Tumi
company on 5 shows · 14 statements across 1 episodes · said 71 times in 6 episodes since 2019
How I Built This 59 
My First Million 2 
Acquired 1 
the Neon Show 1 
Capital Allocators 1
Mentions by year, every show
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How I Built This 59My First Million 2the Neon Show 1Acquired 1Capital Allocators 1
2025 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2023 1 mention in 1 episode
2022 58 mentions in 1 episode
2021 2 mentions in 1 episode
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
every mention on every show, scene by scene, with the transcript →
14 statements about Tumi, every show
Clifford: Leather goods enable consistent reproducibility unlike artisan handicrafts
“I thought that leather bags would offer the opportunity to focus on a product that had a lot of handwork in it, but essentially be able to be reproduced consistently the same way every time.”
Clifford: Tumi was launched with $10,000 in initial pooled capital
“I think we had 10,000 dollars between us.”
Bank forced Tumi into asset recovery and lockbox receivables in 1982
“Once they put us into the asset recovery department, that's, that was one of their requirements.”
Clifford: Tumi's 1983 ballistic nylon garment bag became its top seller
“In 1983, we did introduce our ballistic nylon line. Our garment bag, which was designed by Jeff Brutelson before he left, became our best selling piece.”
Clifford: 1985 Tumi co-founder buyout was structured as cash plus sales percentage
“We reached the number on the value, and it was for a fixed amount of money and a percentage of sales up to a cap for a number of years.”
Clifford: Tumi reached over $10 million in revenue in 1988
“Actually, I think we hit ten million, a little over ten million in 1988.”
Tumi captured market share as Hartmann Luggage became 'like an Oldsmobile'
“And by the late eighties Hartman, though still very respected, was becoming a little bit like an Oldsmobile. High quality, good brand but it did not represent contemporary design, and Toomey was able to fill that, that role due to the black on black look.”
Clifford: Early Tumi leather goods from Colombia were often mediocre quality
“And we were manufacturing our leather goods in Columbia at the time, and when the leather was good, it was quite good. Often it was mediocre, and in this case, it was one of the poorer quality pieces that had just slipped through.”
Clifford: Tumi Sales Dropped Close to 40% Right After 9/11
“Yeah, it was close to 40% right after. There's immediate halt in the travel industry. Stores stopped buying, people weren't traveling, they weren't looking for luggage. It was a very, very grim period.”
Clifford: PE firms backed out of Tumi over post-9/11 terrorism fears
“Well, we had other PE companies that were interested, but most of them backed off because they were concerned about the potential for another terrorist attack.”
Clifford: Financial investors view employees as fungible to cut fixed costs
“The difference between financial investors and other types of investors is that people are fungible and they were less interested in the value that different people brought to the parts of the business than they were in getting down to what was a reasonable he…”
Clifford: Middle of the retail market is an overcrowded 'no man's land'
“The middle of the market's a tough playing field. There are a lot of people fighting for a share of the middle of the market, and you know, we looked upon it as no man's land.”
Clifford: Tumi is a premium brand, not true luxury
“I think to me is not really luxury. It's still premium. It's luxury perhaps for the luggage category. But as brands go, it's a high-end brand and well-made and so on and so forth, but beautiful stores but the, they've maintained the integrity of the product fo…”