“We as a business cannot afford to have a customer take a second look and ask, ‘Do I need this?’ That is the kiss of death. We’re finished, because nobody really needs anything we make as a total industry.”
These are the words of Bud Konheim, the chief executive of Nicole Miller, in a New York Times article titled Dress for Less and Less, about how the price of clothes has actually deflated in past years.
This sentence is remarkable for its honesty. There’s no spin here! Who really needs fashion? We need to cover our bodies, and fashion might be fun sometimes. But do we really need new clothes each season? This top exec at a fashion house knows we really don’t.
Konheim’s honesty continues when he adds that the price of clothes has truly hit bottom, “I think we’ve exploited all the countries on earth for people who really want to work for nothing.”
During this time of presidential politics, where people barely say a word without doing a focus group first, I have to commend Bud for being an honest man.
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