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Afghanistan Fashion 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 Startup Failure "art of Failure" "Eli Zelkha" "elias zelkha" "Soviet invasion" clothing "clothing industry" "fashion industry" importing exporting entrepreneurship entrepreneur, "Tom Freston", "hindu Kush" Kandahar Designs
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Born & raised in Iran
Colgate, development studies, and idealism… hard winter
Spring fling trip to Florida with David Angell
Meet Archie, pre-med student, and #1 US vacuum cleaner salesman
The Scheme & $5,000
1,000 Wedding shirts $ 800
184 Afghan rifles (used) $1,800
1 Bengal tiger skin $2,600
Guns Clothes
… and a Fantastic summer!
US student visa delayed…Grad school deferred
Failure 1: Bengal tiger skin: Confiscated by US Customs
Failure 2: Guns: No one wants them
Failure 3: Wedding shirts: Quality a disaster
Occasional clean wedding shirt sellable at boutiques
Customer Payment Problem NY Show Opportunity
• Amateur city… Late night…
• Major backing by one key fashion pub…
Retail hit: 35 stores nationwide
Bloomingdales
Bendell„s,
Many emerging new “boutiques”
…and TONS of more press
Not Guns… Not Tigers…
Bringing 2 radically different worlds together: Production Nightmare
Mired in complex high friction negotiations
Producers
VS.
Buyers
Try raising purchase price…
Experiment w/ direct hire… 1 tailor on salary…
... to 3 tailors...
… to a team of 20 … in a rented house
Shift to collaborative environment……. Transformative!
Hire our first designer in Boston…
... and the editorial support rockets
Anne Sheldon
...and further rockets
Development Dream: “Afghanistan, Iran of 100 years ago”
20‟s Dream: New York / LA fashion scene
A team of close friends
Eli KarimSaddiq Tom Pat Jim Anne Eli David EllynO‟DaySala Hathaway Sheldon Zelkha Angell Hessler
Demand goes CRAZY!!
Yves San Lauren goes Ethnic…
Enter the major European exhibitions: Pret a Porter, Igedo, London Fashion Week
Starting with press offensive…
The Sunday TimesElle German Vogue
7 years of expansion in Kabul & Boston
Establishing clear leadership & retail following
Wealth effect
Strategic sloth and growing cost structure
Aging of the trend
Iran revolution & fall of the Shah Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Logistical difficulties
Failure to diversify production
Cataclysmic failure for Afghan teams…
Failure to build nest egg .. Family in jeopardy
Self worth in tatters
Unable to make a living!!!
Wandering the desert for a couple of years…
Attempt at salvaging something…
A year of convulsions…
“Kick of the dying mule”
Failure?
Opportunity
Chinese farmer