Latest / Daily Inspiration: The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Entrepreneur: Former Marine Corp Veteran created the Divine 9 Fashion line for Macy's.

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Entrepreneur: Former Marine Corp Veteran created the Divine 9 Fashion line for Macy's. · Daily Inspiration: The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. I'm Rashwan McDonald, the host of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: listen as we unlock the secrets to their success On
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. I ra Sean McDonald. I host
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this weekly money Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and information that this show provides really is for everyone.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: start living your own. My guest today is the President
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and CEO of the Teyon Collection. The Tian Collection is
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: one one hundred percent solely owned by Monty Holler. Please
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. It's about the fashion
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: week for us. Oh this show Monty Holland, how are
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you doing? Mister Holland, I'm wherever Sean, how are you well?
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: First of all, you know this is gonna drop on
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: my podcast. It's gonna drop on video television stations around
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the country. But for the people who just only listen
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to this, the brother looks clean. So in your best descriptive, Monty,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: tell everybody what you wear.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Somebody a gr card black and silver jacket. Many would
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: call this high fashion or black tie type of apparel.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: But my apparel, it's designed in such a way you
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: can go from work to play to black tie and
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: all the way back around again. So it's interchangeable, inaccessible,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: and appropriate for all the moments that matter.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: You know, I've known you several years. We're not going
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to get into detail about that because we're gonna really
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: it's about you. It's about uh, you know, how did
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: you get into business?
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Man?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: You know, it's I had always had these visions of
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: you know, uh being in the fashion industry in some way,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: shape or form, but you know, but being raised in
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: inner city Detroit with a single mom and three other siblings,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: had no idea how to get into it. So I
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: just kind of put those thoughts in the back of
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: my mind until I got to high school and I
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: would see my coaches that didn't work in the building
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: come to the building in their you know, professional clothing,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: right say, wow, I don't know what they do, but
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I want to do something that has to do with them.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: You know, when overcoats, you know in Detroit, so it's cold,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: over coach Fritz cuff neckties. And I would always notice,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: even with all the sprints they had us running, how
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: good they looked in their clothing. And I wanted to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: do something in that world. And that sparked my my
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: thoughts of what I could kind of do with it.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: And that's where fashions is all came from.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I'm really missed. I need to tell everybody where you from.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Where are you from?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Martin born and raised, Troit, Michigan.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: There you go, see see right there. We gotta say
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: where you're from so we can understand why you're talking
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: about fashion. Why, as a young African American male, you
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: will hypnotize by looks because fashion has always been a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: strong foothold in Detroit.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Why, you know, even before the days of Motown, when
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: those guys really you know, put their foot on the
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: fashion on the fashionst neck, they always look good. They
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: wanted to look good because if you look good, they
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: felt good. No, these are the stories that I heard from,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: you know, the elders saying, listen, we would wake up,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: put a suit on, go to work, come back from work,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: take that suit off, put another suit on for our
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: extracurrictal activities. And that's I've always heard that. I've always
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: seen that. The church's been, you know, a sexy, fashionable city,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: says I've always known.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Now, one thing about Detroit has always had a reputation
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: of bright colors.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Now is that true? Is that true? That's true prediction
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: more so than just bright, because I think that the
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: people who who are really into fashion Detroit would like
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: their fashion to be an extension of their personalities. This
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: is called it that and some people have brighter personalities,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: so they want to express the signals with their color
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: and their God.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm gonna take you to task on that, Monty.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I've been to Troit many times.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I've seen the match and add the matches Sued Dvance
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: and shoot.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I mean it's red from top to bottom. Its yelling
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: from top to bott I've seen green from top to bottom.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Nowhere in this country have I seen that other than Detroit.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Well, guess what think about that? And what you just said,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: it's actually true, But think about the monochromatic looks that
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: people are doing nowadays.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: Ahead of the time. You know, for a long time,
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: the mono looks pretty hodd now right it is. But
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: I just know that I got to let everybody know
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: the love I have.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: For Detroit and the fact that Manti's on my show
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: talking about fashion, because I've been fortunate them in life.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I've been in the position to get tailor made suits,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: tailor made shirts, and but I've never met a person
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: who had a collection, a person who has closed on
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the racks. You know, before you got to that, you
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: had to stand in the military, before you got into fashion.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Talk about that.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: That's actually how Tayan started. So I you know, I'm
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: a young man in the nine Marine Corps. I'm overseas
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: and on weekends. What a lot of people don't know
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: is that they give you time to go out and
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: just kind of hang out. So I'm in Korea and
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: all these places around the world, and on weekends we
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: just will walk up and down the roads. Well on
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: either side of the road, you had these little shops
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: where you can go in and look at fabric and
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: make a shirt in an hour or two. You can
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: make a shoe, you can make a pan, you can
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: make a suit. And I would go in remember having
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: these thoughts in the back of my head about fashion,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and just say, look, I want that shirt, put this
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: collar on it, put this cuff on it, I want
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: that jacket. Make to the pail like this. Not knowingly
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: with Seana, I was designing, but I would you know,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: before you know what, I had a nice collecttion of
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: clothing and people will give me these compliments. Well, I
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: just said, you know, I got a cool, you know wardrobe.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I would wear it out, get all these compliments. I
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: get out of the Marine Corps, and those compliments kept coming.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: So I started to use those contacts that I had
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: right things for people.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Right now, when you when you when you're looking at
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: clothes and you're looking at design, what is the basis
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: of your design factor, your vision? When you're talking about men,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: you are remember back up are you designing for? I've
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: heard terms called fast white guys. I've heard terms called
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the urban community, and I heard terms called German general market.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: What do you look when you start fashioning the design
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: of your fashions?
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: So, so, first I want to go back to something
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: you said a minute ago. You said that you know
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: you coming from position of means you've always had custom
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: types of suits. So tag liizes this whether renaissance man
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: meets the new millennium man, and whether custom suit meets
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: the ready to wear suit. So every bail and whistle
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: or characteristic that you'll find in your custom suit in
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: front and the tay I ready to wear suit. So
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I start there, because remember all those things that I
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: started from my foundation was actually customed. I built it.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I made it from a shop to my specifications, the
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: entire interrupt of the things that I want to incide.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: It took those put it into my ready to wear
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: But what who am I? Who am I targeting? I'm
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: targeting the same customer that likes to be fashionable, that
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: wants his fashion to be an extension of his personality,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: that likes the type of garment that you're used to,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: that height, nice garment, but maybe at a price. So
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking about what what what the time for Ralph
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: florin purple label guys thinking about but at a price point?
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: And uh, you know, I like to say humbly, I
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: think that we we've accomplished that. And this guy who's
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: wearing to I can stand next to any of those
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: guys that are so confident that he's you know, right
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: there and that connect with them.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Now your visionary because everybody, like I said, I've met
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: him many a man out there who can design suits,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: who may want to be on a rack in a
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Macy's type store. To this start for you, Monty, it's
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: interesting and.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go into something real
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: quick because you know, like I said, those coaches inspired me,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: uh from from high school. But I'll tell you and
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: and uh and this is this, This is touching to
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: me because you know you're such an humble god versh.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: I but I want, I want to say this quickly.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Two thousand and four, I want to say I was
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: at the Magic Show with a little ten by ten
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: booth right down the hall. For me was you and
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: your team. You did not know me at all, but
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: you guys took the time to introduce yourselves and say
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: how much you liked what I was showing. Now I
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: had the little thing booth. You had a big time
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: in booth with the upstairs and I remember it, and
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: you you took the time to say something to me
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: that meant the world won. Two I watched how your
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: team moved, and I was inspired, you know, by the
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: team and most of you, because I knew you were
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the brains behind it. How it approached me, how you
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: were professional. I saw how you guys were moving, I
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: saw how you guys looked, and that always stuck with me.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: So kudos to you, man. I'm very, very appreciative to you.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: What I you know, how we approach this thing, it's
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: very very different. I am my customer. I make things
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: that I not only like, but I would be proud
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: to wear. And I keep that in mind when I'm
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: putting a collection together every time that we go out.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: So how I got into the big box stores. We
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: started selling these small specialty stores.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Right for what a specialty store is, specially storees a
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: mom and pop store.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's one store. Sometimes they have, you know, four
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: or five stores. Sometimes they have, like Portabelly in New York,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: twenty thirty stores. So we started to sell these guys.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: They started to make money, and more and more came.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: At one point, we were selling about a thousand of
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: specialty stores across the country. Now it sounds like a lot,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: and it is a lot, but when you start to
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: compare that to big Box, when you start talking about
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Macy's needing fats nor stums, it's nothing. It's dropping the bucket.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Until one day I'm at one of those very shows
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: that I just spoke about, and one of the guys
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: who was a custom of mind from Houston, Gary Dante
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: from Soup Mart, yes on the hallway towards me. He
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: had been making money off tayon for a few years.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: He's walking with another gentleman. These are elderly gentleman, both
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Jewish gentlemen, and he says, hey, Manty, what's going on?
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: So we talk. The gentleman next room said that's a
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: beautiful suit. You're wein. I said, thank you, that's a
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: beautiful suit. You win. He said do you know who
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I am? I said I do not, but you look familiar.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: And then Gary chimed in and said, man, he's taon.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: He's the hottest line in America. Ronnie, you and him
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: should do something. The guy was Ronnie Wursberger and he
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: was the person that built Peerless Clothing. Peerless Clothing is
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Rolph Floryan, Calvin Klein, Tommy hill Ficker, Michael Core's, you
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: name it, and they are not.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: They manufactured these brands, manufactured these brands, and he built
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: it because he ran it for thirty five years.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: He's more than just a vendor to these big box stores.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: He's more like a partner, right. And he saw me.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: He said, man, you're a very interesting young man. I
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: want to talk to you about maybe doing something because
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: the industry is about to change and we need to
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: diversify our portfolios. I said, okay, well, let's set something
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: up and me to New York. We had a conversation.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: He took a liking to me and said, very frankly,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to tell you very frankly what he said.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: He said, listen, I'm the person that made America feel
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: like the only thing appropriate was the two button black, blue,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: brown Nzza Peale suit. The industry is changing. We need
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: to diversify, meaning the licensees, those types of guys, and
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: the big box stores. He said. But I can take
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: this label of any of the brand that I make
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: and put it in another suit, same suit. Nobody know
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: the difference. And I was like wow, because I had
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: already known that, right, And so we want to bring
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: you in and have you diversify the industry, and I'm
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: going to help you do it.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: And he held true to his word and brought me
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: over to a peerless He then retired and I've been
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: there for the last four and.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: A half years now. Cool, let's talk about this location
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: in Vegas, this show. Can you explain to my viewers
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: and I listener to exactly what you're talking about when
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I first met you, where Gary met you? At all
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: these individuals who changed your lives. And it isn't an
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: annual event.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: So the Magic Show is had nothing to.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Do with magic by the way.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, that's let's me do magic. It's apparel trade
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: show that's held two times a year in August and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: in February, and you know, vendors are there, you know,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: showing their product, Buyers are there buying product. Celebrity brands
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: are there with licensing deals every category from men's to
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: women to boys, to casual to out ofwear to sports.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Where it's a huge show. It used to be a
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: four day show, is now a three day show. And
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: it is just where the whole fashion industry converges in
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: one week to you know, to represent their particular their fields.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: And that's where I just I was going to go.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I had no industry knowledge. I didn't know what was
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: going to happen. But I worked for Fighters Pharmaceutical, had
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: a little money in my pocket. I was not I
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: grew up in America at that time. I took four
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: of my buddies, took fifteen suits, got that little ten
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: by ten and luckily, and I mean this because it
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: was so last minute, there was only one ten x
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: ten space left, which is the smallest booth, and it
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: was down the hall from where you work.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Awesome, you know, it's the fun part about the fashion
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: is collection and Monty talking the Magic show is wow. Yes,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you. You know, you go to the hip
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: hop area, it's loud, you know, it's almost walking from
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and I'm not being negative, I'd say that you have
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: verified is it's a little quiet section is like very white, yep.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And as you get closer to the hip hop and
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: it started getting louder, the women start wearing less or
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: less clothes, and it's like, okay, where am I at now?
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: And then the booths are like stores. They're like stores.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: It's like an incredible experience. Of course, it's not a
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: place where they let just every day people walk in.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: You got to have passes as well secured. But to
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: get in there is almost a validation that you're legit
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: correct for sure.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: And it's certainly not cheap. You know that little tim
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: by Both that I had in two thousand and four, Boy,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: he probably spent thirty thousand dollars just to get the booth,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: just to move the things in, to ship the things in.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: I mean that was a lot of money for a
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: brother trying to come up.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, so now you're in there, got you brought the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: fifties suits, your bars.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And looking good. I met them all.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: I remember this moment because you know, young brother looking
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: good man. The one thing I've always said about myself
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: is that I'm going to stend a hand and I
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: want to know how I can expand. And over the
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: years we've stayed in contact. He's invited me out to
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: the shows. At the magic of my thoughts. I bought
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: his clothes, but I'm not having them on the show
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: to talk about the clothes I bought from him. It's
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: his journey, his secrets to success and the money. You
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: know you're getting these clothes, you yeah, you selling your
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: number more sales with that Pfizer. But now you're getting
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: into the fashion business and necessarily everybody clothes you send
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: out don't mean people gonna buy them. How does all
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: that manufacturer itself?
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: My brother? So I learned, I like to say, I
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: learned my business acumen, certainly in their pair of industry
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: through the school of hard knocks. Tell you, you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: they tore my up behind up, And here's what I
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: mean by that. And I'm gonna be candid here. I
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: don't know many six foot three, two hundred and forty
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: pound Marine Corps train detroitors that can say they stole
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: millions from me, and I know where they are and
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I didn't catch a case, so you know, because I
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: got to tell you. And I say that lightheartedly. But
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: there were times when it was it was tough because
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: as we started to grow, and as we started to
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: make money and we were selling this product, I started
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: to ask questions, Okay, so where's the money? You know, what?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Right's with this?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I didn't quite understand the business side of it, the
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: most important side. You can have the hottest garments in
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: the world. If you don't understand the business of it,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: you will lose and you will fail. Right, So as
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: we're making this hot product stores of buying it, and
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm not understanding how to track it. I'm
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: not understanding the true cost of the garment, meaning the
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: cost of cybric meaning the cost of production, meaning, the
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: landed costs meaning, the warehouse costs meaning the wholesale costs,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: and as it relates to what you should be paying me.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I had to learn those things the hard way, and
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: unfortunately a lot of these smaller lights and companies didn't
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: play above board and we had to leave a couple
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: of them because they quite literally stole. Right now, we're
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: bigger than all of them.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: money Making Conversations master Class. Welcome back to the Money
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Making Conversations master Class, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Congratulations, No, here's the thing Monte and talked to Monte
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Hallan you know Teyon collection. He's based out of draft
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: from a woring Corps individual or farmer. Top Sales and
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the Advisor now one of the top fashion leads in
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the country. When I talk about your clothing, your line.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: You know, Steve Harvey made an impression in the fashion industry,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: especially how did that impact you and also how long
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you're able to stay ahead of what the next fashion
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: trend would be? Talk to us.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: And that's that's funny you mentioned Steve. Steve was in
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: that group that I talked about with you all and
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: the you know, he's always been a fashion icon in
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: my opinion, and he always could. So I always wanted
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: to kind of walk in that same spirit of fashion
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: excellences that you and your team and specifically Steve walked in.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: So I would take those types of styles because they
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: were very similar to what I wanted to do and
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: create my line. But then you have to be able
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: to see beyond yes, what's hot now and continue to source,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: you know, fabrics, continuous benchmark meaningly around. You have to
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: be overseas. You have to be in different states and
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: cities and see what's trended, what's hot looking the round corners,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And that's what I always do. I always say, Okay,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: that's hot, I like that, But what's hot in DC?
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: What's going to be hot in Houston? With this work here,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: work there. Let's try something different. We've been doing this
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: lapale with for a year and a half. Now let's
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: try something a little bit different. And I've always done that,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: and thank goodness, the things that we've done that Where
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: many would think we're cutting edge, we're right on point.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: And we've never had a season where we did not
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: sell very very well. So it's about being taking risk,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and it's about following that little voice in your head,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: because that little voice in your head is your gift
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: and you have to listen to it.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: No.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: The interesting thing about it, you know, because this is
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: like money making conversation master class, I try to educate
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: my audience own terminology that's very popular in your the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: word licensing. What does that mean? And how does that
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: impact how you are going to do relations with various vendors.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: So that's a that's a great question. And here's how
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: I like to sum it up and in short so
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: that people have an understanding of it. Licensing in short
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: means this, would you rather have all of a million
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: dollars or ten percent of one hundred million dollars ladder?
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: But how do you do that? Yes, sir, I tell
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: guys all the time. They say, hey, man, I want
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: to get into the industry, and I'm ready to do it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: You did it, I can do it. I say, yeah,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: you're right. But what happens if you show Macye something
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: and they say we like it, not give us forty
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: thousand units? Forty thousand units is about four million dollars?
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Do you have one? Do you have four million dollars
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: to make it too? Do you have the wherewithal to
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: wait to be paid several months for it? Three? Do
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: you have another four million dollars to have another boat
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: coming here with another four million on it?
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: If the answer is no, then you probably should be
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: considering a licensing deal because they're gonna do the heavy lifting.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: They're gonna pay for the fabric. They're gonna pay for
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: the production of fabric. They're gonna pay fabric, pay for
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: the product, pay to make the product, bring it here,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: warehouse it, sell it the other customers, paying a royalty
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: based off of those sales. You then just need to
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: negotiate a royalty deal that makes sense for you. Understanding
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: what the overall profit margin is, right, you know, so
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: if there's if there's thirty percent margin in it anything
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: double digit for you is solid because they're doing all
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: the heavy lifting. You know.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: The interesting thing about it is that this year Macy's
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: came out with this Divide nine Yes fashion line and
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm not gonna lie tell you, Marty. As
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: soon as I saw that went this take yeah. I
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: And then I did my research and it was you
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: tell us how that relationship happened and why did you
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: do it?
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: So the two part question. First of all, probably can
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: see behind me a lot of pink. My wife said, AKA,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: but I had heard about this, this initiative. They had
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: tried a couple of years ago. Write it with the sororities.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: The young lady who was addressed by Macy's, she's a zeta.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: She had been asking to do this because she was
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: trying to express to them the gravity of the sororities
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: and fraternities. You know, are educated people with me. These
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: are people in the world. These are people that know
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: what they want that and can galvanize, you know, groups
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: of people that can support an initiative right, that are
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: huge in philanthropic areas, huge in the community. You know,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: the whole deal. Did it? They do these rap dresses
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: panel rap dresses ten million dollars out to do and
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: I think they sold ten million dollars in a week
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: or so. Wow weeks they did great. She caught a
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: little bit of flat because what she did was she
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: went to a manufacturer who is, let's just say that
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: they're not minority, own right to them, and they made
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: these dresses. And somebody who's in the industry, I think
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: it's Roland Martin, and I'm not sure he's an alpha
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: or a Q, but he said he's an AFA.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I'm a quree ah.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: He said, we appreciate the sister for doing this. However,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: she couldn't find any African American vendors, so Macy's then
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: it was a lot of flat. It was a lot
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: of pressure on her fact and the version of the
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: echoing the inclusion was on file right now, right. They
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: said that, okay, we noted there's something here, but let's
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: do this thing the right way. So what they did
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: was they went to all of the presidents and they
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: talked about how they were partner They were partnered via workshops,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: they were partner via internships, they were partnering with the
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: regional initiatives, all the different things you do in the community.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: And then they said, we're going to donate to all
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: of the organizations. I think today they've donated north of
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: three million dollars to both the sororities and fraternities. The
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: only holdout is the aka's they're you know, they're holding
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: out right now. And once I heard that they were
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: doing all those things, they came to me and said, Okay, look,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: you're a minority owned vendor. You're do well in Macy's.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Would you be willing to do this? And when I
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: realized that their their commitment to it was honest and
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: they were going to do what they said they were
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: going to do and they were actually doing it, I
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: said I'm in. So they came to me and said,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: can you do the Taylor clothing? The jacket, is the vest,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: the pants to tie the shirts out the way and
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: I said sure. So. In order to make sure that
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: everything is being followed up with and done properly, I
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: go to these workshops, I go to these regional conferences.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be at your national effay right, I'll
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: be there.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: So they're doing what they said they're going to do.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: We created a really nice product and it's going to
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: evolve to be something that's very special.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, Stephen Smith, who was my frat brother,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: as soon as he saw the line, he went up,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: I gotta get a suit. I gotta get that look
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: because you know, purple and gold, that's a hard look
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: to get right, you know, because I've seen many of
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: my frat brothers looking why are you doing that to yourself?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Why are you doing that to yourself?
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: But these are colors, you know. And the reason I
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: bring it up because these aren't like everyday colors. But
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: they went to a Detroit man. See, Detroit men know
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: about them colors. They know how to make those colors
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: work for the everyday person. To talk to us about
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the color schemes and also your vision of making it
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: comfortable for the everyday brother who want to wear it
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: to work, who want to wear it the church, who
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: want to wear it out to a festive occasion that's
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: high fashion.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: So that's exactly what we did. What we did was
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: just so you know. The collection is done in the
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: signature colors of all of the fraternities. Yes, was in
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: any of your signs, any of your letters, any of
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: your specific logos. Jeff the colors. I said. I said, okay, well,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: I can take these colors and I can make them
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: interchangeable so that if you know, you know, but if
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: you don't know, hey, that's a cool purple jacket. I
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: can put this white shirt that had a little bit
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: of purple in it with that jacket his white pant
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: in it. And we're doing the spring and in the
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: summer and be sharp as heck. So I did that
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: throughout the whole collection, and I made it such that
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: you can dress it up, you can dress it down,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: you can dress it casual with the jacket without a jacket,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: And it seems to be working because we did some
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: really cool shirts that you can see some of the
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: bells and whistles without the jacket. But when you put
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: the jacket on, now it like a regular shirt. If
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: you put a tie on with it, you can't see
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: the paneling that we did down the front. You can't
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: see the treatment that we did a bund to the cuff.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: So if you did it without a jacket, you want
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: to wear a you know, on aunt that will flip
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: the sleeve up and see the the purple and white
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: treatment up under the cup. We're hoping a little bit.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: It's how I can see the purple on it. So
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: we did some things to make it for the everydig guy.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: We did something to make it for the guy who
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: wants to wear it to black tie and the guy
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: who wants to wear it to work and stand out
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: The beautiful thing about an interviewer and Manta's dad. He
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: makes you smile because you love what you do.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: I do, I do, and I tell people all the
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: time that if you oftentimes shall we We have these these gifts,
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: and because we do it, it comes easy to us.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: We don't look at it at something that we can
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: monetize or something that we can make a living at.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: So I spend a lot of time trying to one
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: inspire people like you inspired me, like Michaus inspired me, well,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: two to try to explain to them if you're that
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: guy or that woman that wakes up and you you
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: put your make up really well, you do your hair
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: when you well, you dress nicely, and people are always
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: complimenting you on it, it's maybe something that you could
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: do and monetize. So think about that. Those are our gifts.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: I don't draw or sew. I tell people that all
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: the time, and they say what I said. But my
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: gift is I look at a thousand fabrics and I
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: can remember watch nine hundred and seventy six tied ends,
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: just watch eight and they can go to and I
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: can do something with it, right. And anytime I go
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: to a fabric meal, no matter where in the world, Turkey, China, wherever,
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: they're always amazed at that. But that's my gift. And
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: I like to, you know, see around the corners and
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: do things that I think are coming. And it happens
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: to work every single season. So you have to love
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: what you do. You hear that little voice and you
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: want to step out become an entrepreneur. You need to
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: maybe try. You will not fail, you will know.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: That's the beauty of my relationship with you. You know.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: And like I said, you're inviting me out to one
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: of your magic shows, your collections showing. And one of
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the primary conversations I had with him, what about the
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: collection by what you do for the community's philanthropic side.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Why is that so important?
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: It's important because I was that that that little boy who,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: like I said, I would look at my coach and
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: see how they were addressed. You know, I didn't have
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: a father in the house, and I would that inspired
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: me in such a way that I wanted to make
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: sure I number one inspired. But number two I was
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: also an athlete. I wasn't a highly heralded athlete. I
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: came out of high school in Detroit when literally every
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: team in Detroit had either two or three Division ones
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: or one or two NBA guys. I was in high
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: school Garden Derreck Coleman right right right, city down the street,
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Terry Mills right there, you know, t will T. Wheelers
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: team had sixteen scholarships, full right shot. It's fifteen players
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: on the team there. Water Boy got a full rad scholarship.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: So you know. I came out there. So I was
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: pretty good. But I didn't have a lot of schools
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: being down my door. So I decided that I wanted
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: to because I had a lot of relationships. I ultimately
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: got a scholarship for basketball to college. So I built
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: relationships with these schools in the region that I went
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: to school, and I started to send guys. I started
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: to work guys out, I started to mentor guys, and
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I started to send guys to school. Before I knew it,
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: I had fifty sixty scholarships, and I just loved it.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: I fell in love with securing scholarships for young African
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: American boys, and then I would stay with them as
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: they matriculated through school, mentor them and talk to them
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: about their gifts, talk to him about how to you know,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: get a job, keep a job in or step out
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: on faith and become an entrepreneur. And like I said,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: today we have sixty three four rad scholarships. And I'm
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: just as passionate about that as I am about tailing Well.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: And I love it. I love that. I love the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: fact that you are engaged in the community that I
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: love the fact that you love Detroit. I love the
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: fact when this is the same smile I saw in
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: two thousand and four, I'm seeing in twenty twenty four.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: What's the future?
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: So the future is this. The line is doing very
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: well in several big box stores. The line is doing
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: well in specialty stores.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, I have.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Licensing deals with four companies right now, all based in
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: New York. UH doors are asking us for other categories.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: They're asking for casual, They're asking for women's. They want
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: to expand the categories. So in the future we're going
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: to be expanding the categories to have a full collection men's, women's,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: young people, and then Rashan, we want to take this
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: thing abroad. We want to take it to other countries.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: I want to quite literally grow this like a heritage brand.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Why not. These guys are doing billions of dollars and
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: it's not so much about the money as it is what,
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: you know, what God showed me we're supposed to be doing.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: So I want to walk in that. I want to
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: take this as far as we can take it. And
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I believe there is no mountaintop, but it's a legacy
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: brand that could be here for years and years to come,
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: and that's what I want to you know, build.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Well, this is Teyon collection. Monty Holland a star, he's
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: he looks good. He looks a slaves young because he's
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: younger than me. For manior futures, Brian, and thank you
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: for bringing some fastest to my fraternity colors that I
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: can not wear because brother, I have not warn purple
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: and Goale ever in the history of mil Megasi five
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Lifestyle and I've been a member since nineteen eighty one.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: But thank you for taking the time to come on
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: money Making Conversations, mante and again Teyon Collection. He already
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: told you he's out there, but more importantly, if you're
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: near Masis, go in and check out the collection, check
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: out his brand. Is it a website you can tell
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: us about tyon Yes, socials available.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: So all of my ig and social is at Teyon Collection.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: That's t A y io In Collection and LinkedIn is
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Teyon Collection. And Monty Holland Manty with two inis Holland
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: like the country. And if you want to do something
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: that special special thing you want to taon dot com
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: and that's just t A y io in dot com
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: because we still do things that are you know, a
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: little bit higher level. That's my my Rolph l Low
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: and Purple label. Uh yeah, yeah, we we have that too, dude.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on my show, Money Making Conversations.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: My dear Holland Teyon Collection. He's a star, y'all. He's
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: a visionary and he's based in Detroit.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: So much. This is my pleasure. I humbled by this.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: on the show today and thank you listening to the
• 32:16
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