I knew Ralph Lauren when he worked for Rivitz. We had a brief parallel period. At the same time Ralph started his tie company I started my tie company, Chipp2.  We both found, independently of each other, an interesting embroidered Irish linen cloth that we purchased from a company named Hamilton Adams.  We  were both having our ties made by the same contracter named Greenburg. Ralph’s signature was he made his ties wider than was the standard width at the time. Because of the size of the embroidered figures I had Mr. Greenburg cut my linen ties wider than our other ties. So we both had the same product- Wheel and Anchors embroidered on linen cut wider by Greenburg. We sold our ties retail for $7.50.  Ralph sold his ties to Bloomingdales for $7.50 and Bloomingdales sold them for $15.00. Bloomingdales was at their pinnacale of being the “in” store. I lived on 57th Street 2 blocks from Bloomingdales.  One Thursday evening Ralph and I met and walked  to Bloomingdales to visit the men’s department and see what was hapening. In the brief time we were there they sold more of his ties at $15 than we would sell in a month or two at $7.50- a lesson in the importance of traffic and of the part women play in menswear sales.                                                      Ralph Lauren and I started even. If the measure of success is one’s bank account, we are now light years apart.

Mortimer Levitt was a legend in the world of menswear.  I always considered it a compliment that he chose us to make some of his personal clothing.  Mr. Levitt was the founder and operator of “Custom Shop Shirtmakers. He was a marketing genius.  It began with his choice of the name ” Custom Shop Shirtmakers.” By my definition nothing they made was custom. Through the years I had a number of “sit downs” with Mr. Levitt.  At one of our meetings I raised the question of what is custom and what is not custom. He said that if someone picked out a cloth and selected the way the shirt was to be detailed- collar style, cuff style, etc. - and they measured the customer for neck size, sleeve length and body size, that the shirt produced was custom. By his definition the fact that they applied the measurements to block patterns did not make them something other than custom.  We sell shirts that are made for us by a  custom shirt-maker . By Mr. Levitt’s definition we are selling custom shirts.  We say we are selling “Ready Made” shirts. Through the years I have had customers ask me if they were getting a “good deal” by buying shirts from the Custom Shop Shirtmakers.  My answer was, and always will be about any product an individual purchases anywhere, if you are pleased with what you got for the money you spent, you got a “good deal”.

Mr. Levitt died at the age of 98.  He sold the Custom Shop Shirtmakers before his passing. He was very generous in his support of the Arts.