Word: profitable
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...University will subsidize [the 350th]," says Reardon. "We will not make a profit. We will not break even...
...Lauren's new flagship store succeeds, other big-name designers will want to follow his example. The reason: compared with selling through department stores and franchises, direct ownership gives a designer complete creative control of marketing, not to mention a far higher profit margin. Says Walter Loeb, who follows the retailing industry for Morgan Stanley, the investment firm: "Designers are not always happy with the way department stores select merchandise, picking some pieces but not the whole assortment. The designers feel that the stores don't fully appreciate their genius and wish they would pick a range that reflects their...
...owner, Polo President Peter Strom, 57, who holds 10% of the stock. When Lauren wants to embark on a new venture, it is Strom's job to calculate what prices they would need to charge and how many items they would have to sell to break even. The huge profits from certain staple items, such as Polo shirts (see box), give Lauren the freedom to expand into riskier products. Example: at any given time Lauren may offer 60 styles of sweaters in his collections, which will include a number of designs that he especially likes but that will sell...
Lauren is acutely profit conscious. But since the only shareholders he needs to please are himself and Strom, he has leeway to experiment and to pursue a sometimes whimsical strategy. "I don't have a master plan," he says. "It gets more complicated as it grows." So far, Lauren's whimsy has been highly accurate in locating successful commercial opportunities. Says Strom: "I had no idea it would go like this. I remember saying to myself, 'If this business ever hits $20 million, I'll retire.' But I keep upping the stakes...
...designer manufactures his pricey Polo line of menswear (annual sales: $420 million) at his own factory, a rehabilitated brick mill in Lawrence, Mass., that he bought in 1978. Reason: tailored menswear is the type of clothing Lauren knows best. By making those garments himself he can collect a larger profit margin and keep an even closer watch on quality. At the Polo plant, some 225 workers turn out 350 jackets and suits a day. Lauren's best Italian-wool suits ($1,200) are handmade by 25 highly skilled tailors, usually immigrants from Italy, Turkey or West Germany...