The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.
The 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story and incredible business success over these past fifty years. The Clifton Review will take an inside look at how he did it.
Nygard Made Millions With Fashion Breakthroughs
By P.J. Malone
When we hear of a millionaire success story, one of the first things we want to know is “How did he do it?” or “How did she do it?”
In saluting the 50 years of fashion success of fashion mogul Peter Nygard, we are taking an inside look at how he managed to go from a poor boy to a multi-millionaire.
Fifty years ago, Peter Nygard was given an opportunity to join a struggling manufacturing company. He gathered up his savings and borrowed the rest to be able to invest $8,000 into a manufacturing company. Unfortunately, the owner died three months later and 26-year-old Peter Nygard was left to make this company work on his own.
Having no preconceived notions about what should be done at the start, Nygård researched and came up with what made sense to meet the customer’s needs. As a result, he achieved many ‘firsts’ in his industry. At a time when women didn’t generally wear pants at work, he focused on designing pants for women that became very popular and his company became known for offering amazing pants with a perfect fit.
He designed pants based on comfort and ease of fit; it was washable, and it had no need for ironing or dry cleaning. And in addition to using knit, he perfected a polyester fabric to make it do everything he wanted it to do.
In a desire to meet more of the customer’s needs, Nygård expanded to create additional fashion pieces. He started offering ‘coordinates’ that allowed the customer to mix and match.
Then came jackets. Soon, he was selling a lifestyle with whole outfits for not just daywear but weekend wear as well.
In a short time, Peter Nygard had turned the company from a Canadian manufacturing company to a fashion house. To date, there are almost 200 retail stores. NYGÅRD fashion lines are in hundreds of Dillard’s stores all over the United States as well as in numerous boutiques.
In recent times when fashion companies were struggling with the ‘fashion modal’ being too blasé to attract new and younger customers, Nygård needed to come up with something fresh.
He noticed a fashion trend of women buying leggings. Peter Nygård was inspired to come up with a new fashion. He designed a revolutionary pant.
Named ‘Slims’, Nygård refers to it as his “miracle pant” that “everybody loves.” It’s an exclusive Slimcurve Technology™ that elongates, lifts the buttocks, flattens the tummy, (in older women it flattens the muffin top), and has a four-way stretch.
Being the perfectionist that he is, it took two years just to get the right fabric, get the right fit, get a revolutionary pattern, and ensure the fabric could really do the job of lifting the buttocks and trimming the waist.
NYGÅRD slims is a revolutionary NYGÅRD pant that has been a tremendous success with unprecedented demands and record sales numbers for the four years it has been on the market.
It wasn’t just Peter Nygard’s fashion sensibilities that created his phenomenal success. He didn’t implement strategies in isolation. The effects of his entire approach to everything he did compounded his results.
