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GOLDSEA | ASIAN MONEY WORKS

RICHES FROM RAGS
PAGE 9 OF 15

"To my peers I was labeled a failure as a businessman even though [I was] a success as a technical person. I wanted to prove I could be a good businessman."

uckaroo's first office was on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, the same one occupied by Dragon International. Department stores hadn't yet begun differentiating between men's and young men's, and Buckaroo set out to create a niche for itself in the young men's market. The Bugle Boy brand name was chosen from several conceived by a public relations firm.
     The staff initially consisted of Mow, Buchthal, Buchthal's brother Larry who was Buchthal's assistant, a bookkeeper, a patternmaker and a salesman. Buckaroo's first mistake was starting business in May 1977 to sell for the fall '77 season. "Right from the beginning we started on the wrong foot," Mow says, laughing at the memory. "The fall shows were held in March. By the time we came out with our line, it was June." The company lost $250,000 its first season. Fortunately, Mow still had a credit line which had been established by putting up his Woodland Hills home and his remaining Macrodata shares.
     "The first four years was a total disaster," Mow says. "It was the hardest time of my life. I went from a position of industry leadership to standing in a 15 by 15 sales booth. I was no better than a salesman."
     The transition from capital equipment manufacturer to consumer products marketer proved difficult. "It's one thing to make a good pair of pants, but it's worthless if no one wants to buy it. Also, at Macrodata I was exporting. At Bugle Boy I was importing."
     Mow thinks that nothing could have saved him from the ordeal of his first years. "You have to learn every facet to succeed--fabrics, the American import quota system, the ability to work with different cultures. To work with Chinese in Taiwan and Hong Kong is completely different. I was all alone there and didn't know who to believe. At first I thought they were all dishonest. But they really aren't. It's just the way they do business over there."




     The career change proved stressful for the entire family. "Even though I was brave enough to put my house on the line, there was tremendous uncertainty as to how it was going to pan out. I could lose everything at that age." The financial insecurity was tough on Margarita who was working as a medical technician. Mow didn't suffer that aspect as much, being totally engrossed in trying to keep Buckaroo from going under. "To my peers I was labeled a failure as a businessman even though [I was] a success as a technical person. I wanted to prove I could be a good businessman." Mow was anxious to prove himself to his Jewish golf cronies at El Caballero. "I was the token Asian."
     Apparently, Mow's daughters, Genevieve, then 16, and Kathy, 13, were spared any hardship. They continued attending exclusive and very expensive Westlake Girls' School in Bel Air.
     The loss of social status brought on by the career change doesn't seem to have been a factor in Margarita's unhappiness with the new situation. "We were never social climbers," Mow says. "To us the family was always important." Margarita simply disliked the garment business and the people associated with it. Mow admits she probably also didn't enjoy experiencing his difficulties second hand through his behavior toward her. "I was probably not pleasant to life with," he says.
     Around that time, in 1978, Mow met Rosa, a college student majoring in German and working in Dragon International's Taipei office, on one of his trips. The next year Rosa came to the U.S. for graduate studies in international relations. That additional distraction proved fatal to a marriage that had already been weakened by his frequent transpacific trips. "By the time we got over one argument, I was leaving on another trip. We didn't have time to heal old wounds." PAGE 10

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