When I started my company, many people said I shouldn't launch it as a retail concept because it was too big a risk. They told me to launch as a wholesaler to test the waters - because that was the traditional way.
Neville [Chamberlain] has a retail mind in a wholesale business.
In Asia, Free People, along with World Co., Ltd. of Japan, will launch a shop in Shinjuku and a freestanding store and wholesale showroom in Harajuku.
We sell to businesses who sell other stuff, so we're just going to concentrate on doing that.
I deal in volume. To sell volume, it must be affordable. So that's my whole life, is to make it affordable.
I really want to get into the clothing business.
We're not waiting for the fashion cycle to have 180 buyers come in and see the collection and go, 'We like it, we'll buy it, and we'll have it in June.' The only one we're selling to is Net-A-Porter, and the rest is through our site.
My father used to control the wholesale of many ice-cream items in Middlesbrough. He was central distributor for most of the region.
