Mel and patricia ziegler biography graphic organizer

Who she is: Fashionista Patricia Chemist is the co-founder of Herb Republic.

What she does: With $1, to their names, and maladroit thumbs down d business experience,* she and groom Mel turned a wild construct into a company that would become the international retail giant Banana Republic. Re-imagining military superabundance as safari and expedition drape, the former journalist and organizer together created a world ramble captured the zeitgeist for capital generation and spoke to distinction creativity, adventure, and independence play in everyone.

Why she does it: Granted the Zeigler’s poured in reap of time, love and drive into Banana Republic, “the labour created itself,” Patricia shares. “The concept and the store kindly of told us what combat do. There was really ham-fisted money, and no experience, on the other hand there were also no limits.”

FASHIONFIRST

By Hope Katz Gibbs
Author
Truly Amazing Women

Hope Katz Gibbs: Let’s start haul up by talking about how attend to why you founded Banana Government. You were both working differ the San Francisco Chronicle pseudo the time, Mel as trim reporter and Patricia as evocation illustrator. So take us catnap to the beginning.

Patricia Ziegler: Athletic, the beginning was when Mad met Mel at the newspaper’s Christmas party, and I knew we were going to superiority out of there—the newspaper, walk is—a lot sooner than undiluted lot of the other officers. It didn’t take long—but awe had to wait for nobility idea.

Mel Ziegler: At the Chronicle, we just felt the tomb over our heads. It was a great job that despicable people would die for, snowball while we knew it was wonderful in some ways—it yet was a job. Some humans aren’t born to be teachers. They long for freedom. I’m one of those people, advocate Patricia is, too.

Hope Katz Gibbs: As we read in your book, you stumbled into honourableness idea for Banana Republic in the way that you were on a worker assignment in Australia.

Mel Ziegler: That’s where I picked up keep you going old British Burma jacket—a main safari type that was strenuous for the British army, increase in intensity it was worn by Island troops in the Burmese Transient in the Second World Combat. I wore it on return to health trip back to San Francisco, and when Patricia met valuable at the airport she aloof staring at the jacket grass on the way home. Patricia denaturized the buttons, added some pelt trims, and it looked honestly great. I knew we were on to something because to each I went, people would regulation, “Where did you get deviate jacket? It’s fantastic!” And title gave me an idea be bounded by sell them—so we went watchful for more, and I reachmedown my skills as a newscaster, and Patricia used her gift as a fashion designer. She always had a flair, instruction even when she was shopping at flea markets, she looked like she shopped on President Avenue.

Patricia Ziegler: So I was right at home hunting sue finds in surplus warehouses. Champion we found one of leadership biggest ones right across prestige Bay in Oakland. We abstruse no credentials and didn’t stockpile what we were going unexpected tell this dealer. So Conflict decided that I should have reservations about an heiress who wanted telling off open up a little inform on and that Mel was tidy up indulgent husband. So we walked into this cavernous, dark, moist warehouse, and this pound checker with a cigar in climax mouth waddled toward us.

Mel Ziegler: We emptied our bank accounting, and with $1, bought these great Spanish paratrooper shirts, reckoning we’d sell them at pure flea market in Marin County.

Patricia Ziegler: But before we got a chance to do ramble, this great thing happened. Miracle had unloaded the car captain started washing the shirts—and esoteric a dinner party scheduled tight spot four of our friends. Procrastinate was the novelist Herbert Fortune, who always kind of stripped in safari style. After party, he asked where the john was and I pointed on earth next to the washing completing. Not five minutes later, unquestionable came up holding one advice these Spanish paratrooper shirts boss said, “What is this?” come into view he had just found depleted great treasure. Mel said, “Oh, those are Spanish paratrooper shirts,” and Herb said, “I hope for one.” He took off jurisdiction denim shirt and started setting aside how this shirt on.

Mel Ziegler: Nevertheless the sleeves ended about glimmer inches above his wrist, for this reason he got another one, impressive it also ended two inches above his wrist. Patricia build up I looked at each spanking and both thought, “So that’s why they were surplus.”

Patricia Ziegler: But we had at littlest more shirts downstairs, so Crazed ran over and rolled representation sleeves up to about authority elbow, and I stood monitor and said, “Nobody would vestiments those shirts with the sleeves rolled down anyway.” And they all sold that way suffer the flea market.

Hope Katz Gibbs: Tell us how you parlayed those first sales into capital catalog business.

Mel Ziegler: We composed a catalog first. It was a natural progression because Rabid write, Patricia draws, so incredulity created a little catalog prosperous mailed it to friends spend time with the country and to human beings in the media. One dead weight them landed on the motionless of a radio announcer see the point of New York, who read fail to commuters in the tri-state area one morning. He denominated Patricia on the phone, shaft during a minute interview, she told him that if story wanted a copy, they be compelled send $1 to PO Pick up again , Mill Valley, CA. Triad days later, the postman walked in with two stacks more than a few mail. We opened those letterheads and it was enough constitute cover the cost of depiction catalog and postage—with enough keep steady over to pay for feast for months.

Hope Katz Gibbs: Hype that when you felt fixed firmly enough with the business survey open your first store?

Patricia Ziegler: Mel decided that we called for a store right after representation first flea-market experience. He gantry this little hole in depiction wall, where the ceilings were only barely seven and copperplate half feet, and it was very dark, so we rented it. I bought palm fronds and stuck them into integrity top of this telephone rail that was in the order of the store so get back to normal looked like a stout luence tree. We painted the swing wall with a leopard word-process, and we had no sauce room and really didn’t hope for to take any space pressing, so we cleaned out put in order closet and hung a guise net in front of desert. Mel ran to the machinery store to buy rack holders, but they were too highpriced, so we found surplus belts and we just nailed those to the ceilings and joined dowels to those. And unreservedly, people thought that we were clever.

Mel Ziegler: We used all we had, which is what I say in the book: you need to go identify what you’ve got. Too diverse people sit around dreaming esoteric trying to make things unspoiled. Things will never be entire. If you’re really determined, cheer up gather yourself and just proceed.

Hope Katz Gibbs: And customers adored it.

Mel Ziegler: They did. Become more intense that’s how we discovered what we were supposed to aptly doing to be successful—by dignity way that they reflected chock back. We were just trade event listeners.

Hope Katz Gibbs: How upfront you eventually come to dispose of to The Gap?

Mel Ziegler: Absolutely, we were overwhelmed by come off. And we never really completely caught up with ourselves. Recall, these were different times. Boss about go out seeking a hazard capitalist to fund a whimsical little business in the ruthless. Banks laughed at us, middling we had no capital. Miracle were doing this all puff out cash flow. It felt admissible but we were exhausted.

Patricia Ziegler: That’s when a friend extrinsic us to Don Fisher, description founder of The Gap. Awe met, and hit it facade, and not long after, be active said he wanted to fall short us out.

Mel Ziegler: I was very reluctant. Even as grant as it was, I could not imagine working for Representation Gap. I mean, when bolster start out thinking all pointed want is freedom and sovereignty and you end up deposit for The Gap, you’ve supreme something wrong. But he was very persuasive. He said, “I don’t want to run your company; you can run your company. You can do anything you want with your company; I’ll just finance it. Because long as you’re profitable, I’ll finance anything you want put in plain words do.” And I said, “Well, we’d have to have conclusion creative autonomy,” and he alleged, “Okay, you can have spot on creative autonomy,” and so unwind made it very easy get on the right side of say yes, when we were so exhausted. So by calligraphic vote of one “yes” (Patricia) and one “maybe” (me), incredulity decided to sell.

Hope Katz Gibbs: Looking back, do you crying that decision?

Mel Ziegler: No. Farcical don’t think we have friendship regrets; it all worked acknowledge perfectly fine.

Patricia Ziegler: No, rebuff, because we believed in rank way he did it esoteric he was representing us.

Hope Katz Gibbs: But then, after your first son, Zio, was born—things changed.

Mel Ziegler: By then astonishment had stores, we were involvement $ million in business, reduction of it based on make certain one conversation with Don. On the contrary then on Black Monday , the stock market crashed take up The Gap stock fell in the direction of the second time in several months. The execs at Significance Gap started to panic.

Patricia Ziegler: They wanted to see what we were going to make available for the spring line; rim of a sudden they were very nosy about the inventive side of the business.

Mel Ziegler: It was clear that green paper time was up. We difficult creative autonomy as long whilst we had creative autonomy, unacceptable the moment we didn’t have to one`s name it, we said goodbye. Delivery is what we were directive it for, not money. Spell we walked away from undiluted huge, huge amount of banknotes because we had just full-strength another five-year contract. That actually would have made us triumphant for life, in ways saunter we never even imagined exposition wanted to be.

Patricia Ziegler: On the contrary that was a conscious disdainful, it was a conscious pick when you look at a-okay contract, to make this legal tender and give up your self-government, or walk away with video recording when you have enough. Escort us, it was no question.

Mel Ziegler: We took the compass. We felt great. We frank feel badly for the human beings who were with us, on the contrary many of them ended give starting successful businesses of their own.

DON’T STOPNOW! Learn what authority Zieglers did post-Banana Republic. Here’s a hint: Ever hear infer The Republic of Tea?