Elie Tahari is best known as the designer who popularized the tube top. But he's also proof of how far imagination, drive and a lot of chutzpah can take you.
He's one of just three fashion industry giants doing $1 billion plus in sales, in business for more than four decades and still led by their founder. So says "The United States of Elie Tahari," a documentary about the storied designer. The others are Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani.
But the success of the Jerusalem-born designer was far from assured. Because of family issues, he was raised largely in an orphanage. He still remembers kids making fun of him because "my clothes were dirty and wrinkled." All of which serves as motivation.
"It's not being poor that hurts you," he said in an interview with Investor's Business Daily. "It's thinking poor."
Move Toward Success Like Elie Tahari
After military service in the Israel Defense Forces, where he learned an electrician's trade, Tahari saw a better future in the U.S. But how to get there?
Fortunately, his brother, Abraham, worked for El Al, the national airline. As a relative, he was entitled to a reduced-rate ticket. But even that was beyond his means. However, since this took place in 1971, well before computers and tickets were just carbon copies, it was easy to change a ticket for A. Tahari to one for E. Tahari.
He landed in New York with less than $100 in his pocket and checked into a YMCA. But even in the early 1970s, $100 can only take you so far. When his cash ran out, he stored his clothes in a YMCA gym locker and slept on park benches.
Plug Into Opportunity
Eventually Tahari ended up at a homeless shelter. Fortunately, it was located next door to an electrical contractor.
"I'd go (to the contractor) every day and ask for work," Tahari said. "They'd make a joke out of it, and say I live in a shelter, what could I know." But eventually, the contractor relented.
"One day the company got a big job in New Jersey and said 'we need a helper. Would you be a helper?' " Tahari said. "I said 'of course' and went to New Jersey and helped with the wiring."
Other little jobs came along and eventually he landed a union card and a job with an electrical contractor who worked in Manhattan's garment center. "Standing on a ladder, repairing lighting fixtures, looking down at the models, I (told myself) I'm in the wrong business," he said.
Tahari: Find A Path To Your Wishes
To pick up extra cash, Tahari also got a part-time job working nights and selling clothes at a Greenwich Village boutique.
"On MacDougal Street the stores were open until 2 a.m. and there were people all over. The store was owned by Harold Levy, an Israeli, and he gave me a job," Tahari said. "It was here that I studied and learned what women want to wear. Also, I learned that if you give them what they want at the right price you can sell a lot."
His breakthrough was near. The '70s were "hippie days," he recalled. "Women weren't wearing bras. 'Let it all hang out' was the slogan."
Find The Bigger Idea
On an exploratory trip to the Lower East Side long before it became fashionable, Tahari noted there were weekend markets there.
"It was open. Hustling and bustling. I saw a stall that was selling older bathing suits with a (tube-like) top. So I bought some," he said. "It was like $2 apiece and I brought them to the store."
Tahari put the garments on a counter to show his boss. And as he was explaining the potential significance of his find, curious customers started to pick up and buy his samples. And thus was born Tahari's first major contribution to the world of fashion: the tube top.
But the tube top almost didn't see the light of day. Tahari had saved a couple thousand dollars to make more samples and print order forms for potential customers. And his boutique boss kicked in money to make some more. But Tahari naively went to a boutique show the day it opened intending to rent a booth. Of course, by then all booths were sold out.
So, he took his materials and set himself up in a hallway outside the exhibition area. When the security guard came by to question him, Tahari told him, "But I just came from the office." That was technically true. Besides, if told to move, Tahari would just shift his goods to a different floor. "I had nothing to lose, so I tried everything. And it worked," he said.
He left the boutique show that day with orders for 250,000 pieces. So he went to Levy, and said "I can't do it. I can't produce that many. (Levy) said he'd produce it for me and let me ship my orders through him."
Focus On Your Brand Like Elie Tahari
Tahari's idea initially took form as a company called Modern Lady. It didn't take him long, however, to receive his first lesson in branding — from an unlikely source.
"A pattern maker told me to change (the company's name) to my name," Tahari said. "If they (customers) think it's a designer, it's more prestigious." So he first renamed the company Tahari and then Elie Tahari.
"I never thought of myself as a designer. The market thinks so," he said. "I learned about design from the designers who worked for me."
Tahari takes pride in not just picking the colors. "I pick the fabrics. I pick the silhouettes and tell my people how to put it together," he said.
He's also good at picking up on trends. After the tube top put him on the map and in business, he recognized the potential impact of disco culture and jumped on it. He sponsored his first big fashion show, a splashy coming out party, at a new nightclub, Studio 54, shortly after it opened. There he introduced a line of dance dresses and blouses.
He followed that, in the '80s, as women increased their presence in the workforce, with a line of smartly tailored suits.
Know Your Customer Well
Asked who his customers are, he said, "She's smart. She knows quality." But Tahari's customers also know fashion. "She knows fabric," he said. "That's why I don't take shortcuts. I give them garments loaded with quality. My customers have followed me for years."
Fashion designer Nicole Miller agrees. "His tailoring was always perfection. His clothing would always stand out in the department stores. He always had a talent for colors and for choosing the best materials and textiles. For me he was a master tailor. He always worked very hard to make his dreams come true."
Fern Mallis, former executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said, "Elie always knew his customers. He was surrounded by opinionated and strong women, and that has a strong influence on him. You can't succeed without knowing who your customer is."
Be Willing To Shift Your Business
Tahari doesn't just know his customer. He knows where to find them. During the pandemic, he found some of his retail customers were slow paying bills, stopped paying or canceled orders. So he's largely moved out of wholesaling, to primarily online, where sales, he says, are "exploding."
In short, as Mallis notes, Elie is a personification of "the American Dream. Also, he's a good and lovable person."
Elie Tahari's Keys
- Built and runs a billion-dollar fashion empire that initially popularized the tube top.
- Overcame: Lack of experience running a business and growing up in poverty.
- Lesson: "My biggest challenge was learning how to hire the right people. Early on, I had difficulties figuring out who to hire. I didn't speak the language well and people took advantage of me."
