Mel & Patricia Ziegler Quotes
24 quotes from Mel & Patricia Ziegler — Co-founders of Banana Republic (the original safari-themed version), which they sold to Gap Inc..
“We started the business with $1,500 in combined savings and an American Express card—that was it. We had no capital, no contacts, no experience.”
“To us, Banana was never about fashion... We didn't start Banana to make money. We did it to be free, to be able to do whatever we wanted to do.”
“Every Banana store was one of a kind. Every garment was designed by Patricia. Every catalog was written and illustrated by us at our kitchen table.”
“After I put on new buttons and elbow patches, it simply screamed character and adventure.”
“We bought all of them. We spent the whole $1,500 on these shirts that we later discovered all had too-short sleeves.”
“Our kids are part of their trustworthy twenties, and though they've heard from a lot of good people that their parents started Banana Republic, they haven't heard much.”
“The irony is that now it's a $2.6 billion international fashion company.”
“We aim to share our story to encourage a life filled with creativity without fear.”
“To us, Banana was never about fashion... We didn't start Banana to make money. We did it to be free, to be able to do whatever we wanted to do, to be whoever we wanted to be, to go wherever we wanted to go.”
“The irony, because now it's a $2.6 billion international fashion company.”
“Bad choice. You'll be picketed by people from small hot countries.”
“We spent the whole $1,500 on these shirts that we later discovered all had too-short sleeves.”
“I was either going to be a curmudgeon, sitting on the edge of it, shaking my finger at it. Or I was going to go see what it was all about.”
“Our kids are playing a part in their trustworthy twenties, and though they've heard from a lot of good people that their parents started Banana Republic, they haven't heard much.”
“The challenges and dizzy turns we encountered were essential to our journey.”
“We aim to share our story to encourage a life of creativity without fear.”
“We got what we craved today. Phenomenon are glum and thankful.”
“To us, Banana was never about fashion... which is the irony, because now it's a $2.6 billion international fashion company.”
“We didn't know anything about catalogues, retailing, or selling things.”
“To show, through the metaphor of tea, the lightness of taking life sip by sip rather than gulp by gulp.”
“Failure was never an option. When you put everything on the line, you find a way to make it work: that was the strongest business lesson we learned.”
“Having no money was a great asset because we had only our imagination.”
“We didn't start Banana to make money. We did it to be free, to be able to do whatever we wanted to do, to be whoever we wanted to be, to go wherever we wanted to go.”
“You're always in the process of invention and imagination, looking at things as they truly are and reacting to them.”
