Mow's own long-term goal is to make Bugle Boy a major player in every one
of the ten market segments for which it has established distinct divisions,
each with its own sales and merchandising staffs. After men's, Mow will
focus on misses and juniors in which BBI currently has a modest $80 million
in sales. He expects to build it up to $1 billion within a few years.
Most chairman of leading companies spend their energies worrying about
Wall Street analysts and quaterly earning statements. Mow can afford to
focus all his energies on the ultimate goal of satisfying the customer. In the
long term this is the biggest advantage. But to make the fight interesting,
Levis too is now a private company, its founding family having taken it
private in a leveraged buyout.
"I'm not as emotionally attached to the company as I was with Macrodata,
even thought I've made a lot more money and developed a much bigger
reputation. It's because I've gone through the hardship of understanding
how to manage the current situation. I've made myself very secure so I can
really run the company and focus on things that are important, like wastage.
The key to a company is how to minimize waste, how to use the most
advanced technology to minimize cost. I'm using technology that's different
from most apparel companies.
"I want to do things that have never been done before in the apparel
business," Mow says, groping for the right expression. "It's been said that it's
impossible to sustain a fashion import business for long. It's exciting because
you have to be creative to be in the game. It's like [being] a fighter who is
the champion in four weight classes."
"I'm very hands on," Mow says of his management style. He is especially
concerned about maintaining a relaxed and tasteful image for the Bugle Boy
brand. Mow himself came up with the basic concept for the TV commercial
which has a girl in a jeep stopping to ask a young hitchhiker whether his
jeans are Bugle Boys. As originally conceived by Mow, a billowing skirt
would have revealed a lot of leg and the girl would have been driving a
Ferrari. Three of Mow's indulgences are Ferraris, two of them
convertibles.
"If she picked him up, the advertisement is over, there's no sequel," Mow
explains. "It would be an ordinary ad. She was actually interested in the
pants and not the guy. That's the key element." The commercial's comedic
possibilities weren't lost on the Late Late Show. According to Mow,
Rubin Postaer, the agency that produced the successful first commercial, was
fired by Genevieve for being "too much of an expert" and not allowing room
for joint creativity. Bugle Boy's current agency is DDB-Needham.
"I set the policy. I'm hands on to that level. People don't come to me with
emergencies. I will take on the next issues. On one day I can hit three or
four departments." But he is careful to respect the management hierarchy.
"I don't jump levels. I only deal with people in upper management." For the
most part these are the people with whom he has cultivated smooth working
relations over many years. "I'm happy with everyone. It wasn't always this
way. It's this way because I have the patience to work with the people and
people have learned by being with me."
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