The new Men's Wearhouse slogan: "You're going to look like crap probably, but now that the old guy's history, see if we care"

"You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it."

by Ken

Ah, so that's what it was. It seems that in the three months since Men's Wearhouse co-founder George Zimmer went from CEO to "executive chairman" of the national clothing retailer, there has been squabbling between him and the current management about the direction of the company, according to an abcnews.com report, which quotes Zimmer as claiming that he was being "inappropriately" "silence[d]." Today he told CNBC:

"Over the last 40 years, I have built MW into a multi-billion dollar company with amazing employees and loyal customers who value the products and service they receive at MW. Over the past several months I have expressed my concerns to the Board about the direction the company is currently heading. Instead of fostering the kind of dialogue in the Boardroom that has in part contributed to our success, the Board has inappropriately chosen to silence my concerns through termination as an executive officer."

Earlier today even the usual business-community talking heads were groping for something to say to explain the sudden axing of the iconic Zimmer, the man we've been hearing all these years solemnly assure us all over the airwaves: "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it."

on the very morning of the day when the company was supposed to hold its annual meeting. Officially the company said the delay was in order to be able to nominate the present board of directors without Zimmer, which certainly suggests a sudden decision. I'm wondering if he wasn't demanding to be allowed to make his case in some fashion, and in the end the only effective way to stop him was to cancel the meeting.

HuffPost's Anne d'Innocenzio, who had a story up before most everyone else, recapped the history of Men's Wearhouse:

The abrupt departure comes a week after Men's Wearhouse reported that its fiscal first-quarter profit increased 23 percent, helped by stronger margins and an earlier prom season.

In 1971, fresh out of college, Zimmer made his first foray into the clothing industry, working in Hong Kong for six months as a salesman for his father's coat manufacturing business, according to the company website.

In 1973, he and his college roommate opened the first Men's Wearhouse store, which sold $10 slacks and $25 polyester sport coats, in Houston. His personal car was a van with the company logo on the side and clothing racks in the back.

The company launched its first TV commercial in the 1970s when commercials for clothing were rare. Zimmer starred in his first TV commercial in 1986, with the line "I guarantee it."

Men's Wearhouse kept expanding, focusing on large markets where business was sluggish to take advantage of lower real estate costs. It also expanded beyond sports coats and trousers to casual sportswear in the 1980s and then went into the tuxedo rental business in 2000.

Zimmer owned 1.8 million shares of Men's Wearhouse as of the company's May 9 proxy filing, a 3.5 percent stake in the company.

The HuffPost report contains one really odd quote:

"This is very rare to fire a founder. Founders are generally entrenched in the company," said Eleanor Bloxham, CEO of The Value Alliance, a board advisory firm.

But of course founders are forced out one way or another lots of times. In startups, certainly, where the person who had An Idea may prove ill-suited to building and running a company. But it also happens lots of times in established companies that find themselves slipping and point to the founder as having lost touch with the current market. This seems to be what Zimmer thinks has happened; the only thing is, there don't seem to be indications that the company was in trouble. Then again, I haven't troubled to take a look at it's numbers over the last couple of years.

Stephanie Clifford's nytimes.com report includes this speculation: "Some analysts suggested that the conflict might be over the company’s efforts to appeal to younger customers, which could have been hampered by Mr. Zimmer’s continued presence in ads."

According to USA Today's Jayne O'Donnell, this view is shared by Bertrand Pellegrin, author of Branding the Man and founder of the San Francisco consultancy b. on brand:

"In the early days, George Zimmer came off as a city slicker who could sell you style at a competitive price — he later began to feel like your father. Would you buy a suit from your father?"

Pellegrin says Gen Y shoppers are savvy about style and want "silhouettes that reflect a more athletic, urbane attitude to dressing." He says Men's Wearhouse suits seem more like the "sack suits" of the '40s and '50s.

It should be noted too that the "old" management often turns out to understand the business better than the "with it" types who are hellbent on bringing it "up to date." It's worth recalling the case of JCPenney dumping its fuddy-duddy CEO to bring in "genius" Ron Johnson to make the company all cool and hip. All he did was drive away significant number of the company's existing customers without bringing in any substantial number of new ones -- until he was fired, that is, and replaced by the fuddy-duddy.

I don't imagine today's story is going to go away quickly. Meanwhile, my question is: Is there a Men's Wearhouse without George Zimmer?

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