Dollar dazzlers

The notorious BRW Rich List for 2008 has been published, but has given the schmutta business little to crow about. There are few people, it seems, who have acquired and hung on to serious wealth though textiles and clothing ventures. But there are obviously some artful omissions, as radar ducking of one kind or another has enabled them to stay out of the ink - and the attention of the tax department, according to Rodney Adler.

It seems that if you want to get well up the Rich List in schmuttas you eventually need some retail in the mix. Our champ, Solly Lew, who chimes in at $1.4 billion, has made chunks of that through retail plays, although the original golden eggs were garment manufacturing and importing. Nevertheless Solly still ranks down at number 23, well under his trucking mate Lindsay Fox, was ranked 14 with 1.8 bill. It should be said of all these estimates that they can be dubious, since they are mostly taken on wealth visible in Australia.

It is not before we get to number 59 that we come upon another sorta schmutta name, clothing retailer Naomi Milgrom with $660 million. As I've said before, she's our best fashion retailer and well deserving of the money and the position.
An interesting entry is further down the list at number 76: Nathan Werdiger. He's in property now, but made the original seed money with Arnold Lederman in Classweave, a Melbourne weaver and knitter. Nathan weighs in at $541 million.
In the family stables, the Leibermans come second behind the Smorgans with $2.2 billion. Kolotex hosiery was the main schmutta contributor to the Leibermans, but they're general investors now

The Laidlaw family of Yakka fame sits as 45th in the family rankings with $280 million and the Gazal family is towards the back of the grid with $112 million.

I wonder what happened to Philip Bart's listing. His textile and property manoeuvres over the past 10 years were all supposedly profitable, some say staggeringly so. And how about John Marshall who made a solid start with Sport Fashions and built from there with property development? Maybe they are not as wealthy as I thought, or did they lie down flat when the BRW searchlight swings in their direction.

Now it may seem that I am tall-poppying the wealthy in our industry, but no, just the opposite. There ought to be more wealth in textiles and garments than currently is visible. How can we get fervent ambition into the industry if there are not demonstrable rewards for entrepreneurial skill?
 
The mysterious disappearance of Harvey Boots

In November of  last year I was praising the prospects of  Sydney importer/retailer, Nuovo, owned and run by Harvey Boots and Allen Dong,  The company had found a Singapore based financial partner called the  Aussino Group which would fund rapid expansion into a retail fashion chain with plans to open five stores a year under Harvey's guidance.
Now Harvey is nowhere to be found - in the fashion business anyway. And Harvey isn't talking either, apparently silenced by a condition he had to agree to for being paid out and cast out. This was not a move of his choosing, I am told by a couple of people who know the inside story.

Harvey Boots was one of the most successful fashion agents during the days when fashion agencies were more profitable businesses than they are now. Harvey and wife Melanie could see the agency business becoming tighter and moved to importing better quality garments styled in Europe and made in China. They had about eight labels, especially suited to the over 35 woman who wanted more chic for her dollar.

Harvey hired some of his showroom and office space to Allen Dong, who had the Hardy Amies distributorship for Australia. That arrangement then became a Nuovo partnership, with Allen running the money and Harvey the marketing. The pair moved their operation to the elegant Surry Hills building that had once been the Crown Street Women's Hospital. The business flourished, especially after the opening of a Mosman store had shown just how good that special end of the trade could be. Additional stores were only held back by a lack of expansion funding - which is when Aussino rode over the hill and the three entities formed a new company called the Doppio Fashion Group.

What happened after that is unclear, except that the Aussino Group of Singapore origin and Allen Dong of Shanghai origin have the company and Harvey has some money and a gag in his mouth - neither of which he apparently wanted.
Clearly, Harvey can't return to the maternity wing, but can he contractually be prevented from starting again, since he's spent the past 45 years in the fashion business?
Therein lays a tale which I intend to tell.

By Fraser McEwing