The reality is that I spent years in the factories in Italy when I first set up Jimmy Choo. Today, everyone who has a job at Jimmy Choo, I've done their job - right down to the cleaner.
Tamara MellonThe thing about Uggs is that they're so comfortable. Once you've worn them, you don't want to go back.
Tamara MellonI had to put the company through a reorg, raise a new round of financing, and sort of press the restart button. But my feeling was that I wasn't going to be bullied. I wasn't going to let them take me down. I had to pull myself together and move forward.
Tamara MellonIn the past there were two things that motivated me then: independence, and passion about what I was doing. And those are still the things that motivate me now. I still have that passion for creating a product. And I will never be dependent on a man. I will never be dependent on a husband or a boyfriend or a father. That's one thing that's really important to me.
Tamara MellonI often get the question from people, "well how can you sell luxury at that price?" What I'm explaining to everyone is I'm still paying the same factory cost as I paid when they were $800. I pay the same as my competitors who are in the luxury space pay, I just don't mark them up as much because I haven't put them in a wholesale channel. I don't have to put that extra margin on them.
Tamara Mellon