In this motivational business video, Evan Carmichael explains how to model success when starting a clothing brand by recounting the origin stories of four iconic fashion entrepreneurs—Giorgio Armani, Dov Charney (American Apparel), Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren. For each founder, Evan outlines their early career steps, the pivotal decisions and financing that enabled them to launch their own label, signature product innovations (Armani’s unstructured suit, American Apparel’s fast‑turnaround Made‑in‑USA t‑shirts, Klein’s sleek sportswear, Lauren’s upscale ties and Polo branding), key partnerships or mentorships, and breakthrough moments such as first major orders or industry awards. The narrative emphasizes that aspiring designers can replicate these successes by studying the clues left by these pioneers. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to comment, like, and apply the modeled strategies to their own businesses.
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Hey, it's Evan Carmichael. I've been getting a lot of requests from people who want to start their own clothing brand. Now, I believe in modeling success, so in this video I'm going to share how some of the top fashion brands in the world got started, how these entrepreneurs went from nothing, went from an idea to building an internationally recognized clothing brand, and how you can do the same. Giorgio Armani. Giorgio Armani got his start when he was hired by La Rinascente as a window dresser. He was quickly promoted as a buyer for the department store thanks to his keen eye for style. Working in the menswear section, it was here that Armani gained his first valuable exposure to the world of fashion, making regular trips to London to seek out the latest trends. In the early 1960s, Armani crossed over to work for Nino Cerutti, an Italian fashion designer who was becoming well established in the industry. Armani was hired to work as an assistant designer for Cerutti's line of menswear, Hitman. Over the next decade, Armani continued to work for Cerutti, but due to the high demand of his skills, he also became a successful freelance designer. At one point, he was contributing fashions to 10 different fashion houses at once, including some of the biggest names such as Ungaro and Zegna. A chance encounter in 1966 would set Armani down a new path. That was the year he met a young architect named Sergio Gagliotti. Gagliotti was 11 years younger than Armani but recognized the talent in the young designer. He moved to Milan to be with Armani, all the while encouraging him to go off on his own and create his own collection rather than continue to design for others. In 1970, Armani finally left Cerruti. He continued chasing freelance work until 1974 when Gagliotti's Armani's work of encouragement seemed to finally pay off. That year, Armani and Gagliotti decided to create their own company. With an initial investment of $10,000, which they had collected from the sale of their Volkswagen car, the two founded Giorgio Armani. Armani immediately set out to create a unique line of menswear. His first outfit would in fact become his signature piece: the unconstructed suit jacket. By removing the standard lining and padding that had previously always held jackets into their stiff form, Armani created a new, more fluid jacket that became widely popular for both men and women. Over the next decade, Armani continued to design clothes that were neutral in color and often considered androgynous. Dov Charney from American Apparel. Dov Charney dropped out of Tufts University in his senior year and moved to Columbia, South Carolina to start a business. In 1989, thanks to a $10,000 loan from his father, he created a t-shirt company. But as his competition began to outsource their operations and imported clothes started to flood the market at cheaper prices, Charney found himself out of business. He was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1996. Charney's dreams of running a clothing company crashed along with much of the industry. Did he waste his father's $10,000 loan? Was his move to South Carolina pointless? Charney wanted to make sure that his venture down south was not in vain. After filing for bankruptcy, Charney recognized that he could not revitalize his company all on his own. He needed someone who had experience, someone who had been in the industry for some time and knew what it would take to reorganize the company and make it profitable. Charney found that person in Marty Bailey. "I called up a guy I trust and asked, 'Who's the best out there at organizing a factory?'" says Charney. "He said Marty. So I called him on a Saturday and said, 'Dude, my name's Duff, and I need help.'" He started Monday. That's the way I operate. With over 20 years' experience in the garment industry, Bailey came on board and immediately began to reconfigure Charney's factory. He dramatically improved its efficiency by organizing the sewing team into groups of 8 to 10 people, each of whom was assigned a different task to perform to create a single garment. Team manufacturing, he called it. Charney's first design was the classic Girl line, and despite being dismissed by the likes of Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom, it proved a success. With that, he decided to move his business to LA, California, where he began a new business model, something he called a hyper-capitalist socialist fusion. Today's American Apparel was born. Initially, the company restricted its operations to manufacturing t-shirts for designers, rock bands, corporate customers, and the like. Because Chinese shirts could hold silkscreen designs well and they fit better than his competitors, they started becoming successful. Added to that was the fact that all his products were produced right there in his LA factory. That meant that not only were they high quality, but he could capture the latest trends and create a fast turnaround time. A t-shirt could go from being a concept to being in consumers' hands in less than one week. Because of the high quality of Chinese clothes, he was able to charge more for them than his competitors with their Chinese imports. His t-shirts went from an average of $4 each more than 4 times that of his competitors. Slowly, Chinese customers began to increase their orders and he used the higher revenues to reinvest back into the business. Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein had a dream of founding his own clothing company, one that would create original, unique, and affordable designs that could compete with the overly expensive European imitations which enjoyed a monopoly at the time. He believed that the US could indeed have its own thriving fashion industry that would be able to go up against the best throughout the world. and Klein wanted to lead that effort. Although he was practically broke and still working part-time at his father's grocery store to earn some extra money, he was confident in his abilities to both design clothes and run his own business, and with the help of an old childhood friend, Klein set out to do just that. When he was 26 years old, Klein finally decided to stop taking apprenticeships to venture out onto his own. With $2,000 of his own money, that he had saved and a $10,000 loan from his friend Barry Schwartz, Klein founded Calvin Klein. Schwartz became a partner and the two set out to make Klein's dreams come true. Focusing first on a line of coats, Klein created his own designs using the skills he had gained from his previous on-the-job training. The company's first major step to success came by accident a year after its inception, when a businessman got off the elevator on the wrong floor and happened to wander into Klein's office. This businessman turned out to be a coat buyer from the major department store Bonwit Teller. After placing an order for $50,000 worth of coats, he told Klein, "Tomorrow you have been discovered." In his first year, the company booked $1 million worth of business. While Bonwit Teller's order did help Klein create a significant presence, it wasn't until 1973 when Klein created his first line of sportswear that he would become a major player in the fashion industry. His collection with its sleek and simple designs became known as the Calvin Klein look. As the company began to grow in size and wealth, Klein was recognized for his efforts by being awarded the Coty Award, the highest award for fashion, for 3 consecutive years beginning in 1973. Klein had essentially created the phenomenon of American leisurewear. Ralph Lauren. After high school, Ralph Lauren enlisted in the US Army and served in the reserves for 2 years. In 1964, he began taking night classes in business at the City College of New York, although he never got a degree, and joined Brooks Brothers as a neckwear salesman. Soon, however, Lauren was longing to design his own ties. "I was working for a tie manufacturer and doing private labels for stores such as Brooks Brothers and Paul Stewart," he recalls. "I tried to convince them to do their own brand, but they weren't interested. So I approached another tie maker from Cincinnati, and they got it." Lauren quit his job and went to work for Beau Brummell Neckwear. Although lesser known, the company allowed him to sell his own designs in their showrooms in the Empire State Building. Lauren began to create wide, handmade, and expensive ties, qualities which would soon become his trademark. Lauren tried to branch out and sell his ties to Bloomingdale's. They however refused to sell them unless Lauren met certain conditions. Lauren in turn refused. Bloomingdale's competitors however were not as reluctant. Within months, Lauren's ties, now under the brand name Polo, were selling fast. With their tail behind their legs, Bloomingdale's soon came back to Lauren to ask for a deal. Lauren's handmade neckties were flying off the shelves. It was a conservative time in the fashion world, and Lauren's ties, showy as they were, were making a splash. But Lauren knew that if he was going to stick around in the business for much longer, he had to follow that up with something else, and fast. In 1968, with the help of a $50,000 loan, Lauren founded Polo Fashions. He chose the name not because he liked the sport—indeed, he had never played polo before in his life—but to Lauren, the name symbolized power and style, an image he wanted his clothes to project. Lauren's designs hit the fashion world and the streets hard. Expanding his line of menswear, Lauren had hit after hit on his hands, and in 1970, he even won the prestigious Coty Award. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed the video. Remember, whatever goal you have, whatever problem you're facing, someone has already gone out and accomplished it. Instead of trying to figure it all out yourself, find out who's done it. Model their success. Their success leaves clues that you can build into your business to become a success yourself. I hope you've enjoyed the video. If you liked it, please give it a thumbs up below. It'll mean a lot to me personally. And I'd love to hear what you have to think. Please leave a comment underneath, tell me what you're thinking, and if I can answer a question for your business, again, please leave it in the comment section below. I always read those, I love seeing them come in, they make my mornings. Thank you guys, and I'll see you soon.
