The Ledger
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Patricia Ziegler: Raising a surplus shirt's price to $12.95 drove immediate sales
“I didn't think the price was communicating the value of this shirt, so we put up the sign, we're there looking stylish in these shirts, and now it's 1295, which was a lot of money in 1978. We were swamped.”
Mel Ziegler: Surplus apparel required storytelling to sell
“We were only going to be able to sell these kinds of things if they had stories attached to them.”
Gap founder Don Fisher promised full funding and creative control for acquisition
“But he said, I will, as long as you're profitable, I will completely fund it, and you're on your own. I'm not going to tell you what to do. You have complete creative control.”
Mel Ziegler believes Mickey Drexler purposely maneuvered to control Banana Republic
“And I think what was going on is that Mickey was eyeing the success of Banana, and, ah, wanted to get his hands on it.”
Patricia Ziegler: The Limited's Outback Red copied Banana Republic at lower prices
“In fact, there was a whole, the Limited started a line called Outback Red that was really a copy of Banana at a lower price.”
Mel Ziegler: Banana Republic flailed for years after founders departed
“And for years, they just kept bringing one crew after another, and the company just kept flailing for years and years and years.”
Competitors copied UNTUCKit's untucked shirt style for Spring 2019 campaigns
“Every single competitor, Vineyard Vines, J.Crew, Banana Republic, just go on. Everyone led their 2019 spring campaign with shirts meant to be worn on tuck.”
Banana Republic generated only $2M in revenue before Gap acquired it
“Oh, it was a couple million dollars. It wasn't very much.”
Mel Ziegler: Banana Republic's success was mostly driven by luck
“Oh, I would say mostly luck. We say go with the flow, but don't forget to row. I mean, in a sense being in the right place, being born at the right time.”
Banana Republic's first store was $250/month because it doubled as a hallway
“We found a store in the back street in Mill Valley that was available because the door had to remain unlocked because people had to go through the store to an Aikido studio, which was upstairs. As long as the door remained unlocked it was available to, we coul…”
Patricia Ziegler: Banana Republic's first catalog cost under 75 cents to make
“I know it was, at the most it was 75.”
Patricia Ziegler: Banana Republic needed female shoppers to survive
“I knew that we'd really need half our customers to be women because they would spend more on clothes than I thought men at that time.”
Mel Ziegler: Stanford Banana Republic became the highest-grossing mall store
“There were lines there. It was the highest grossing store in the mall.”
A modified Australian surplus jacket was Banana Republic's only early market research
“We went back to the chronic library and said, where did you get that jacket? And I guess that was the extent of the research that made us realize that This is what we ought to do. We ought to find more stuff like this and sell it.”