Met a few days later – at the Strand Palace Hotel (where the display had been). I brought all my ties. We critiqued them together – talked about what we each liked and didn’t. (Sophie is indeed a perfectionist!)
Against the trends of the day, his ties were wide and handmade from high-end fabrics. He worked out of a single drawer in a showroom in the Empire State Building and personally made deliveries to stores. In his first year in business [1967], he sold $500,000 worth of ties to the most prestigious names in men’s clothing, including Paul Stuart, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s. From these humble beginnings was born the American super brand that exists today.
[Though we want to revert to ties being slim.]
Using an inflation calculator, that’d be $4.5M in today’s money (in year one!):
*
141 KB
View full-sizeDownload * I shared all the above with a friend of mine (Andrew), who has a background in ecommerce. He replied:
Back when I owned BabySecurity.co.uk with my brother in 2004. We sold all things security for babies and toddlers. Mainly baby gates, locks, monitors etc.
Our baby gates and monitors had high price tags, but were expensive to ship and even worse for returns, so we made a loss on them or a small profit.
But the baby locks?
They were £2-5 each and shipping cost 50p or less. The best part is they NEVER got returned.
Long story short... the tie business would be an ideal fit for an eCom store. Light to ship, minimal returns, with a VERY high profit margin.
And he’s agreed to get involved to help with all online marketing.
She’s talented, driven, has well-rounded/generalist experience, and is 23 years old.
We intend to emulate Ralph Lauren (from a business standpoint) in the early days.
Start with ties. Dominate that niche.
And then branch out and build a brand.
We want to be high-end – but not stupidly high-end. Paul Smith (which feels about the right echelon) ties sell for £110.
Four ideas:
I) “Rebel” ties (skinny/cool ones) II) “Boardroom” ties (still cool, but ones you’d wear at Goldman Sachs) III) “Affirmation” ties – having a motivational quotation on the back. (Why has no one ever done this?) IV) “Occasion” ties. Graduation/first interview/first job… really for parents gifting sons. (Again: why has this never been done?)
We think this has the potential to be a profitable company quite quickly.
Then, can Sophie develop this into a revered brand?
