My Life at Liz Claiborne

How We Broke the Rules and Built the Largest Fashion Company in the World a Business Memoir

Mr. Chazen is known as an innovator and even a revolutionary, whose ideas changed the face of the apparel industry and retailing forever. The book will provide lessons for everyone in business, as it shows how he and his executives at Liz broke the rules time after time in their pursuit of success -- Pioneering overseas production by American corporations Making consumer choice easier by creating coordinated clothing collections Offering women alternatives to traditional, male-oriented business styles Popularizing designer branding and quality on affordable merchandise Focusing on the end consumer rather than the middleman (in this case the department stores) Growing without advertising Many of his innovations are reflected today in the shopping experience of millions of people around the world: specialized boutiques within larger stores, upscale outlet malls, designer branding on everything, and more. Mr. Chazen's penchant for rule breaking is not limited to business practices but rather extends to career and retirement ideas. For example, he shows how careers are often better nurtured and built up in the hinterlands and away from the New York spotlight. His ideas on a satisfying retirement reflect a "never stop working" approach, and on estate planning a "die broke" philosophy. The book will captivate fashion industry insiders, intrigue general business readers, and enlighten anyone interested in devoting themselves to the entrepreneurial life. In this business memoir, Jerome A. Chazen, tells an extraordinary success story - how, together with designer Liz Claiborne, he took a small startup business and grew it into the largest apparel company in the world. Chazen is one of the most celebrated fashion executives of all time. Through his inventive management of Liz Claiborne, Inc., he created a company beloved by generations of women who enthusiastically dressed themselves for both the workplace and leisure time in Liz Claiborne clothing and accessories. In this book, for the first time, Chazen tells the inside story of the founding of the company, the management tactics and strategies he utilized to propel it into the Fortune 500, the internal struggles and tensions that marked the business' phenomenal growth, an inside look at the processes that made Liz a "rock star" in her time, and revealing insights into what it takes to navigate successfully in one of the most competitive industries in the world. Mr. Chazen shows readers how design and creativity is never enough to ensure success. Only by joining the creative processes to savvy marketing and sales strategies can any company achieve great success. He illustrates how he did it at Liz and shows by example how other companies can do the same and flourish as well.