry. His ability to mix personal anecdotes with professional lessons makes him engaging to listen to or read about.
Well, there you go.
You know the funny thing. You know what the funny thing is. I'll tell you. Wait, let me just finish. Uh, let's see, and then it says my work his Warkweb's work spans executive leadership, writing, and media. Here's a major breakdown of his contributions. CEO of LVMH chink you all know this already, so I don't want to go through it.
Markwbers working blah blah blah blah, Corporate leadership CEO of LVMH North America led the US operations blah blah blah blah blah, Chairman, CEO Phillips Venues, and board and advisory roles. He served as an advisor and board member for various fashion and retail conglomerates. Books and writing, Always in Fashion From Clerk to Ceo, his memoir and business book where
he shares lessons from his rise in the fashion industry. Leadership, insights and career learnings, books in writing, always in fashion, from clerk to CEO, business and fashion, comedy, business and fashion commentary has written I've spoken extensively on trends in fashion branding. Listen, here's the deal, Here's why I'm doing this. I used to work for a guy in France, Italian fella.
He went to school here in the United States. English was his third language, perfect French, perfect Italian, of course, in English with a heavy accent. And the guy was brilliant, and he was the number two guy at LVMH manager director in our country we called president and I worked for him, and it had to be once a week I would get a detailed letter from him, ask me where we are in this or that, commenting on what's going on in the world, and asking for my professional
opinion on what he just wrote. I dreaded those letters because he wrote them in English. And if I tell you, they were brilliantly crafted. They were so intricate and so well in grammar and the way it was laid out and functioning. It took me maybe a day or two. I couldn't do anything else but rewrite and write, and rewrite and write a let that, in the end was
never as good as the one he wrote. And the funny thing about this AI, all of this stuff that I just read, compiled from wherever it is in the world, every single bit of information, they put it together, they get access to it, and they spit it back to you better than you could ever write it yourself. I find it fascinating, I find it exciting. I find this is probably the most exciting technology to ever hit the world. But I am concerned with where it's going. And I have a surprise for you.
Jesse, you're ready, Well, it's a surprise for the audience. Ready we tell them?
Now?
This is all AI. This is not Mark Webber, This is not Jesse Webber.
This is all AI.
No.
I think people could tell the difference. But anyway, what's a surprise?
I asked AI. Would you hire Mark Weber to host a TV show? Woh?
What did it say?
Would you hire Mark Weber to host a TV show? Why? He could be a great fit one industry authority. Weber's deep understanding of the fashion and business industries would make him a credible and authoritative voice, particularly for shows centered around leadership, entrepreneurship, or high end fashion. Two charisma and storytelling. On Always in Fashion, He's demonstrated his ability to narrate stories from his career, mixing personal anecdotes with professional insights.
This blend of storytelling would make him engaging on a television show. Three Media experience. As a host of his own radio show, Weber already has significant media experience. He knows how to keep an audience engaged while offering valuable content, whether it's through interviews, discussions, or commentary. Four. Cross generational appeal.
With his son Jesse as co host, he appeals to both older generations who value traditional business acumen and younger audiences who may appreciate fresh, modern takes on style and success. If you are producing a show about business leadership or fashion, Weber's background and skills could make him a strong addition.
I love that. That's great.
So those of you out there in the television and movie business, Jesse and I are available, even the phony ones, the AI versions of us. So I thought that was interesting. And this all came from my elder son Jared telling me, had Daddy, you see what's going on in AO? And he told me to look at Chap GPT and there you go listen while I can. I'm having a great time until the machines take over. For now, I take a break and walk like a man always in fashion.
As one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, car Lagafeld was renowned for his aspirational and cutting edge approach to style. His unique vision of Parisian shit comes to America through car Lagafeld Paris. He has women's collections, men's collections, ready to wear, accessory, shoes and bags. The fashion house Carlagafeld also off is a ring of watches I wear in premium fragrances. You can explore the Carlagovo collection at
carlagofelpowers dot com. But it's more than that. I, for one, love to shop. I love going around and seeing what's happening and what catches my attention, what would make me feel good to wear now. I don't wear the women's wear obviously, but I can appreciate it and they look amazing. If you want to look right, you want to have clothes that fits you well. You want to look like you're wearing something that's very expensive, that's exclusive for you
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you're dressing properly. You want to clothes that fits you well. Carl Lagafeld, Paris, Carl Lagafeldparis dot com. I love polar Fleece. It's lightweight, takes colors beautifully, It's comfortable, keeps you warm and even if it's warm out, it doesn't hamper you, it doesn't make you perspire. I love polar fleas. I also love sweatshirts and sweatpants, love them, love them, love them. I'm a big fan of khaki pants and a big fan of a golf clothes. And I'm a big fan
of ISID. I used to be the head of iszide. In fact, my company bought it and aut of bankruptcy, and the CEO of the company asked me to come in and fix it. And he said to me, Mark, the future of the company's in your hand. Can you do this? And I said, I will do it. I put everything, my heart and soul into making ISESID the powerhouse that it is today.
Now.
I left a long time ago, and the company just continues to thrive. ISAOD is one of the great sweater makers, pant make a shirt makers, knit shirt makers, polo shirt makers. They're incredible company. The colors are great, the fabrics are great. Guys, you ever wonder what you should wear, I'll make it easy for you. If you're going to be casual, go in and look at ISID.
Now.
That doesn't say that they don't have dress shirts and they don't have suits, you go find them. ISAOD is a collective brand that offers lifestyle apparel to everyone in America. And it's true, it's a fun brand, but it's also priced at fun prices everyone can afford it. I love this brand. Of all the brands that I'm involved with and you can name them, think about PVH and LVMH and all the brands, ISAOD is the one that's most personal to me because I was involved in crafting the
future of this brand. The clothes are great, fall is great. They're doing well. Isod dot com, isaadat JC Penny go look for it. I think you're going to be very happy. And ladies, those of you do shopping for the guys in your lives, take a look. I think they'll be very happy with your choices.
Isaac for men, welcome back to it.
Always in fashion. Here's your host, Mark webber.
To Night show. I'm talking about walking like a man. I'm not talking about muscles bulging. I'm talking about feeling good about yourself and planning your career and your life so when you get to a point that you done enough, you could walk like a man. And by the way, having pride, belief in yourself, and confidence throughout your entirety of your career is really the goal. Everything you do along the way you should be doing for the right reasons. I started the show by talking why do we work.
There's a lot of reasons why we work. Some would argue it's money. I would argue money is important, money takes care of itself. I think money is more about keeping score. I think we work to feel good, to be proud, to create role models and things for your family, to show your children that there's a reason to do the things that we tell them that they should be doing. I am in the mood of look back right now. At the same time I am looking forward. I have
a concept called the look Back. It's very interesting. I bought a sports car a few years ago and boil boy. I decided to be fancy and I picked a special color and I paid a king's ransom to have this special color on this particular car. I also came up with these fancy wheels that matched the car and the inlaid with some black epoxy and on paper it looked incredible. And you know, I spent my whole career in fashion and retail and luxury. I have an eye for it.
I am a creative by I don't know I'm born with it. I suppose I'm a creative guy. Look at things, I know what they are and I how to make them better. In fashion, if you would walk me into a room. When I walked to Donna Aaron, I knew nothing about women's where I was a men'swear expert. Now I'm the chairman CEO of Donna Karen. I walk into a design meeting. All the designs are on the wall, all the paintings, all the cats, computer aided designs, all
the fashion ideas, the samples. I could look at a wall and I can tell you within thirty seconds what is right, what is wrong, what is missing, what we should do to improve it. I just am able to do that. One of my favorite stories is back in my day, I had hired this guy designer, and when I interviewed him, he had everything that he said. He was right, dressed well, spoke well, looked a part, talked fashion, understood the technical details. But when it came time to
do the product, it just wasn't right. Just wasn't right. I've talked about this in my book, Ill Talk to you about again. There's a concept call one to ten. Some people do one to five. You know you rate movies. I rate everything at one to ten. Okay, it's very simple. We all know what it is. Okay, you look at a car one to ten, what do you think of that car? Ten?
Five?
We know whatever the number is. You look at a guy, you look at a girl. Hey, what do you think? One to ten? You have a rating? Brad Pitt ten. George Clooney looking a little uh eightish these days. I'll give you example, Margot Robbie ten. I'm gonna get in trouble for this side, don't know. But anyway, the point was this designer put a line together, and for the first time I was going in to see his body of work. I walked in the room. There were other
designers there. There were people from operations, people from sales, and they were waiting to see what I had said. The colors were off, the pattern work was off, the detailing was off. It was really really horrible, and I was shocked by it. And I was so taken aback, really so taken aback that I couldn't even control myself. And I walked in the room instead. Of saying, you know, we really have to talk about I said, I hate this.
What is this? And the designer, you know, he felt strange and he started to, you know, explain what he's doing. He said, Mark, you got to give it a chance. Let me take you through it. I said, okay, So I listened. I put my game face on. I recovered from the fact that I couldn't believe this guy is sitting here telling me this stuff is good and really disturbment, really disturbment that he's voting for it and trying to convince me that what I know is not good is good.
So I used to do this game. I called it the ballot game. And I decided right then and there, I'm going to play the ballot game. What's the ballot game? I asked my assistant to get me one of my baseball caps. I put the baseball cap in front of it in the center of the table, and I take a pad and I started tearing the pair into pieces. I asked my system again, bring me in ten pencils. There were ten of us in the room. Comes back five minutes later. I said, we're going to play a game.
I call it the ballot game. It's a great equalizer. I said, everybody take a piece of paper. Everybody take a pencil. Everybody's taking the paper and pencil. I can't imagine what's going on here, I said, Okay, Josh here, whatever's name was, I don't remember. Josh here thinks this line is incredible. I'm telling you I don't. The only way we can get an idea from all of you other people here, I want to get an opinion. Who's right,
was wrong? What we think about it? I know what I think, and I am curious to see what the rest of you think. Now a thing with me in life. If I ask your opinion, I already know what I think. Most times, if I don't know something and I say to you, I don't know, can you tell me that, I'm willing to listen. But if I ask an opinion, particularly when it comes to the creative arts, I'm not interested in your opinion. I already made it in my mind.
Nothing's going to change it. Everybody has the pencil and paper, and I asked them on a one to ten, I want you to rate this collection on the wall. Oh here's the thing. If you work as an assistant to this guy of course you would say. And if I asked you and Paul, oh, it's great. I really think if I asked another designer, they wouldn't want to get into the discomfort of telling a person that their work
isn't right. But in my ballot game, nobody knows who's writing because what I said to them is, I want you to write one to ten what you think of this line. Zero means it's terrible. Ten means it's great. I gave you all the se pencils you all owe the same paper. After you write your answer on your piece of paper, I want you to crumble it up and put it in the hat. All of us then crumpled up the paper put it in the hat. For me, I was going to call out and read them one
by one. So I take a piece of paper. The first one says four, take another piece of paper. The next one is zero, Zero is me, next one, five, then six, one, seven, And when you're really came down to it, everything was all under seven except for one that was a nine and a half. I looked at the designer and I said, I'm i to believe you're the nine and a half. He said, yes, well, I was the zero I'll admit it to you. I came here. You haven't changed my mind. This line is horrible. We
have to start all over. I'm throwing it all out. What about the collus, I said, listen, here's the deal. Look at this rating here. You have an average rating of four point five. We're not in the business of four point five. We're in the business of ten. And the fact that we are so low rated. I can't risk the company's money, or the future of our people, or the future of our brands on something that is
not great. And this is obviously not great. Now. I can't fault you because you think it's great, but we can't go on, and we're gonna have to regroup and do this again. Make a long story short. We ended up letting that guy go not too long after that. I felt bad about it, But come on, if you're defending ugly, you don't belong in the fashion business. Having said that, I designed my own car. I went to pick it up in a dealership after waiting seven months,
and I looked at it and I hated it. I hated the wheels, but more importantly than anything else, I hated the color I selected me The fashion expert the girl. I hated it. It was a gray, but it had a brown tint to it rather than a blue tint. Grays that have blue tint tend to be more pleasing to the eye. And when I said to the deal I don't want this car, I keep it, he said, take it. You don't like you could always bring it back.
So I started to pull it out. And now it's in the street and I see the color and it looks like tan. It doesn't look like gray. I'm devastated. I mean, I had my heart setter, and I waited. I designed my own car, the whole deal, and I did what I then to become, and I coined the look back. I walked away from the car, took a fast turn and looked at it. I gave it a look back and it was harrd. I knew then and there. So when I think about look back, I think about
that story. I'll never forget being in a Calvin Klein run Dury show. All the world class models are there, supermodels are there. I remember that particular day and if you go online, you'll see me with the Italian Ivanovitch. I forgot her name. She was one of the hot Russian models at the time. She was a friend in the sense that I hired her with a team and she did great. But I have a pictures to so with her because she was a spokesman for the company
for a while. But one supermodel walked by me and she just walked by, and she stopped at one point, turned around, looked at me and smiled and walked away. That was a look back. I never saw her again, ever spoke to her. But that's a look back. And I'm talking about look backs today and walking like a man because I have a story I want to tell you that happened this week. I got a phone call from one of the most powerful men in the fashion,
luxury and retail business today. He's a billionaire, he's an accomplished guy, owns Megabrands. And he called me to say that I was recommended to him to be involved in a new division that was being set up in his company and in partnership with another company. He wanted me to come and sit down with him about joining the company. I said, Tom flattered, I don't I'm speechless. Just the fact that you are calling me is a great honor,
and of course I'll come see you. So the next day I came into the city and I went to see him in his offices, beautiful office, Prestigia guy. And he was so affable and so friendly. And he said to me, Mark, I take great pride in hiring people who've retired and bringing him back to work because they have such a great wealth of information. He says, I have a guy that I hired. He retired sixty five. He was an architect. He built some of the most
beautiful things in the world, in the country. I don't want to mention them because I don't want you to know who this guy is. And he said, I brought him into the company and he's been one of the most invaluable people that I've ever worked with. He says, I know you're retired. I'm not going to ask you how old you are. I said, thank you, because I'm not going to tell you. He said, but I would love to bring you back because your reputation precedes you.
I've never met anyone with a reputation. Everyone says the same thing. You're super talented, you're a good guy, you're super tough, but you're fair and that works. And i'd like you to come work for me, and he starts to explain the job, and now I'm thinking, here we go, Look who's talking to me. The guy is a real deal. He's a great guy. His principle here of what they're
trying to build this brilliant. And I'm starting to think, maybe maybe I think about coming back to work, because I've always thought that there are only a couple of jobs that I would consider coming back to work for.
Was Polo?
Never forget I was thinking about coming back. One time, I knew that the CEO of Polo a woman, and I went to see her, and out of the blue, you know, she knew me. She took the call, came to see me, and when I told her that I thought her men's business was suffering and needed improvement, she was looking at me. And you ever see a ticketape how it moves showing the letters and the numbers. I could imagine a ticket tape on her forehead saying how
do I get this guy out of here? I could see how uncomfortable she was that I came in asking for a job. I didn't need it. I just like Polo, I've always thought about working at the Gap ever since Mickey Drexler left twenty years ago. Twenty five years ago. The gap has not been The gap went from my favorite store in the world, who hardly gets on my radar screen. I never spend more than three minutes there. Once in a while. They have a denim jacket that
I love. I bought a few of them. But generally speaking, the GAP's not the gap. It's not what it was. You want to know what the gap used to look like. It's called uniclow so. But other than that, I had no interest in working. And here I am talking to this guy, and I start calibrating and saying to myself, why do I need this? I remember I talked to you once about Jim Carrey was interviewed not too long ago, and he says, I did enough, I have enough, and I am enough. And I was taken by that. I
did a show and I thought it was brilliant. I sitting there and saying I've did enough, I have enough, I am enough, and I don't need this. But I said, the fact that it's him, and the fact the fact that the job was so big, the fact that the money would be great, the fact that the perks would be great, the prestige would be there, the office space would be there. And then he says to me, what I really want you to do is work in my
partner's offices, not with me. You'll be hired by me and our partner and you'll work in the partner's offices. And I couldn't do it. I thought I was talking to him, and in fact, I said to them, listen, here's the deal. Here's the deal. I would consider coming to work for you. One, I need expense money. I'm going to be commuting, I'll be living this city. I'm going to be living out here. I'm there traveling. We
need to know the moneing, no problem a second. Secondarily, if I'm going to come back to work, it has to be bigger than life and what you're suggesting to me work at the other company. I won't be the CEO, I won't be the president. I'm not coming back for less than what I was. I just won't do it. And he looked at me and said, well, what is it you want? I said, First of all, I want to sit on your board. He said to me, I can't do that. I looked at him and I said,
you're a master of the universe. You could do anything you want. He started to laugh. He says, I suppose he said the board is boring. I said, okay, once a quarter when you have a board meeting, I'll be bored. But other than that, I want to sit on the board. If I'm sitting on your board, it's prestigious. It makes me feel good, it makes me driven. It shows that I'm continuing a fashion career at the level that I was doing. So I don't know if I could do that.
So I said, then I don't know if I can come and frankly speaking, if I'm not going to report directly to the CEO, I'm not going to retort to anybody. He said, I don't know how to do it, but tell you what you want you to do. I want you to meet the president of the company that I'm suggesting you work for. I said, I tell you right now, I'm not going to work for the president. You meet him. He's a great guy. So I went and met him. He's a great guy. Great guy, not a good guy.
Great guy. Could I work fro him? Yeah? Would I work from No? So I went back to see this fella and I said, look, I'm not going to do this. He said, Mark, listen, if you want to be in the game, you have to be in the game.
I like that quote.
You want to be in the game, you have to be in the game. I reminded him that. He called me said, I don't need to be in this game. I've been there, done it. I said, I'm in a different game. I'm an entertainment I'm on radio, I'm on podcast. I love it. It's incredibly hard, and frankly, it's harder than what you're asking me to do. What you've done, and what you're asking me to do here, I've done in my sleep a thousand times. Can I do it?
Can I make your company better? Can I make this thing a win for what you're trying to do with your partner? Absolutely? No brainer. And by the way, just having me around, whether I'm on your board or reporting to you, would make all your other endeavors better because somehow or another, I always find a way to earn my key to be value added. I don't know if I could do that. I said, listen, what I know
of you, you can do whatever you want. He said, let me talk to my partner, and they I said, well, listen, I'm going to say to you no right now, And I can tell you that I am internally grateful that you thought of me. I am honored that you thought I'd be an addition to your company. And nothing would please me more than if I came back to work to work directly for you. But I'll have to say no, he said, let me think about it. He thought about it,
and we ended up passing. The point of the story is is I've talked about this a number of times. First of all, negotiation, he who could walk away wins. In this case, both of us could walk away. If it wasn't me, there's someone else. I often talk about this. Everyone's replaceable. There's an edict that says no one's irreplaceable. Anyone who says differently is a fool. And one thing I'm not as a fool. I know I could be replaced.
I know anybody could be replaced. The problem with that idiom is when you have someone who's really great and they leave, a little light goes out, a little star goes off because you're losing something that was very special. And when I, in my case, we both could walk away, and I felt that he was a little less shine on what he was trying to do not having me there. But it's his choice. I respect it, and as I said,
I was honored and grateful. And the point of the story is, back in the day I said it, I realized money wasn't the answer to everything. But I realized money if handled properly, if planned well, your pensions, your four oh one can The money you save allows you to have what a colloquial call a few money. And I was able to walk away like a man with that in mind. Good Night,