They got some great press after landing a cover story on the business section of a local paper – a Norwegian selling Italian food in Copenhagen! 

• The story generated a TON of business, but luck just wasn’t on Bernt’s side – both of his pizza trucks broke down that day and he couldn’t handle the incoming flood of orders, thus forcing him to deliver cold, soggy pizza hours late to many customers
  • The lesson – “You only get to make a first impression once… so you might as well make it a good one”

After graduating (this was in the mid-1980s), Bernt decided to jump from the pizza industry to the fashion business and partner up with one of his friends

• The pair moved to Los Angeles and founded Nor Partners (short for Norwegian Partners)
  • (Bernt was still an absentee owner of Pizza Pronto at the time. He adds – “Being an absentee owner is typically not a good recipe for success.” While in L.A. his Pizza Pronto partner ended up selling the business… without telling him!)
  • Nor Partners imported Italian fashion (Lemon Clothing) into the U.S. and sold it with a healthy margin
    • “We hired reps and before we knew what was going on, we were selling to stores like Barneys, Nordstrom, and Nieman Marcus… we were selling to every single leading store!”
  • Bernt and his business partner worked with a factoring company (who funded the order book)
    • As background: “Factoring is basically when you have accounts receivable, meaning you’ve already sold stuff but people owe you money, and there are companies that will pay you a portion of that money as a loan with some pretty steep interest, but it allows you to have working capital.” – Roland

What did Bernt learning during his time here?

• The power of brand consistency (consistency in brand messaging)
  • Expanded – Make sure the brand evokes the same emotions across all product lines and everything you do
• It’s important to have a “halo product” or “halo line of service”
  • For example – Donna Karan launched with her namesake brand (Donna Karen) as a high-end collection. This then allowed for the creation of her diffusion line, Donna Karan New York (DKNY), which had the same brand essence, but was made available to a wider audience at a more affordable price point.

Donna Karen launched a side venture to enter the fragrance industry (without any prior experience)

• After “investing” a lot of money in product R&D and many failed experiments, it was determined that it was probably best to just license someone else’s fragrance (who was already best in class)
  • Bernt adds – “You cannot be best in class within every single product category. It’s just not even credible… I believe in concentrate and dominate. Be really, really good at what you’re good at. If you want to be a global lifestyle brand, you need to have a number of different product verticals, but it’s not logical you’re the best operator for every single vertical.”
  • How does licensing in the fragrance industry work?
    • A fragrance company obtains the rights to sell a fragrance with your brand name and in turn, the brand collects royalties
  • The lesson – “You don’t have to do everything yourself. This licensing REALLY works.”

Here’s a story which dictates an important learning he picked up during his tenure:

• FUBU acquired the rights to a brand named KUJI
• They began selling KUJI jeans for ~$125 (thus making them a bit higher-end)
• To help boost sales, here’s what FUBU did:
  • They launched KUJI LUX – a $425 pair of jeans 
  • FUBU also arranged it so, in their showrooms, buyers had to walk past the KUJI LUX jeans before they got to the KUJI jeans (price anchoring 101)
    • “We sold BOATLOADS”

Daymond John, the founder of FUBU, is the author of The Power of Broke

• One of the stories discussed in the book:
  • FUBU originated in Queens, NY where storefronts commonly use metal gates to protect their stores at night. These gates became quite grimy and dirty over time. Daymond and his team offered to clean the gates in exchange for being able to put the FUBU logo on them – free advertising!
• For more Daymond, check out the Podcast Notes from his appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show

After working for FUBU, Bernt was hired by Kellwood

• In 2004, Kelwood acquired Phat Fashions (founded by Russel Simmons) – Bernt became the group President
  • Bernt took them from $85 to $850 million in revenue in just ~5 years with a heavy focus on licensing the brand across a variety of verticals (watches, shoes, handbags, backpacks, watches hats, swimwear, etc.)

In 2010, partnering with Li & Fung, the largest apparel manufacturer in the world, Bernt served as the founding CEO of Music, Entertainment, and Sport Holdings (MESH) 

• MESH procured several high-profile transactions, the best known being the Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony exclusive licensing arrangement with Kohl’s, the largest brand deal in U.S. history with record-breaking retail sales.