George Zimmer
Founder, Chairman & CEO, Generation Tux · 2 appearances on the record.
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founderexecutiveentertainerauthorgenerationtux.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
He is best known as the founder, former CEO, and longtime television pitchman for Men's Wearhouse. Following his 2013 ouster from the retailer, he launched the online formalwear rental company Generation Tux and published his memoir, I Guarantee It: The Untold Story Behind the Founder of Men's Wearhouse.
36statements → 20claims → 5claims resolved → 40%fully supported → 4.03/5average certainty → 1.94/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →
2 supported 2 partly supported 1 contradicted 3 not yet assessed 12 not checkable as stated how the 20 claims stand · each chip opens the sources
1 prediction · 19 assertions · 6 opinions · 8 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 20 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 5 are resolved, 3 are not yet assessed, and 12 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.
The record, in short
What the tape says about how George argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.
Their most notable supported claim
Their most notable contradicted claim
Flanker brand K&G enabled Men's Wearhouse to raise gross margins 10%
“K&G provides a unique opportunity for an offensive and defensive strategy, and they didn't quite understand what that meant, and so what it means is men's warehouse stores were able to raise the gross profit percentage of By a full 10%, which is a thousand bas…”
How they sound: not measured why? →
We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of George Zimmer on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.
Everything George Zimmer said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
Zimmer: Successor Doug Ewert was not qualified to run Men's Wearhouse
“Look, I know I told you that Doug would be a good replacement, but after a couple of years, I was wrong. He's not qualified to run the company”
Zimmer: Men's Wearhouse stole Macy's tuxedo rental deal during legal review
“My team and I were in New York in Terry Lundgren's office, the CEO of Macy's, making a deal to be the... Tuxedo. Tuxedo rental, and we had the deal. It went to legal review, and while it was in legal review, Men's Warehouse stole it.”
Zimmer admits CEO replacement Doug Ewer was unqualified to lead company
“Look, I know I told you that Doug would be a good replacement, but after a couple of years, I was wrong. He's not qualified to run the company”
Men's Wearhouse intercepted Generation Tux's exclusive rental deal with Macy's
“My team and I were in New York in Terry Lundgren's office, the CEO of Macy's, making a deal to be the... Tuxedo, rental, and we had the deal. It went to legal review, and while it was in legal review, men's warehouse stole it.”
Zimmer offered $90 million to buy back K&G after his firing
“Because after I was fired, The first thing I tried to do was buy K&G from Men's... For ninety million dollars.”
Zimmer: American retail consumers are not fooled by constant promotional sales
“It was though everybody in retail thought that the American consumer was stupid, and actually, they're not as stupid as those people thought.”
Zimmer: K&G helped Men's Wearhouse raise gross margin by 1,000 bps
“Men's warehouse stores were able to raise the gross profit percentage by a full 10%, which is a thousand basis points over a decade, because K&G was protecting our opening price point position.”
George Zimmer: Men's Wearhouse Ouster Was 'Capitalism Run Amok'
“I see what happened at men's as really an example of capitalism run amok.”
Zimmer: Men's Wearhouse blocked K&G sale over four-year non-solicit demand
“Well, at first, they wouldn't sell it to me at all. Then they said, alright, If you give us a four year non-solicitation. And I said, what do you mean by that? And they said, you can't hire our employees for four years. And I said, are you kidding? I'll give y…”
Constant promotional sales wrongly assume that American consumers are stupid
“It made no sense to me, this constant barrage of sales. It was though everybody in retail thought that the American consumer was stupid. And actually, they're not as stupid as those people thought.”
Dressing room 'shirt stacking' technique drove major retail upsell revenue
“When a man purchased a suit while he was in the dressing room, we would put together shirts, ties, belts, shoes, everything that would make the outfit really jump. Then we would present it to the customer, and we were not, in my mind, pushy, but we were Not pa…”
Flanker brand K&G enabled Men's Wearhouse to raise gross margins 10%
“K&G provides a unique opportunity for an offensive and defensive strategy, and they didn't quite understand what that meant, and so what it means is men's warehouse stores were able to raise the gross profit percentage of By a full 10%, which is a thousand bas…”
George Zimmer: Southern department stores did not understand apparel discounting in the 1970s
“I decided that they didn't really understand how to retail apparel, not only in Foley's, but throughout my territory. I didn't think that they understood the idea of discounting, which was really more in the Northeast, and to some degree in Chicago, but had no…”
Zimmer: Houston's Rapid Growth Saved Men's Wearhouse From Early Mistakes
“Dallas was old money, Houston was new money, so that for a young upstart like myself trying to create a business, the chances were much greater in Houston, and in fact since I didn't really know anything about the retail business when I opened Men's warehouse.…”
Zimmer: Urban marketing expenses make running a single retail location unsustainable
“The marketing expenses in a major urban area are so high you can't really run a single location. You need multiple locations.”
Zimmer: Men's Wearhouse sold white-labeled Cerruti suits for $199 versus competitors' $299
“I beat him, and we got Nino Cerruti suits, white labeled, but at a 20% purchase discount, which enabled us to sell them moderately profitably at one 99, when everybody else in America was selling them at two 99.”
Zimmer: Founder acting as spokesperson boosts internal employee morale
“When you are a spokesperson for your own business, of course you're doing it to affect the external world. You want more business, but what happens is that, and we were in a retail business with hundreds or thousands of employees, the workforce Loves the fact …”
Zimmer: Men dread shopping, so proactive bundling is perceived as service
“Men look at going into a clothing store like going to the dentist's office. So their wife says to them, I made you a dental appointment, and it's like the worst thing that the man can imagine. So they put off coming in to a clothing store until they can no lon…”
Zimmer: No buyer has offered half of my $90M bid for K&G
“To this day, they still can't find anybody that would offer them Half of what I was going to pay them.”
Houston's rapid economic growth masked Zimmer's early ignorance of retail
“Dallas was old money, Houston was new money, so that for a young upstart like myself trying to create a business, the chances were much greater in Houston, and in fact since I didn't really know anything about the retail business when I opened Men's warehouse.…”
High urban marketing costs force retail chains to operate multiple locations
“The marketing expenses in a major urban area are so high you can't really run a single location. You need multiple locations.”
Zimmer secured wholesale Nino Cerruti suits by winning a basketball bet
“I beat him, and we got Nino Cerruti suits, white labeled, but at a 20% purchase discount, which enabled us to sell them moderately profitably at one 99 when everybody else in America was selling them at two 99.”
Founders acting as TV spokespeople significantly boosts internal employee morale
“When you are a spokesperson for your own business, of course you're doing it to affect the external world. You want more business. But what happens is that, and we were in a retail business with hundreds or thousands of employees, the workforce loves the fact …”
Appearances (2)
| Episode | Date | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| Men's Wearhouse: George Zimmer (2019) | Aug 29, 2022 | 36m |
| Men's Wearhouse: George Zimmer | Apr 15, 2019 | 36m |