Eileen Fisher
Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher. On 2 shows, 3 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderexecutiveeileenfisher.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
Eileen Fisher founded her eponymous clothing label in 1984, building it into a major ethical fashion brand known for minimalist designs and circular sustainability programs. She stepped down as CEO in 2022 to transition day-to-day leadership while continuing to guide the brand's design and philosophy.
2shows
3appearances
34statements
6resolved
4supported
1contradicted
67%fully supported
15said about them ↓ Everything Eileen Fisher said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Fisher: Laws should mandate companies share 10% of profits with employees
“I actually think we should have a law that forces every company to share 10% of their profits with their employees.”
Fisher: 83% of US clothing is discarded or incinerated within a year
“In this country, 83% of the clothes that are produced are discarded or incinerated within one year.”
Fisher keeps 80% of each new collection consistent with past designs
“I like to keep 80% of the line consistent with where we've been. So repeating fabrics, repeating shapes, we even repeat colors, so that there's newness that makes the line feel fresh, but it's not all new, so that customers recognize their pieces and they can …”
Fisher used 69% less fabric and half as many styles as 2019
“We are using 69% less fabrics this year than in 2019, and half as many styles.”
Fisher: No one designed simple, minimalist women's clothing in the early 1980s
“And I just had this idea that I could make these simple clothes. No one's really doing it.”
Fisher sold 40% of her company back to employees through an ESOP
“What I did do was sell part of the business to the employees. So we are 40% ESOP, employee-owned”
Fisher: Japanese kimono's simple shape inspired her brand's aesthetic
“Like, you could really see, like, with the kimono, for example, one shape, you know, for thousands of years, and, you know, they would just do, you know, use different fabrics and different techniques to make it different every time, and, you know, it was beau…”
Fisher: No one was making simple women's clothing in the 1980s
“And I just had this idea that I could make these simple clothes. No one's really doing it.”
Fisher: Bootstrapped early orders via staggered delivery and COD payments
“Well, I would have needed about 20 to do the production. And but I got some good advice, actually, while I was at the boutique show, that I deliver a small order first, so I did white just for, like, February delivery, and then I did the other colors for deliv…”
Fisher: The clothing company was profitable throughout its entire early growth
“So it was a combination of credit lines and loans and, you know, self-funding because it was growing and it was profitable. It was always profitable.”
Fisher: Sold part of the company to employees, creating a 40% ESOP
“What I did do was sell part of the business to the employees. So we are 40% ESOP, employee-owned”
Fisher: Employs 1,200 direct staff and roughly 10,000 manufacturing workers
“1200 on direct employees, but many, probably 10,000 people work daily on our, making our clothes.”
Fisher: First collection sold to eight small stores
“Eight small stores bought my clothes, and they all said they sold, so it was an okay starting point, but I needed to do it better.”
Fisher: Department stores struggled to merchandise her early minimalist designs
“Department stores, they were just confused about us. We were too simple. Our clothes would sort of disappear or something in their stores, and they didn't quite understand it.”
Fisher: First retail store opened to sell excess sample inventory
“I had so many seconds and damages and samples that I couldn't sell, and it just seemed like a waste, and so I opened a tiny store on East Ninth Street.”
Eileen Fisher says discomfort with glamour drove her to design comfortable clothing
“I couldn't speak the language, so tried hard to learn it. So there was glamour, yes, I guess, you know, but I'm not, I don't, I'm not so attracted to glamour. I'm always more uncomfortable with glamour. I always say I'm this uncomfortable person. That's why I …”
Fisher booked her first trade show booth before designing any clothes
“I had no name, I had no clothes, I had no fabric, I had no styles, I had nothing.”
Fisher launched her fashion brand with 12 sample garments in three colors
“I made them in the three colors, so I had 12 pieces, and that's what I took with my little logo, and I was, I spent probably as much time obsessing about the graphics and the name because I didn't want to call it Eileen Fisher.”
Fisher booked orders for 100 garments across eight stores at debut
“I sold to eight stores. I sold about a hundred pieces.”
Fisher: Overwhelming success at her first trade show would have caused failure
“And it was the right amount, because anymore, I would have never been able to deliver. I wouldn't have been able to get enough fabric. I wouldn't have been able to figure it all out fast enough, or get the money to make it happen.”
Fisher financed early production by requiring trade show buyers to pay COD
“I did the orders on COD, so then when I Delivered, the boutiques would write a check, and... They had to pay right away, and, you know, at the show, when they were standing in line, it was kind of easy to ask them to do COD. Because I could sort of plead with …”
Fisher booked $80,000 in wholesale orders at her second trade show
“You know, then go to the next show and sell 80,000 dollars with orders.”
The other half of the tape: Eileen Fisher's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 14 times in 5 episodes across the shows. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Guy Raz 13Kate Havstad-Casad 1
Statements about Eileen Fisher, by other people (1)
Hoffman: The excitement of exploring new ideas is simplicity's biggest enemy
“Eileen's headlong rush into the New York fashion line will be familiar to anyone who's been caught up in the heady excitement of developing an idea and exploring new ways to push it forward. It's one of the most pervasive enemies of keeping things simple, main…”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 14
2025 2 mentions in 1 episode
2024 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 1 mention in 1 episode
2019 10 mentions in 2 episodes 5 per episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Eileen's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher | 2 | 27 | 80% 4/5 | full record on How I Built This → |
 MASTERS OF SCALELEDGER | Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Eileen Fisher | 1 | 7 | 0% 0/1 | full record on Masters of Scale → |