# Entrepreneur: Former Marine Corp Veteran created the Divine 9 Fashion line for Macy's.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 24 Apr 2025, 33 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/af448d9f-88a8-4e68-839f-b1ba00b26eac/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald, interviewed Montee Tayion Holland. Founder, president, and CEO of The Tayion Collection, a luxury menswear brand. Holland shares his journey from growing up in Detroit, serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, and working in pharmaceutical sales to building a nationally recognized fashion brand carried by major retailers. The conversation focuses on entrepreneurship, fashion, branding, licensing, mentorship, business growth, and creating a legacy through both business success and community impact. Purpose of the Interview The interview aims to: • Share Montee Tayion Holland's entrepreneurial journey. • Educate listeners on how to build a successful fashion brand. • Explain the business side of the fashion industry, including licensing and retail partnerships. • Inspire aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue their passions and monetize their talents. • Highlight the importance of mentorship, networking, and community involvement. • Discuss the success and significance of apparel collections inspired by historically Black fraternities and sororities. Key Takeaways 1. Passion Often Starts Early Holland's interest in fashion began while growing up in Detroit, where he admired the way coaches and professional role models dressed. Their polished appearance inspired him to pursue a future connected to fashion, even before he understood how to enter the industry. 2. Detroit Influenced His Style Philosophy Detroit's rich culture of fashion, confidence, and self-expression helped shape Holland's view that clothing should reflect an individual's personality. He believes style is about more than appearance. It is a statement of identity and confidence. 3. Military Service Became His Fashion Classroom While serving in the Marine Corps overseas, Holland spent time in tailoring shops creating custom shirts, jackets, and suits. Those experiences taught him about fabrics, fit, construction, and design, laying the foundation for his future brand. 4. The Tayion Collection Bridges Luxury and Accessibility Holland designed The Tayion Collection to offer many of the details and craftsmanship found in custom clothing while remaining accessible through ready-to-wear garments. His goal was to deliver luxury quality at a more attainable price point. 5. A Great Product Alone Is Not Enough One of Holland's strongest lessons is that entrepreneurs must understand the business behind their products. Success requires knowledge of: • Manufacturing • Cost structure • Inventory management • Supply chains • Distribution • Cash flow • Retail relationships He stresses that many businesses fail not because of poor products but because of weak business operations. 6. Relationships Can Transform a Career A key turning point came when Holland met apparel executive Ronnie Waksburger, who helped introduce him to larger opportunities within the fashion industry. The interview demonstrates how networking, reputation, and relationship-building can accelerate business growth. 7. Licensing Is a Powerful Growth Strategy Holland explains that licensing allows entrepreneurs to expand their brands without personally funding massive production runs. Through licensing partnerships, businesses gain access to: • Manufacturing capabilities • Capital resources • Industry expertise • Distribution channels • Retail partnerships This model allows brands to scale faster while reducing…

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. I'm Rashwan McDonald, the host of
[0:08] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
[0:12] Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
[0:16] Speaker 1: Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
[0:19] Speaker 1: talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
[0:22] Speaker 1: their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
[0:25] Speaker 1: a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
[0:28] Speaker 1: listen as we unlock the secrets to their success On
[0:31] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. I ra Sean McDonald. I host
[0:36] Speaker 1: this weekly money Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews
[0:39] Speaker 1: and information that this show provides really is for everyone.
[0:42] Speaker 1: It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
[0:45] Speaker 1: start living your own. My guest today is the President
[0:48] Speaker 1: and CEO of the Teyon Collection. The Tian Collection is
[0:53] Speaker 1: one one hundred percent solely owned by Monty Holler. Please
[0:56] Speaker 1: welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. It's about the fashion
[0:59] Speaker 1: week for us. Oh this show Monty Holland, how are
[1:02] Speaker 1: you doing? Mister Holland, I'm wherever Sean, how are you well?
[1:05] Speaker 1: First of all, you know this is gonna drop on
[1:08] Speaker 1: my podcast. It's gonna drop on video television stations around
[1:12] Speaker 1: the country. But for the people who just only listen
[1:15] Speaker 1: to this, the brother looks clean. So in your best descriptive, Monty,
[1:22] Speaker 1: tell everybody what you wear.
[1:24] Speaker 2: Somebody a gr card black and silver jacket. Many would
[1:30] Speaker 2: call this high fashion or black tie type of apparel.
[1:35] Speaker 2: But my apparel, it's designed in such a way you
[1:38] Speaker 2: can go from work to play to black tie and
[1:41] Speaker 2: all the way back around again. So it's interchangeable, inaccessible,
[1:45] Speaker 2: and appropriate for all the moments that matter.
[1:48] Speaker 1: You know, I've known you several years. We're not going
[1:50] Speaker 1: to get into detail about that because we're gonna really
[1:52] Speaker 1: it's about you. It's about uh, you know, how did
[1:56] Speaker 1: you get into business?
[1:57] Speaker 3: Man?
[1:59] Speaker 2: You know, it's I had always had these visions of
[2:04] Speaker 2: you know, uh being in the fashion industry in some way,
[2:08] Speaker 2: shape or form, but you know, but being raised in
[2:10] Speaker 2: inner city Detroit with a single mom and three other siblings,
[2:14] Speaker 2: had no idea how to get into it. So I
[2:16] Speaker 2: just kind of put those thoughts in the back of
[2:19] Speaker 2: my mind until I got to high school and I
[2:21] Speaker 2: would see my coaches that didn't work in the building
[2:24] Speaker 2: come to the building in their you know, professional clothing,
[2:27] Speaker 2: right say, wow, I don't know what they do, but
[2:30] Speaker 2: I want to do something that has to do with them.
[2:33] Speaker 2: You know, when overcoats, you know in Detroit, so it's cold,
[2:36] Speaker 2: over coach Fritz cuff neckties. And I would always notice,
[2:40] Speaker 2: even with all the sprints they had us running, how
[2:42] Speaker 2: good they looked in their clothing. And I wanted to
[2:45] Speaker 2: do something in that world. And that sparked my my
[2:49] Speaker 2: thoughts of what I could kind of do with it.
[2:52] Speaker 2: And that's where fashions is all came from.
[2:54] Speaker 1: I'm really missed. I need to tell everybody where you from.
[2:57] Speaker 1: Where are you from?
[2:58] Speaker 2: Martin born and raised, Troit, Michigan.
[3:00] Speaker 1: There you go, see see right there. We gotta say
[3:03] Speaker 1: where you're from so we can understand why you're talking
[3:06] Speaker 1: about fashion. Why, as a young African American male, you
[3:10] Speaker 1: will hypnotize by looks because fashion has always been a
[3:14] Speaker 1: strong foothold in Detroit.
[3:16] Speaker 2: Why, you know, even before the days of Motown, when
[3:22] Speaker 2: those guys really you know, put their foot on the
[3:25] Speaker 2: fashion on the fashionst neck, they always look good. They
[3:30] Speaker 2: wanted to look good because if you look good, they
[3:32] Speaker 2: felt good. No, these are the stories that I heard from,
[3:35] Speaker 2: you know, the elders saying, listen, we would wake up,
[3:37] Speaker 2: put a suit on, go to work, come back from work,
[3:40] Speaker 2: take that suit off, put another suit on for our
[3:43] Speaker 2: extracurrictal activities. And that's I've always heard that. I've always
[3:47] Speaker 2: seen that. The church's been, you know, a sexy, fashionable city,
[3:50] Speaker 2: says I've always known.
[3:53] Speaker 1: Now, one thing about Detroit has always had a reputation
[3:56] Speaker 1: of bright colors.
[3:58] Speaker 2: Now is that true? Is that true? That's true prediction
[4:01] Speaker 2: more so than just bright, because I think that the
[4:04] Speaker 2: people who who are really into fashion Detroit would like
[4:07] Speaker 2: their fashion to be an extension of their personalities. This
[4:10] Speaker 2: is called it that and some people have brighter personalities,
[4:13] Speaker 2: so they want to express the signals with their color
[4:16] Speaker 2: and their God.
[4:18] Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm gonna take you to task on that, Monty.
[4:22] Speaker 1: I've been to Troit many times.
[4:23] Speaker 2: I've seen the match and add the matches Sued Dvance
[4:26] Speaker 2: and shoot.
[4:27] Speaker 1: I mean it's red from top to bottom. Its yelling
[4:30] Speaker 1: from top to bott I've seen green from top to bottom.
[4:33] Speaker 1: Nowhere in this country have I seen that other than Detroit.
[4:36] Speaker 2: Well, guess what think about that? And what you just said,
[4:39] Speaker 2: it's actually true, But think about the monochromatic looks that
[4:41] Speaker 2: people are doing nowadays.
[4:43] Speaker 4: Ahead of the time. You know, for a long time,
[4:47] Speaker 4: the mono looks pretty hodd now right it is. But
[4:51] Speaker 4: I just know that I got to let everybody know
[4:54] Speaker 4: the love I have.
[4:55] Speaker 1: For Detroit and the fact that Manti's on my show
[4:59] Speaker 1: talking about fashion, because I've been fortunate them in life.
[5:01] Speaker 1: I've been in the position to get tailor made suits,
[5:04] Speaker 1: tailor made shirts, and but I've never met a person
[5:07] Speaker 1: who had a collection, a person who has closed on
[5:11] Speaker 1: the racks. You know, before you got to that, you
[5:14] Speaker 1: had to stand in the military, before you got into fashion.
[5:17] Speaker 1: Talk about that.
[5:18] Speaker 2: That's actually how Tayan started. So I you know, I'm
[5:21] Speaker 2: a young man in the nine Marine Corps. I'm overseas
[5:24] Speaker 2: and on weekends. What a lot of people don't know
[5:26] Speaker 2: is that they give you time to go out and
[5:28] Speaker 2: just kind of hang out. So I'm in Korea and
[5:30] Speaker 2: all these places around the world, and on weekends we
[5:33] Speaker 2: just will walk up and down the roads. Well on
[5:35] Speaker 2: either side of the road, you had these little shops
[5:37] Speaker 2: where you can go in and look at fabric and
[5:40] Speaker 2: make a shirt in an hour or two. You can
[5:41] Speaker 2: make a shoe, you can make a pan, you can
[5:43] Speaker 2: make a suit. And I would go in remember having
[5:47] Speaker 2: these thoughts in the back of my head about fashion,
[5:49] Speaker 2: and just say, look, I want that shirt, put this
[5:51] Speaker 2: collar on it, put this cuff on it, I want
[5:53] Speaker 2: that jacket. Make to the pail like this. Not knowingly
[5:55] Speaker 2: with Seana, I was designing, but I would you know,
[5:58] Speaker 2: before you know what, I had a nice collecttion of
[6:00] Speaker 2: clothing and people will give me these compliments. Well, I
[6:03] Speaker 2: just said, you know, I got a cool, you know wardrobe.
[6:05] Speaker 2: I would wear it out, get all these compliments. I
[6:07] Speaker 2: get out of the Marine Corps, and those compliments kept coming.
[6:10] Speaker 2: So I started to use those contacts that I had
[6:13] Speaker 2: right things for people.
[6:15] Speaker 1: Right now, when you when you when you're looking at
[6:17] Speaker 1: clothes and you're looking at design, what is the basis
[6:21] Speaker 1: of your design factor, your vision? When you're talking about men,
[6:26] Speaker 1: you are remember back up are you designing for? I've
[6:30] Speaker 1: heard terms called fast white guys. I've heard terms called
[6:34] Speaker 1: the urban community, and I heard terms called German general market.
[6:38] Speaker 1: What do you look when you start fashioning the design
[6:40] Speaker 1: of your fashions?
[6:41] Speaker 2: So, so, first I want to go back to something
[6:43] Speaker 2: you said a minute ago. You said that you know
[6:46] Speaker 2: you coming from position of means you've always had custom
[6:50] Speaker 2: types of suits. So tag liizes this whether renaissance man
[6:54] Speaker 2: meets the new millennium man, and whether custom suit meets
[6:58] Speaker 2: the ready to wear suit. So every bail and whistle
[7:01] Speaker 2: or characteristic that you'll find in your custom suit in
[7:04] Speaker 2: front and the tay I ready to wear suit. So
[7:06] Speaker 2: I start there, because remember all those things that I
[7:10] Speaker 2: started from my foundation was actually customed. I built it.
[7:13] Speaker 2: I made it from a shop to my specifications, the
[7:16] Speaker 2: entire interrupt of the things that I want to incide.
[7:18] Speaker 2: It took those put it into my ready to wear
[7:21] Speaker 2: But what who am I? Who am I targeting? I'm
[7:24] Speaker 2: targeting the same customer that likes to be fashionable, that
[7:29] Speaker 2: wants his fashion to be an extension of his personality,
[7:33] Speaker 2: that likes the type of garment that you're used to,
[7:35] Speaker 2: that height, nice garment, but maybe at a price. So
[7:39] Speaker 2: I'm thinking about what what what the time for Ralph
[7:42] Speaker 2: florin purple label guys thinking about but at a price point?
[7:45] Speaker 2: And uh, you know, I like to say humbly, I
[7:48] Speaker 2: think that we we've accomplished that. And this guy who's
[7:50] Speaker 2: wearing to I can stand next to any of those
[7:52] Speaker 2: guys that are so confident that he's you know, right
[7:54] Speaker 2: there and that connect with them.
[7:56] Speaker 1: Now your visionary because everybody, like I said, I've met
[7:59] Speaker 1: him many a man out there who can design suits,
[8:04] Speaker 1: who may want to be on a rack in a
[8:06] Speaker 1: Macy's type store. To this start for you, Monty, it's
[8:11] Speaker 1: interesting and.
[8:12] Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go into something real
[8:14] Speaker 2: quick because you know, like I said, those coaches inspired me,
[8:18] Speaker 2: uh from from high school. But I'll tell you and
[8:23] Speaker 2: and uh and this is this, This is touching to
[8:24] Speaker 2: me because you know you're such an humble god versh.
[8:26] Speaker 2: I but I want, I want to say this quickly.
[8:29] Speaker 2: Two thousand and four, I want to say I was
[8:30] Speaker 2: at the Magic Show with a little ten by ten
[8:32] Speaker 2: booth right down the hall. For me was you and
[8:35] Speaker 2: your team. You did not know me at all, but
[8:37] Speaker 2: you guys took the time to introduce yourselves and say
[8:40] Speaker 2: how much you liked what I was showing. Now I
[8:42] Speaker 2: had the little thing booth. You had a big time
[8:44] Speaker 2: in booth with the upstairs and I remember it, and
[8:47] Speaker 2: you you took the time to say something to me
[8:49] Speaker 2: that meant the world won. Two I watched how your
[8:53] Speaker 2: team moved, and I was inspired, you know, by the
[8:57] Speaker 2: team and most of you, because I knew you were
[8:59] Speaker 2: the brains behind it. How it approached me, how you
[9:02] Speaker 2: were professional. I saw how you guys were moving, I
[9:04] Speaker 2: saw how you guys looked, and that always stuck with me.
[9:07] Speaker 2: So kudos to you, man. I'm very, very appreciative to you.
[9:09] Speaker 1: I appreciate that.
[9:12] Speaker 2: What I you know, how we approach this thing, it's
[9:16] Speaker 2: very very different. I am my customer. I make things
[9:21] Speaker 2: that I not only like, but I would be proud
[9:23] Speaker 2: to wear. And I keep that in mind when I'm
[9:26] Speaker 2: putting a collection together every time that we go out.
[9:29] Speaker 2: So how I got into the big box stores. We
[9:32] Speaker 2: started selling these small specialty stores.
[9:34] Speaker 1: Right for what a specialty store is, specially storees a
[9:39] Speaker 1: mom and pop store.
[9:40] Speaker 2: Sometimes it's one store. Sometimes they have, you know, four
[9:42] Speaker 2: or five stores. Sometimes they have, like Portabelly in New York,
[9:45] Speaker 2: twenty thirty stores. So we started to sell these guys.
[9:48] Speaker 2: They started to make money, and more and more came.
[9:51] Speaker 2: At one point, we were selling about a thousand of
[9:53] Speaker 2: specialty stores across the country. Now it sounds like a lot,
[9:56] Speaker 2: and it is a lot, but when you start to
[9:58] Speaker 2: compare that to big Box, when you start talking about
[10:01] Speaker 2: Macy's needing fats nor stums, it's nothing. It's dropping the bucket.
[10:05] Speaker 2: Until one day I'm at one of those very shows
[10:08] Speaker 2: that I just spoke about, and one of the guys
[10:10] Speaker 2: who was a custom of mind from Houston, Gary Dante
[10:14] Speaker 2: from Soup Mart, yes on the hallway towards me. He
[10:18] Speaker 2: had been making money off tayon for a few years.
[10:20] Speaker 2: He's walking with another gentleman. These are elderly gentleman, both
[10:23] Speaker 2: Jewish gentlemen, and he says, hey, Manty, what's going on?
[10:28] Speaker 2: So we talk. The gentleman next room said that's a
[10:29] Speaker 2: beautiful suit. You're wein. I said, thank you, that's a
[10:31] Speaker 2: beautiful suit. You win. He said do you know who
[10:33] Speaker 2: I am? I said I do not, but you look familiar.
[10:36] Speaker 2: And then Gary chimed in and said, man, he's taon.
[10:38] Speaker 2: He's the hottest line in America. Ronnie, you and him
[10:40] Speaker 2: should do something. The guy was Ronnie Wursberger and he
[10:44] Speaker 2: was the person that built Peerless Clothing. Peerless Clothing is
[10:48] Speaker 2: Rolph Floryan, Calvin Klein, Tommy hill Ficker, Michael Core's, you
[10:51] Speaker 2: name it, and they are not.
[10:54] Speaker 1: They manufactured these brands, manufactured these brands, and he built
[10:57] Speaker 1: it because he ran it for thirty five years.
[11:00] Speaker 2: He's more than just a vendor to these big box stores.
[11:02] Speaker 2: He's more like a partner, right. And he saw me.
[11:06] Speaker 2: He said, man, you're a very interesting young man. I
[11:07] Speaker 2: want to talk to you about maybe doing something because
[11:10] Speaker 2: the industry is about to change and we need to
[11:12] Speaker 2: diversify our portfolios. I said, okay, well, let's set something
[11:16] Speaker 2: up and me to New York. We had a conversation.
[11:18] Speaker 2: He took a liking to me and said, very frankly,
[11:21] Speaker 2: and I'm going to tell you very frankly what he said.
[11:24] Speaker 2: He said, listen, I'm the person that made America feel
[11:27] Speaker 2: like the only thing appropriate was the two button black, blue,
[11:30] Speaker 2: brown Nzza Peale suit. The industry is changing. We need
[11:34] Speaker 2: to diversify, meaning the licensees, those types of guys, and
[11:39] Speaker 2: the big box stores. He said. But I can take
[11:41] Speaker 2: this label of any of the brand that I make
[11:43] Speaker 2: and put it in another suit, same suit. Nobody know
[11:47] Speaker 2: the difference. And I was like wow, because I had
[11:49] Speaker 2: already known that, right, And so we want to bring
[11:51] Speaker 2: you in and have you diversify the industry, and I'm
[11:54] Speaker 2: going to help you do it.
[11:55] Speaker 1: Wow.
[11:56] Speaker 2: And he held true to his word and brought me
[11:58] Speaker 2: over to a peerless He then retired and I've been
[12:01] Speaker 2: there for the last four and.
[12:03] Speaker 1: A half years now. Cool, let's talk about this location
[12:06] Speaker 1: in Vegas, this show. Can you explain to my viewers
[12:10] Speaker 1: and I listener to exactly what you're talking about when
[12:12] Speaker 1: I first met you, where Gary met you? At all
[12:15] Speaker 1: these individuals who changed your lives. And it isn't an
[12:18] Speaker 1: annual event.
[12:19] Speaker 2: So the Magic Show is had nothing to.
[12:22] Speaker 1: Do with magic by the way.
[12:24] Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, that's let's me do magic. It's apparel trade
[12:27] Speaker 2: show that's held two times a year in August and
[12:29] Speaker 2: in February, and you know, vendors are there, you know,
[12:34] Speaker 2: showing their product, Buyers are there buying product. Celebrity brands
[12:38] Speaker 2: are there with licensing deals every category from men's to
[12:42] Speaker 2: women to boys, to casual to out ofwear to sports.
[12:45] Speaker 2: Where it's a huge show. It used to be a
[12:47] Speaker 2: four day show, is now a three day show. And
[12:49] Speaker 2: it is just where the whole fashion industry converges in
[12:54] Speaker 2: one week to you know, to represent their particular their fields.
[12:59] Speaker 2: And that's where I just I was going to go.
[13:01] Speaker 2: I had no industry knowledge. I didn't know what was
[13:04] Speaker 2: going to happen. But I worked for Fighters Pharmaceutical, had
[13:06] Speaker 2: a little money in my pocket. I was not I
[13:09] Speaker 2: grew up in America at that time. I took four
[13:12] Speaker 2: of my buddies, took fifteen suits, got that little ten
[13:15] Speaker 2: by ten and luckily, and I mean this because it
[13:19] Speaker 2: was so last minute, there was only one ten x
[13:21] Speaker 2: ten space left, which is the smallest booth, and it
[13:24] Speaker 2: was down the hall from where you work.
[13:26] Speaker 1: Awesome, you know, it's the fun part about the fashion
[13:31] Speaker 1: is collection and Monty talking the Magic show is wow. Yes,
[13:36] Speaker 1: I can't tell you. You know, you go to the hip
[13:39] Speaker 1: hop area, it's loud, you know, it's almost walking from
[13:44] Speaker 1: and I'm not being negative, I'd say that you have
[13:45] Speaker 1: verified is it's a little quiet section is like very white, yep.
[13:50] Speaker 1: And as you get closer to the hip hop and
[13:52] Speaker 1: it started getting louder, the women start wearing less or
[13:54] Speaker 1: less clothes, and it's like, okay, where am I at now?
[13:58] Speaker 1: And then the booths are like stores. They're like stores.
[14:02] Speaker 1: It's like an incredible experience. Of course, it's not a
[14:05] Speaker 1: place where they let just every day people walk in.
[14:07] Speaker 1: You got to have passes as well secured. But to
[14:10] Speaker 1: get in there is almost a validation that you're legit
[14:15] Speaker 1: correct for sure.
[14:16] Speaker 2: And it's certainly not cheap. You know that little tim
[14:19] Speaker 2: by Both that I had in two thousand and four, Boy,
[14:23] Speaker 2: he probably spent thirty thousand dollars just to get the booth,
[14:26] Speaker 2: just to move the things in, to ship the things in.
[14:28] Speaker 2: I mean that was a lot of money for a
[14:29] Speaker 2: brother trying to come up.
[14:32] Speaker 1: Okay, so now you're in there, got you brought the
[14:34] Speaker 1: fifties suits, your bars.
[14:35] Speaker 2: And looking good. I met them all.
[14:37] Speaker 1: I remember this moment because you know, young brother looking
[14:40] Speaker 1: good man. The one thing I've always said about myself
[14:43] Speaker 1: is that I'm going to stend a hand and I
[14:45] Speaker 1: want to know how I can expand. And over the
[14:47] Speaker 1: years we've stayed in contact. He's invited me out to
[14:50] Speaker 1: the shows. At the magic of my thoughts. I bought
[14:53] Speaker 1: his clothes, but I'm not having them on the show
[14:55] Speaker 1: to talk about the clothes I bought from him. It's
[14:57] Speaker 1: his journey, his secrets to success and the money. You
[15:01] Speaker 1: know you're getting these clothes, you yeah, you selling your
[15:05] Speaker 1: number more sales with that Pfizer. But now you're getting
[15:07] Speaker 1: into the fashion business and necessarily everybody clothes you send
[15:11] Speaker 1: out don't mean people gonna buy them. How does all
[15:14] Speaker 1: that manufacturer itself?
[15:15] Speaker 2: My brother? So I learned, I like to say, I
[15:19] Speaker 2: learned my business acumen, certainly in their pair of industry
[15:22] Speaker 2: through the school of hard knocks. Tell you, you know,
[15:26] Speaker 2: they tore my up behind up, And here's what I
[15:30] Speaker 2: mean by that. And I'm gonna be candid here. I
[15:32] Speaker 2: don't know many six foot three, two hundred and forty
[15:34] Speaker 2: pound Marine Corps train detroitors that can say they stole
[15:39] Speaker 2: millions from me, and I know where they are and
[15:41] Speaker 2: I didn't catch a case, so you know, because I
[15:45] Speaker 2: got to tell you. And I say that lightheartedly. But
[15:47] Speaker 2: there were times when it was it was tough because
[15:49] Speaker 2: as we started to grow, and as we started to
[15:51] Speaker 2: make money and we were selling this product, I started
[15:54] Speaker 2: to ask questions, Okay, so where's the money? You know, what?
[15:56] Speaker 1: Right's with this?
[15:57] Speaker 2: I didn't quite understand the business side of it, the
[16:01] Speaker 2: most important side. You can have the hottest garments in
[16:03] Speaker 2: the world. If you don't understand the business of it,
[16:05] Speaker 2: you will lose and you will fail. Right, So as
[16:08] Speaker 2: we're making this hot product stores of buying it, and
[16:12] Speaker 2: you know, I'm not understanding how to track it. I'm
[16:15] Speaker 2: not understanding the true cost of the garment, meaning the
[16:19] Speaker 2: cost of cybric meaning the cost of production, meaning, the
[16:22] Speaker 2: landed costs meaning, the warehouse costs meaning the wholesale costs,
[16:26] Speaker 2: and as it relates to what you should be paying me.
[16:28] Speaker 2: I had to learn those things the hard way, and
[16:31] Speaker 2: unfortunately a lot of these smaller lights and companies didn't
[16:34] Speaker 2: play above board and we had to leave a couple
[16:37] Speaker 2: of them because they quite literally stole. Right now, we're
[16:40] Speaker 2: bigger than all of them.
[16:42] Speaker 3: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
[16:45] Speaker 3: money Making Conversations master Class. Welcome back to the Money
[16:55] Speaker 3: Making Conversations master Class, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making
[17:00] Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow
[17:05] Speaker 3: money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
[17:10] Speaker 1: Congratulations, No, here's the thing Monte and talked to Monte
[17:14] Speaker 1: Hallan you know Teyon collection. He's based out of draft
[17:17] Speaker 1: from a woring Corps individual or farmer. Top Sales and
[17:21] Speaker 1: the Advisor now one of the top fashion leads in
[17:24] Speaker 1: the country. When I talk about your clothing, your line.
[17:28] Speaker 1: You know, Steve Harvey made an impression in the fashion industry,
[17:33] Speaker 1: especially how did that impact you and also how long
[17:37] Speaker 1: you're able to stay ahead of what the next fashion
[17:39] Speaker 1: trend would be? Talk to us.
[17:42] Speaker 2: And that's that's funny you mentioned Steve. Steve was in
[17:45] Speaker 2: that group that I talked about with you all and
[17:47] Speaker 2: the you know, he's always been a fashion icon in
[17:50] Speaker 2: my opinion, and he always could. So I always wanted
[17:53] Speaker 2: to kind of walk in that same spirit of fashion
[17:56] Speaker 2: excellences that you and your team and specifically Steve walked in.
[18:00] Speaker 2: So I would take those types of styles because they
[18:02] Speaker 2: were very similar to what I wanted to do and
[18:06] Speaker 2: create my line. But then you have to be able
[18:08] Speaker 2: to see beyond yes, what's hot now and continue to source,
[18:15] Speaker 2: you know, fabrics, continuous benchmark meaningly around. You have to
[18:19] Speaker 2: be overseas. You have to be in different states and
[18:21] Speaker 2: cities and see what's trended, what's hot looking the round corners,
[18:25] Speaker 2: And that's what I always do. I always say, Okay,
[18:27] Speaker 2: that's hot, I like that, But what's hot in DC?
[18:31] Speaker 2: What's going to be hot in Houston? With this work here,
[18:35] Speaker 2: work there. Let's try something different. We've been doing this
[18:37] Speaker 2: lapale with for a year and a half. Now let's
[18:40] Speaker 2: try something a little bit different. And I've always done that,
[18:43] Speaker 2: and thank goodness, the things that we've done that Where
[18:46] Speaker 2: many would think we're cutting edge, we're right on point.
[18:49] Speaker 2: And we've never had a season where we did not
[18:51] Speaker 2: sell very very well. So it's about being taking risk,
[18:55] Speaker 2: and it's about following that little voice in your head,
[18:57] Speaker 2: because that little voice in your head is your gift
[19:00] Speaker 2: and you have to listen to it.
[19:02] Speaker 3: No.
[19:02] Speaker 1: The interesting thing about it, you know, because this is
[19:04] Speaker 1: like money making conversation master class, I try to educate
[19:08] Speaker 1: my audience own terminology that's very popular in your the
[19:11] Speaker 1: word licensing. What does that mean? And how does that
[19:15] Speaker 1: impact how you are going to do relations with various vendors.
[19:19] Speaker 2: So that's a that's a great question. And here's how
[19:21] Speaker 2: I like to sum it up and in short so
[19:25] Speaker 2: that people have an understanding of it. Licensing in short
[19:28] Speaker 2: means this, would you rather have all of a million
[19:32] Speaker 2: dollars or ten percent of one hundred million dollars ladder?
[19:37] Speaker 2: But how do you do that? Yes, sir, I tell
[19:39] Speaker 2: guys all the time. They say, hey, man, I want
[19:41] Speaker 2: to get into the industry, and I'm ready to do it.
[19:43] Speaker 2: You did it, I can do it. I say, yeah,
[19:44] Speaker 2: you're right. But what happens if you show Macye something
[19:47] Speaker 2: and they say we like it, not give us forty
[19:49] Speaker 2: thousand units? Forty thousand units is about four million dollars?
[19:52] Speaker 2: Do you have one? Do you have four million dollars
[19:54] Speaker 2: to make it too? Do you have the wherewithal to
[19:57] Speaker 2: wait to be paid several months for it? Three? Do
[20:01] Speaker 2: you have another four million dollars to have another boat
[20:04] Speaker 2: coming here with another four million on it?
[20:06] Speaker 1: Yes?
[20:06] Speaker 2: If the answer is no, then you probably should be
[20:08] Speaker 2: considering a licensing deal because they're gonna do the heavy lifting.
[20:12] Speaker 2: They're gonna pay for the fabric. They're gonna pay for
[20:14] Speaker 2: the production of fabric. They're gonna pay fabric, pay for
[20:17] Speaker 2: the product, pay to make the product, bring it here,
[20:19] Speaker 2: warehouse it, sell it the other customers, paying a royalty
[20:24] Speaker 2: based off of those sales. You then just need to
[20:28] Speaker 2: negotiate a royalty deal that makes sense for you. Understanding
[20:32] Speaker 2: what the overall profit margin is, right, you know, so
[20:38] Speaker 2: if there's if there's thirty percent margin in it anything
[20:42] Speaker 2: double digit for you is solid because they're doing all
[20:45] Speaker 2: the heavy lifting. You know.
[20:47] Speaker 1: The interesting thing about it is that this year Macy's
[20:51] Speaker 1: came out with this Divide nine Yes fashion line and
[20:54] Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm not gonna lie tell you, Marty. As
[20:57] Speaker 1: soon as I saw that went this take yeah. I
[21:03] Speaker 1: And then I did my research and it was you
[21:06] Speaker 1: tell us how that relationship happened and why did you
[21:08] Speaker 1: do it?
[21:09] Speaker 2: So the two part question. First of all, probably can
[21:12] Speaker 2: see behind me a lot of pink. My wife said, AKA,
[21:18] Speaker 2: but I had heard about this, this initiative. They had
[21:22] Speaker 2: tried a couple of years ago. Write it with the sororities.
[21:27] Speaker 2: The young lady who was addressed by Macy's, she's a zeta.
[21:31] Speaker 2: She had been asking to do this because she was
[21:34] Speaker 2: trying to express to them the gravity of the sororities
[21:38] Speaker 2: and fraternities. You know, are educated people with me. These
[21:41] Speaker 2: are people in the world. These are people that know
[21:44] Speaker 2: what they want that and can galvanize, you know, groups
[21:48] Speaker 2: of people that can support an initiative right, that are
[21:51] Speaker 2: huge in philanthropic areas, huge in the community. You know,
[21:53] Speaker 2: the whole deal. Did it? They do these rap dresses
[21:57] Speaker 2: panel rap dresses ten million dollars out to do and
[22:00] Speaker 2: I think they sold ten million dollars in a week
[22:01] Speaker 2: or so. Wow weeks they did great. She caught a
[22:04] Speaker 2: little bit of flat because what she did was she
[22:08] Speaker 2: went to a manufacturer who is, let's just say that
[22:12] Speaker 2: they're not minority, own right to them, and they made
[22:16] Speaker 2: these dresses. And somebody who's in the industry, I think
[22:19] Speaker 2: it's Roland Martin, and I'm not sure he's an alpha
[22:21] Speaker 2: or a Q, but he said he's an AFA.
[22:24] Speaker 1: I'm a quree ah.
[22:26] Speaker 2: He said, we appreciate the sister for doing this. However,
[22:30] Speaker 2: she couldn't find any African American vendors, so Macy's then
[22:34] Speaker 2: it was a lot of flat. It was a lot
[22:35] Speaker 2: of pressure on her fact and the version of the
[22:39] Speaker 2: echoing the inclusion was on file right now, right. They
[22:42] Speaker 2: said that, okay, we noted there's something here, but let's
[22:44] Speaker 2: do this thing the right way. So what they did
[22:46] Speaker 2: was they went to all of the presidents and they
[22:50] Speaker 2: talked about how they were partner They were partnered via workshops,
[22:53] Speaker 2: they were partner via internships, they were partnering with the
[22:56] Speaker 2: regional initiatives, all the different things you do in the community.
[23:01] Speaker 2: And then they said, we're going to donate to all
[23:04] Speaker 2: of the organizations. I think today they've donated north of
[23:07] Speaker 2: three million dollars to both the sororities and fraternities. The
[23:10] Speaker 2: only holdout is the aka's they're you know, they're holding
[23:13] Speaker 2: out right now. And once I heard that they were
[23:16] Speaker 2: doing all those things, they came to me and said, Okay, look,
[23:20] Speaker 2: you're a minority owned vendor. You're do well in Macy's.
[23:24] Speaker 2: Would you be willing to do this? And when I
[23:26] Speaker 2: realized that their their commitment to it was honest and
[23:30] Speaker 2: they were going to do what they said they were
[23:31] Speaker 2: going to do and they were actually doing it, I
[23:34] Speaker 2: said I'm in. So they came to me and said,
[23:35] Speaker 2: can you do the Taylor clothing? The jacket, is the vest,
[23:38] Speaker 2: the pants to tie the shirts out the way and
[23:40] Speaker 2: I said sure. So. In order to make sure that
[23:43] Speaker 2: everything is being followed up with and done properly, I
[23:47] Speaker 2: go to these workshops, I go to these regional conferences.
[23:50] Speaker 2: I'm going to be at your national effay right, I'll
[23:55] Speaker 2: be there.
[23:55] Speaker 1: Okay, cool.
[23:56] Speaker 2: So they're doing what they said they're going to do.
[23:59] Speaker 2: We created a really nice product and it's going to
[24:01] Speaker 2: evolve to be something that's very special.
[24:05] Speaker 1: Well, you know, Stephen Smith, who was my frat brother,
[24:08] Speaker 1: as soon as he saw the line, he went up,
[24:10] Speaker 1: I gotta get a suit. I gotta get that look
[24:12] Speaker 1: because you know, purple and gold, that's a hard look
[24:14] Speaker 1: to get right, you know, because I've seen many of
[24:17] Speaker 1: my frat brothers looking why are you doing that to yourself?
[24:20] Speaker 1: Why are you doing that to yourself?
[24:21] Speaker 2: And so.
[24:22] Speaker 1: But these are colors, you know. And the reason I
[24:24] Speaker 1: bring it up because these aren't like everyday colors. But
[24:27] Speaker 1: they went to a Detroit man. See, Detroit men know
[24:30] Speaker 1: about them colors. They know how to make those colors
[24:33] Speaker 1: work for the everyday person. To talk to us about
[24:36] Speaker 1: the color schemes and also your vision of making it
[24:39] Speaker 1: comfortable for the everyday brother who want to wear it
[24:43] Speaker 1: to work, who want to wear it the church, who
[24:45] Speaker 1: want to wear it out to a festive occasion that's
[24:48] Speaker 1: high fashion.
[24:50] Speaker 2: So that's exactly what we did. What we did was
[24:52] Speaker 2: just so you know. The collection is done in the
[24:55] Speaker 2: signature colors of all of the fraternities. Yes, was in
[24:58] Speaker 2: any of your signs, any of your letters, any of
[25:02] Speaker 2: your specific logos. Jeff the colors. I said. I said, okay, well,
[25:06] Speaker 2: I can take these colors and I can make them
[25:08] Speaker 2: interchangeable so that if you know, you know, but if
[25:13] Speaker 2: you don't know, hey, that's a cool purple jacket. I
[25:16] Speaker 2: can put this white shirt that had a little bit
[25:19] Speaker 2: of purple in it with that jacket his white pant
[25:22] Speaker 2: in it. And we're doing the spring and in the
[25:23] Speaker 2: summer and be sharp as heck. So I did that
[25:28] Speaker 2: throughout the whole collection, and I made it such that
[25:31] Speaker 2: you can dress it up, you can dress it down,
[25:33] Speaker 2: you can dress it casual with the jacket without a jacket,
[25:36] Speaker 2: And it seems to be working because we did some
[25:38] Speaker 2: really cool shirts that you can see some of the
[25:42] Speaker 2: bells and whistles without the jacket. But when you put
[25:44] Speaker 2: the jacket on, now it like a regular shirt. If
[25:47] Speaker 2: you put a tie on with it, you can't see
[25:48] Speaker 2: the paneling that we did down the front. You can't
[25:51] Speaker 2: see the treatment that we did a bund to the cuff.
[25:54] Speaker 2: So if you did it without a jacket, you want
[25:56] Speaker 2: to wear a you know, on aunt that will flip
[25:58] Speaker 2: the sleeve up and see the the purple and white
[26:01] Speaker 2: treatment up under the cup. We're hoping a little bit.
[26:05] Speaker 2: It's how I can see the purple on it. So
[26:07] Speaker 2: we did some things to make it for the everydig guy.
[26:09] Speaker 2: We did something to make it for the guy who
[26:11] Speaker 2: wants to wear it to black tie and the guy
[26:12] Speaker 2: who wants to wear it to work and stand out
[26:14] Speaker 2: a little bit.
[26:15] Speaker 3: You know.
[26:15] Speaker 1: The beautiful thing about an interviewer and Manta's dad. He
[26:19] Speaker 1: makes you smile because you love what you do.
[26:21] Speaker 2: I do, I do, and I tell people all the
[26:25] Speaker 2: time that if you oftentimes shall we We have these these gifts,
[26:31] Speaker 2: and because we do it, it comes easy to us.
[26:33] Speaker 2: We don't look at it at something that we can
[26:35] Speaker 2: monetize or something that we can make a living at.
[26:38] Speaker 2: So I spend a lot of time trying to one
[26:40] Speaker 2: inspire people like you inspired me, like Michaus inspired me, well,
[26:44] Speaker 2: two to try to explain to them if you're that
[26:46] Speaker 2: guy or that woman that wakes up and you you
[26:48] Speaker 2: put your make up really well, you do your hair
[26:51] Speaker 2: when you well, you dress nicely, and people are always
[26:53] Speaker 2: complimenting you on it, it's maybe something that you could
[26:56] Speaker 2: do and monetize. So think about that. Those are our gifts.
[27:00] Speaker 2: I don't draw or sew. I tell people that all
[27:02] Speaker 2: the time, and they say what I said. But my
[27:04] Speaker 2: gift is I look at a thousand fabrics and I
[27:07] Speaker 2: can remember watch nine hundred and seventy six tied ends,
[27:11] Speaker 2: just watch eight and they can go to and I
[27:13] Speaker 2: can do something with it, right. And anytime I go
[27:15] Speaker 2: to a fabric meal, no matter where in the world, Turkey, China, wherever,
[27:18] Speaker 2: they're always amazed at that. But that's my gift. And
[27:21] Speaker 2: I like to, you know, see around the corners and
[27:24] Speaker 2: do things that I think are coming. And it happens
[27:27] Speaker 2: to work every single season. So you have to love
[27:31] Speaker 2: what you do. You hear that little voice and you
[27:33] Speaker 2: want to step out become an entrepreneur. You need to
[27:36] Speaker 2: maybe try. You will not fail, you will know.
[27:39] Speaker 1: That's the beauty of my relationship with you. You know.
[27:42] Speaker 1: And like I said, you're inviting me out to one
[27:44] Speaker 1: of your magic shows, your collections showing. And one of
[27:48] Speaker 1: the primary conversations I had with him, what about the
[27:51] Speaker 1: collection by what you do for the community's philanthropic side.
[27:55] Speaker 1: Why is that so important?
[27:57] Speaker 2: It's important because I was that that that little boy who,
[28:00] Speaker 2: like I said, I would look at my coach and
[28:01] Speaker 2: see how they were addressed. You know, I didn't have
[28:03] Speaker 2: a father in the house, and I would that inspired
[28:07] Speaker 2: me in such a way that I wanted to make
[28:09] Speaker 2: sure I number one inspired. But number two I was
[28:13] Speaker 2: also an athlete. I wasn't a highly heralded athlete. I
[28:16] Speaker 2: came out of high school in Detroit when literally every
[28:21] Speaker 2: team in Detroit had either two or three Division ones
[28:25] Speaker 2: or one or two NBA guys. I was in high
[28:28] Speaker 2: school Garden Derreck Coleman right right right, city down the street,
[28:34] Speaker 2: Terry Mills right there, you know, t will T. Wheelers
[28:37] Speaker 2: team had sixteen scholarships, full right shot. It's fifteen players
[28:43] Speaker 2: on the team there. Water Boy got a full rad scholarship.
[28:47] Speaker 2: So you know. I came out there. So I was
[28:49] Speaker 2: pretty good. But I didn't have a lot of schools
[28:51] Speaker 2: being down my door. So I decided that I wanted
[28:53] Speaker 2: to because I had a lot of relationships. I ultimately
[28:55] Speaker 2: got a scholarship for basketball to college. So I built
[28:58] Speaker 2: relationships with these schools in the region that I went
[29:00] Speaker 2: to school, and I started to send guys. I started
[29:03] Speaker 2: to work guys out, I started to mentor guys, and
[29:05] Speaker 2: I started to send guys to school. Before I knew it,
[29:08] Speaker 2: I had fifty sixty scholarships, and I just loved it.
[29:11] Speaker 2: I fell in love with securing scholarships for young African
[29:14] Speaker 2: American boys, and then I would stay with them as
[29:16] Speaker 2: they matriculated through school, mentor them and talk to them
[29:19] Speaker 2: about their gifts, talk to him about how to you know,
[29:22] Speaker 2: get a job, keep a job in or step out
[29:25] Speaker 2: on faith and become an entrepreneur. And like I said,
[29:28] Speaker 2: today we have sixty three four rad scholarships. And I'm
[29:31] Speaker 2: just as passionate about that as I am about tailing Well.
[29:35] Speaker 1: And I love it. I love that. I love the
[29:37] Speaker 1: fact that you are engaged in the community that I
[29:39] Speaker 1: love the fact that you love Detroit. I love the
[29:43] Speaker 1: fact when this is the same smile I saw in
[29:45] Speaker 1: two thousand and four, I'm seeing in twenty twenty four.
[29:48] Speaker 1: What's the future?
[29:49] Speaker 2: So the future is this. The line is doing very
[29:52] Speaker 2: well in several big box stores. The line is doing
[29:54] Speaker 2: well in specialty stores.
[29:55] Speaker 1: Yes, sir, I have.
[29:56] Speaker 2: Licensing deals with four companies right now, all based in
[30:01] Speaker 2: New York. UH doors are asking us for other categories.
[30:04] Speaker 2: They're asking for casual, They're asking for women's. They want
[30:06] Speaker 2: to expand the categories. So in the future we're going
[30:09] Speaker 2: to be expanding the categories to have a full collection men's, women's,
[30:14] Speaker 2: young people, and then Rashan, we want to take this
[30:17] Speaker 2: thing abroad. We want to take it to other countries.
[30:20] Speaker 2: I want to quite literally grow this like a heritage brand.
[30:25] Speaker 2: Why not. These guys are doing billions of dollars and
[30:28] Speaker 2: it's not so much about the money as it is what,
[30:30] Speaker 2: you know, what God showed me we're supposed to be doing.
[30:32] Speaker 2: So I want to walk in that. I want to
[30:35] Speaker 2: take this as far as we can take it. And
[30:36] Speaker 2: I believe there is no mountaintop, but it's a legacy
[30:40] Speaker 2: brand that could be here for years and years to come,
[30:42] Speaker 2: and that's what I want to you know, build.
[30:44] Speaker 1: Well, this is Teyon collection. Monty Holland a star, he's
[30:49] Speaker 1: he looks good. He looks a slaves young because he's
[30:53] Speaker 1: younger than me. For manior futures, Brian, and thank you
[30:56] Speaker 1: for bringing some fastest to my fraternity colors that I
[31:00] Speaker 1: can not wear because brother, I have not warn purple
[31:03] Speaker 1: and Goale ever in the history of mil Megasi five
[31:06] Speaker 1: Lifestyle and I've been a member since nineteen eighty one.
[31:09] Speaker 1: But thank you for taking the time to come on
[31:11] Speaker 1: money Making Conversations, mante and again Teyon Collection. He already
[31:15] Speaker 1: told you he's out there, but more importantly, if you're
[31:17] Speaker 1: near Masis, go in and check out the collection, check
[31:20] Speaker 1: out his brand. Is it a website you can tell
[31:22] Speaker 1: us about tyon Yes, socials available.
[31:25] Speaker 2: So all of my ig and social is at Teyon Collection.
[31:29] Speaker 2: That's t A y io In Collection and LinkedIn is
[31:33] Speaker 2: Teyon Collection. And Monty Holland Manty with two inis Holland
[31:36] Speaker 2: like the country. And if you want to do something
[31:38] Speaker 2: that special special thing you want to taon dot com
[31:41] Speaker 2: and that's just t A y io in dot com
[31:44] Speaker 2: because we still do things that are you know, a
[31:46] Speaker 2: little bit higher level. That's my my Rolph l Low
[31:49] Speaker 2: and Purple label. Uh yeah, yeah, we we have that too, dude.
[31:54] Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on my show, Money Making Conversations.
[31:56] Speaker 1: My dear Holland Teyon Collection. He's a star, y'all. He's
[31:59] Speaker 1: a visionary and he's based in Detroit.
[32:02] Speaker 2: So much. This is my pleasure. I humbled by this.
[32:07] Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
[32:10] Speaker 1: hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
[32:14] Speaker 1: on the show today and thank you listening to the
[32:16] Speaker 1: audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
[32:19] Speaker 1: I want to be a guest on the show, visit
[32:21] Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
[32:26] Speaker 1: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
[32:29] Speaker 1: your gifts. Keep winning.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.