Im giving you all these assignments, and you keep failing at them. Inkkas will go out of style forever. My name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not gonna wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were gonna wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everythings gonna change. Everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. In 2012, dan bennun partnered with his brother, dave, and his childhood friend david malino to launch inkkas, a Footwear Company based in brooklyn, new york. Dan authentic textiles, responsibly sourced, handcrafted. And our new logo. David it looks good. Lemonis inspired by dans travels, the shoes incorporate patterns and fabrics from around the world, giving them a bold and colorful look unlike anything on the market. Dan and the beauty about a printed textile is that you really have unlimited combinations that you can do. Lemonis but while dan has created some real hits, too many of his designs have bombed, leaving the company with big losses. David nobodys buying our new stuff. Its a disaster. Lemonis and with cash running low and debt mounting high, these entrepreneurs can only wait for another shoe to drop. Dan we need to see increases in sales, or we could potentially go out of business. Lemonis the shoe industry does over 48 billion annually, and Everybody Needs a pair of affordable, cool shoes. If i can help these guys overhaul their process and harness their creativity, it wont be long before theyre off to the races. Today, im meeting the inkkas guys at their storefront in greenpoint, which is a trendy neighborhood in brooklyn. Right away, im wondering what sort of retail store this is. I mean, yeah, theres some shoes on a shelf, but behind that, theres a sea of desks and computers. It looks like a Trading Floor of some stock exchanges was parked behind some shoes. Hi. Dan hello. Lemonis hello. How are you . Im marcus. Hi, nice to meet you. Daniel. Lemonis daniel, nice to meet you. Dan this is my older brother. Lemonis how are you . Im marcus. Dave good. Nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. Dan and this is my best friend, david malino. Weve known each other since we were about 14 years old. Lemonis okay, so, its like a threedimensional experience. Dan three ds. Lemonis so, is this pretty much it . Dan this is the company right here. Youre looking at it. Lemonis can you guys kind of maybe all come out and show me the product and how it started, why it started, give me a little back story . Dan sure. The idea of the company is to use Global Textiles and global inspiration in footwear. In 2012, i was backpacking through south america, and i come across some local artisans that are making footwear using peruvian textiles. And i was like, this is an incredible idea. I was blown away. Lemonis would this be an example of a peruvian textile . Dan correct. But i didnt see it made in a footwear that would be attractive to me or you. But i thought to myself, hey, if you took this and you put this on a shoe form that we love, this could be an incredible idea. And it also occurred to me lemonis how much coffee did you have this morning . Jesus, man. Dan im just like this normally. This is normal. Lemonis is he like this . Is he a little amped up . David yeah. Amped up. Dan because im officially the c. E. O. Lemonis okay. Dan every single product you see in here, ive been involved from start to finish in designing the product, sampling the product. Lemonis so when people come in and like the design, thats attributable to you. Dan correct. And when they dont like it, thats also attributed to me. Lemonis okay. Dave hes the ideas guy, so he comes up with a lot of ideas. Im in charge of operations. I make sure that everything runs in the office. I keep an eye on inventory. I deal with all the finances. Lemonis whats left for you to do . David well, i mean, i handle all the manufacturing, all the sourcing. Lemonis youre picking the factory, as well . David yes, i picked and activated our current manufacturing facilities in mexico. I shipped all the textile from peru to mexico, which is no easy feat. Lemonis and where did you get the experience to do that . David dropped in the fire. Lemonis superimpressive. Great job. David appreciate that. Lemonis yeah, really great job. What id like to do is try some shoes on. So, id like to try the high top, the slipon, and this, as well. Lets try a 10 and an 11. Dave all right. Woman so, we didnt have the specific jogger you wanted. Lemonis not in any size . Woman no. But we do have another jogger. They all pretty much fit the same. Lemonis oh, but i wanted to buy that one and wear it. What size was this one . Dan that was a 10. Lemonis this feels big on me. Im not gonna lie to you. This shoe is not comfortable. The shoe was goodlooking, but the sole was too thin. Its, like, totally flat. Woman the slipon we had in a 9 is the candy pink. Lemonis no, i wanted the lightblue one. Woman that we dont have. [ chuckles ] lemonis [ chuckles ] ive asked for three different shoes, and you dont have them. Dan and thats because weve continuously had problems with inventory since the beginning. Lemonis you probably shouldnt be in the retail business. How much revenue is generated out of this store . Dave its definitely not significant. I would say 3 . Online stores 30 . And then wholesale accounts 70 . Lemonis its no wonder to me that the Retail Stores making up a fraction of what their wholesale and their Internet Business is. When you come to a retail store, you expect them to have inventory. Every time i asked for a shoe, they were out of stock. It would be like going into starbucks and them saying, sorry, we dont have coffee. How many different skus do you have . Dan online, we probably have close to 100 skus. But we launch 50 new skus each season. Lemonis and so what does it cost to create one new shoe . David to launch a completely new sku with a new form, uh, i think it would be around 2,000. Dan hes just talking about making a sample, which is 2,000 for one shoe. So if you want to make a full size run 10 sizes you may need to pay somewhere around 16,000 to 20,000. Lemonis and so you guys have spent hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars, through trial and error, building a certain amount of constructs, and it is taking you down a path thats spreading you so thin youre not executing your primary business. Like, how did converse make a lot of money . Dan with one high top. Lemonis with one shoe that they sold that they knocked the cover off the ball. Inkkas makes so many different models that it actually scares me. You compare it to a company like converse that made the chuck taylor, and they came up with a good model and they sold the heck out of it. Inkkas, on the other hand, has dozens of different models, and then when you add fabrics and colors, it ends up being over 100 skus. This lack of focus could be fatal. How much moneys in the bank account today. Literally . Dan [ groans ] not a lot. Not too much. About 1,000. Lemonis and how much money have you burned through since you started . Dan well, i mean, were talking about investment youre the c. E. O. , right . Dan i am the c. E. O. Lemonis how much moneys come in to the company . Dan were talking about a total of 500,000. And then on top of that, we have approximately 500,000 in debt. Lemonis and thats 1 million. So thats gone. Dan right. And there you can see our spread. Lemonis in 2013, it says you did 1. 1 million. Dan correct. 2014, you did 1. 8 million. Dan correct. Lemonis 2015, youre projected to do 3 million. Dan those numbers are not going to be correct. Lemonis how much revenue are you gonna do for the year . Dan we are gonna do 1. 5 million this year. Lemonis so youre gonna miss your revenue estimate. Dan we are going to miss our revenue estimate. Lemonis by half. Dan by half. Correct. Lemonis do you feel like youre kind of on deaths doorstep right now . Dan we are on very thin ice very, very thin. Lemonis no, but if you just cut through all the b. S. Dan were in a tough spot. Were in a tough spot. Theres no denying that. Lemonis three months from now, if you dont raise money, what happens . David potentially go out of business. Dan we could potentially go out of business. I do have to say that we are just, like, fighters, and, like, we would fight till the day and to the lemonis i get that. Im down with you. I get it. Dan to the end end of the day, until they killed us, before we go out of business. Dave this is not gonna end this way, its just not. Lemonis can you and i take a walk . Dan absolutely. Lemonis great. I want to take dan aside and have a bit of a gutcheck conversation with him. Hes the leader of this business. Its obvious that this company is his dream. Hes taken his brother and his best friend down this path. And right now theyre totally lost. Its got to be bothering him. Why do you stick with this business, of all the things you could be doing . Dan this is me, you know. We want this so badly, and weve worked so hard. And its just so frustrating to think that it could all be in vain. Lemonis you spend a lot of time thinking about that . Dan every day. Its hard to sleep. The only money i have left is in a house, and i know that thats the house theyre gonna come after if this thing does go down and they need their money back. Its not gonna leave me or my brother much. Lemonis well, it seems like your brothers really committed to it. Dan my brother is a golden brother, you know. Hes the best thing i have in this world. And without him, i could never have started this. Lemonis hes put a lot of money in here. Dan hes put a tremendous amount of money. He has a child. He has a wife. Newly married. And im so proud of what weve been able to create, but on the other hand, im so sad that what we created could all go down the drain, you know . Dave marcus, good to see you. Lemonis good to see you. Dan good to see you. Lemonis what i wanted to do now is go over the financials. Dave this is, like, q1 through q3 of this year. Everythings accurate till september 30, 2015. Lemonis okay. In 2014, you generated 1,800,000 in revenue. In 2015, youre going to be down almost. 320,000. Dan we went to a dozen trade shows in 2015, but the existing models did not have a good enough sellthrough. Lemonis okay. So thats a product issue. Dan right. Lemonis so the total loss for the company, since the beginning of time to now, is how much . Dan 606,000. Lemonis and how much capital did you say came into the business . Dan roughly 1 million. Lemonis okay. 1 million comes into the company. A loss of 600,000. That leaves you with 400,000. Dan mmhmm. Lemonis so, do you have 400,000 in cash sitting somewhere . Dan we do not. Lemonis do you have 400,000 of inventory sitting somewhere . Dan we do not. So wheres the 400,000 . Dan so, hold on. Let me think of this. All i can say with 100 certainty is that not one of us has touched any. Lemonis no one thinks that. Dan okay. Okay. I got worried. Lemonis thats not where im going with this. Dan okay, yeah. Lemonis where im going with this is you guys really dont know your numbers. Dan we could know our numbers better, yes. That is 100 true. Lemonis well, you, specifically, as the c. E. O. Of the business, should know the numbers like [snaps fingers] dan that is true. Lemonis one of the main reasons these guys are out of cash is that dan basically spent every single penny launching new products and new styles and new fabrics. Any sku that sort of popped in his head ended up getting made. In order for this company to survive, its gonna have to have real laser focus. What is your equity alignment again . Dan mine is approximately 46 . Lemonis okay. Dan dave is approximately 27 . And, david malino, youre approximately 21 . David should be like 22 . Lemonis are you getting paid . Dave no. Lemonis are you getting paid . Are you getting paid . And how are you paying your bills . Dave you know, dipping into savings, basically. My wife was working. Shes no longer working. Shes on unpaid maternity leave. Dan you know, i have a creditcard bill. Thats how ive been getting by lately. Had to ask for some help from my mom and dad. Its been tough through some debt about that. I definitely [clears throat] [ voice breaking ] i always wanted to be a c. E. O. I thought it would be the best job in the world, and i still do, and when i know that my [clears throat] Financial Decisions negatively impacted the company, it was very, very difficult. You got be responsible for everything in the company. I failed in making good Financial Decisions at different points; numbers isnt my specialty. You know, there was failures in there. Lemonis i give you a lot of credit for being able to take responsibility for the decisions that were made and own it. I compliment the three of you being a team and kind of defending each other. That kind of makes me believe that if i did business with you guys, i dont feel like im gonna have to solve the problems by myself. Dave absolutely. Dan absolutely. Lemonis i like the product because i think that youre headed in the right direction. So im willing to make an offer. Its 750,000 for 51 of the business. Dan whoo dave yes. Dan wow lemonis you guys taking a 60,000 each salary. I want to resolve the debts that i think are gonna present a risk for the business going forward. Would it be nice to pay off the merchant servicing loan for 250,000 . Dave yes, it would. Lemonis would it be nice to have 200,000 in inventory . Dan yes. Lemonis would it be nice to have some money for Product Development . Dan oh, my god it would be revolutionary. Lemonis and i would redo the equity so that you guys are all a third because the three of you all contribute equally to the company. Dave okay, so, i dont see any benefit. Its been three years of our lives. We have put everything on the line. It has strained countless relationships. For me to sit here and sign away control, its just something that i have difficulty digesting. Thats all. David you know, i think its a low valuation considering the revenue that we can generate. Lemonis the amount of work that has to happen from here and the resources and the amount of time that has to be committed to this business isnt gonna be small. And based on the losses for the last two years, the 750,000 feels like a bit of a crapshoot because there are no assets for me to hold on to. Dan i would like to just, for one moment, say my point of view on this, okay . We need a grand maestro. Im comfortable with a 51 deal specifically with this investor, and not with any other investor. Dave im gonna say my opinion. Dan okay. Dave i understand where youre coming from 100 . I feel like youre going to regret that yourself at some point, not because marcus does bad work, or hes whatever. Dan im not gonna argue with you guys. Dave okay. I just i know you well. Weve been through this before. You will regret this decision. David daniel, i told you this. Theres too many Lessons Learned from your end after the fact. Dan its hard to be, you know, on the spotlight like this. Lemonis dan, well, youre the c. E. O. And if you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I just bought a book. And while i was telling you about the book, i downloaded a song. Oh, and full disclosure, when we were just chatting about that song thing, someone arranged a date. Guilty. The point is, life is digital. So, carmax, created a site where you can reserve a car online. Come in when its convenient, your car will be waiting. Just another thing to make buying a car better for you. Reads this tweet that i just posted. Oh, that appears to be trending. Lol. [ rear alert sounds ] [ music stops ]n ] on the road again just cant wait to get on the road again [ front assist sounds ] [ music stops ] [ girl laughs ] on the road again like a band of gypsies we go down the highway [ beetle horn honks ] no matter which passat you choose, you get more standard features, for less than you expected. Hurry in and lease the 2017 passat s for just 199 a month. Poallergies . Reather. Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Take that. A breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than allergy medicine alone. Shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. Breathe right. Here you go. Picking up for kyle. You wouldnt put up with part of a pizza. Um. Something wrong . So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . You want the whole thing . Yes, yes live whole. Not part. Aleve. Ill have that goat cheese garden salad. That gentleman got the last one. Sir, you give me that salad and i will pay for your movie and one snack box. Can i keep the walnuts . Sold. But i get to pick your movie. Can i pick the genre . Yes, but it has to be a comedy. A little cash back on the side. With the blue cash everyday card from American Express, you get cash back on purchases with no annual fee. Throw. Its more than cash back. Its backed by the service and security of American Express. Its more than cash back. Dan im not gonna argue with you guys. Dave thats honestly how i feel. I feel like sometimes you get a little excited about things, which is your strength, but sometimes also your weakness, and i feel like you will regret this decision. Lemonis i think at the end of the day, what youre really saying is you dont want me to have 51 of the equity. Dave i definitely dont, and thats nothing personal, but its just lemonis we should just cut to that chase. So ill give you two scenarios. 750,000 for 51 , or 600,000 for 40 , but i get a guaranteed 10 return. That allows there to be 20 , 20 , and 20 . And be getting 60,000 a year in return its actually a better deal for me. 51 , 40 it doesnt matter. Im still 100 in charge. Dan im comfortable with this. David yeah. Dan comfortable . Dave definitely. Absolutely. Dan all right. Thank you very much, mr. Lemonis. Its a pleasure to have you on the team. Lemonis marcus. Dave thank you, marcus. Lemonis just so that you guys understand whats happening yesterday the guys and i made a deal for me to invest 600,000 into the business to grow both shortterm and longterm and really take it to the next level. When they took my check, i became 100 in charge, and you guys have to trust that process. As you guys know, i focus on three things people, product, and process. I am very comfortable that we have great people. From the product standpoint, i think the shoes are beautiful. Its not clear to me that theres actually a definitive process from ideas to being on the shelf, and i want to sort of roadmap that. Im really questioning, are we retailers, or are we wholesalers . Dan at the moment, were you know, most of the revenue is being derived from the wholesale market. Lemonis okay. Would you call yourself a successful retailer at this point . Dan i would call ourselves a very Successful Online retailer and a very unsuccessful brickandmortar retailer. Lemonis in order for this company to truly succeed over time, it has to have a very narrow focus fixing the product, focusing on your wholesale account, and growing your business online. The whole retail storefront thing, while it may be sexy and fun, is a loser. Theyre paying a rent. Theyre not generating any sales. And they have no idea what theyre doing. Also, you want to understand the right place for the company to actually be based because the primary buyer of the product, other than the online customer, isnt typically gonna drive to brooklyn. Theyre gonna go to the Garment District in new york city. Were gonna work on comfort and were gonna work on style. We want to work on those things so that we can grow the business. Okay, we have a lot of work to do, okay . All right, guys, thank you. Dan thank you. Thank you very much. Whats going on . Lemonis hey, guys. Dan hey, how you doing, marcus . Lemonis how are you . Today im bringing these guys to dna footwear, a popular retail chain in new york city. Theyre a big wholesale customer for inkkas. Are you daniel . Daniel daniel. Lemonis im marcus. Daniel marcus. Pleasure. Lemonis nice to meet you. Daniel how are you . Lemonis is this your store . Daniel this is my store, yeah. Lemonis supplying retailers like dna is a critical part of our business, but whats more important is to get feedback from the owner of the business and be good listeners and ask the right questions. Whats the most popular seller of all of them . Daniel these did very well for us. Thats the classic styles that are working. We call it the core of styles from them. Lemonis okay. What hasnt performed . Daniel this stuff. The seasonal stuff that they have you know, new products didnt take off like this one. Lemonis did you tell them that . Daniel i told them that. And thats why i said the classic should stay classic. And its been working for us season after season. Lemonis staple, like the chuck taylor. Daniel exactly. This is great. You know, you could play around with the prints all day long. And if you want to create other styles, is it gonna be as successful as the classics, i dont think so. Lemonis okay. What i feel like youre reinforcing for us is we got to just get to our core, basic line, tighten it all down. Daniel correct. Lemonis okay. Dans giving us the same advice that im giving these guys stick to the basics. Stick to the things that sell and stop trying to reinvent shoe wear. These basic shoes sell. They turn, they make money, they have margin. Dont do anything more than that. Were gonna be coming back to you for some ideas. Daniel absolutely. Lemonis so, and you give free advice, right . Do we have to buy a pair of shoes . Thank you very much. Daniel thank you. Pleasure. Pleasure. Lemonis i wanted to start to think about how to pare down the line. And i really want to land on a more narrow selection of things. Does this sell . Yes or no . Dave that particular one does not. Lemonis okay, those are gonna go. Does this sell . Yes or no . Dan it doesnt sell as well as most of them. Lemonis so this is gonna go. Dan yes. Lemonis does this sell . Dan not that well, no. Lemonis no. What else do you got . Is this staying or going . Dave staying. Lemonis what kind of volume do you do on an annual basis . Dave about 3,000. Lemonis 3,000 pairs of these. Great. What about this hightop . Dave 15,000. Something like that. Lemonis when we examined all the sales data, we learned that five models made up almost 80 of the total pairs of shoes that they sold. The other 45 models made up basically none of their sales. All right, so we have five shoes hightop laceup, lowtop laceup, slipon, jogger, and camping boot. These will essentially be the framework of the business. And then inside of that, theres four different geographic influences north american, south american, european, and from africa. Five molds, four geographic influences, and it doesnt go outside of that. Going forward, inkkas theme is going to be focused on simplicity. Instead of having 50 models, were gonna focus on 5 constructs that generate the bulk of our revenue hightop laceup, lowtop laceup, slipon, a jogger, and a camping boot. And each model will represent four geographic areas north america, south america, europe, and africa. Thats it. What is all this stuff . Dan so, this is some stuff that, as you know, i went down to guatemala. Lemonis and what trip were you on where this came up . Dan it was bolivia. [ laughs ] lemonis and what happened with the pineapple hat . What trip was that on . Dan yeah, you know, that was a mexico trip. Lemonis and so do you think the company would save money if i took your passport away . Dan so, everything that you see here was said yes to by these two people, or else it wouldnt be here. David 99 of the products here, daniel, you know, we agreed to. There were some that we said no, and then, you know, you pushed us. This is an example of something that we got bullied into. And we sit on 500 pairs of it. It hasnt sold. The sizings off. The development was bad. And we had to go to multiple countries. This was disastrous. Lemonis where is the breakdown in the process that youre able to get it past the two of them . Dave its tough to stand in the way. Its kind of like, you know, theres 10 new ideas that come out. One of thems great; the other nine are, like, terrible. Just awful. Like, just suicidal ideas. But hell wear you down. Lemonis i start to challenge whether somebody can be a good leader if theyre unwilling to let the people that follow them weigh in. That is the definition, in my mind, of a good c. E. O. But in the moment where the teammates say, this is a bad idea, and you do it anyway, that does not necessarily embody, for me, what a good c. E. O. Is. David theres too many Lessons Learned from your end after the fact, and thats something that ive felt from the beginning look, daniel, i told you this. I told you that, and you did it anyway. Dan i think its for anybody, its hard to be, you know, on the spotlight like this. Lemonis daniel, well, youre the c. E. O. When you put yourself in that role, you, by definition, are in the spotlight. And if you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to. The search for relief often leads to places like. This. This. Or this. Today, theres a new option. Introducing drugfree aleve direct therapy. A tens device with high intensity power that uses technology once only available in doctors offices. Its wireless remote lets you control the intensity, and helps you get back to things like. This. This. Or this. And back to being yourself. Introducing new aleve direct therapy. Find yours in the pain relief aisle. 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When you put yourself in that role, you, by definition, are in the spotlight and if you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Its not the fact that you have an idea thats the problem. Its the methodology that youre using to judge whether that idea is good or bad. So with that, i want to be clear about something you guys are not retailers. You dont have the sort of disciplines for it and the infrastructure for it. And so this store is kind of a joke. Whose idea was it to open this store . Dave it was dans idea. At the beginning, i dont think we were onboard that much, but, you know. Lemonis i really need to understand this, so i know how to stop it when i see it. Dan i can be very persuasive. Lemonis great. That means you can. Your way through it. We are closing this store. We are getting out of this space. We are going to move this business to an office that i have in manhattan in the middle of the Fashion District where we can have a little showroom. What this company has to realize is that today theyre not retailers. Theyre manufacturers and wholesalers. And, yes, they have an online presence. Most Shoe Companies start out that way. Nike, toms they eventually get to retail, but not at the beginning. And thats where this company is the beginning. Hats gone. Bags gone. Leather shoes gone. And it all needs to go. Lets make sure that, effective today, everything that doesnt fall in the fivemold line gets blown out on the website, and were clearing some cash. Okay, guys. Thank you. Dave thank you, marcus. Appreciate it. Lemonis today im bringing the guys to modern vice, a shoe manufacturer in manhattan. Theyre a real expert in building great foundations for shoes. Inkkas shoes arent terrible. I just want them to be the best. How you doing . Im marcus. Jordan jordan adoni. How are you . Lemonis jordan, nice to meet you. Omar how you doing . Im omar bailey. Lemonis omar, nice to meet you. Can you walk me through the process . Jordan of course. Omar yeah. Lemonis holy. This is awesome. I was blown away by it. Its literally a shoe factory in the middle of manhattan. Omar we do all the actual craftsmanship right here in this factory. Lemonis theres people designing shoes and cutting shoes and putting them together. This is a great resource. Jordan everything basically starts in this room. You know, we do all the sourcing out of here. We work directly off the last, which is what were doing right there, which will help you with comfort, and also the design, the aesthetic of the shoe. Its really the right way to do it. Lemonis so, i wanted to bring in a couple of the shoes that are going to be the classic platform. The basic runner. If i could spend 10 more on improving the comfort and the structure of the shoe, i would do it. So, what do you feel like is missing from there . Jordan im not quite sure, like, what last they used to fit this bottom. I think the way that they engineered the bottom was they took two pieces. I dont know why, for mass production, theyre doing it like this. Is this a twopiece . David yeah, its threepiece. Its three components. Jordan i dont think its the right last for this bottom. Lemonis what the. Is a last . [ laughter ] jordan its the mold. One of these. Lemonis this is essentially the cast . Jordan this will make or break the whole line of shoes. Lemonis a shoe last is a 3d mold upon which a shoe is constructed. The last used affects the overall comfort of the shoe, with a focus towards the heel width, instep height, forefoot width, and toebox depth. Previously, inkkas used a stock shoe model from the factory without really taking into consideration the comfort. If we use modern vices services and we get a last made specifically for our types of shoes, itll fit much better. Jordan and the way that we do it is, you know, we really take into consideration, like, where these stitches are here, what kind of toebox material theyre using, like, what the backing is. David i have no hesitation in doing a project, but youre driving up costs substantially. Lemonis on the product or on the development . David development. Lemonis im good with that. David okay. Because what im essentially doing is im building the foundation of the house the right way. David 100 . 100 . Lemonis now when the walls go up, were good. David yeah. Lemonis modern vice is being paid to build the prototype shoe. Once that prototype is made, then well be able to massproduce it at a factory. But i want the original shoe to have the right comfort and the right style and the right details to it so that its done right the first time. Jordan youre much better off doing it right than delivering shoes that fall off peoples feet, that are gonna cause blisters all over their feet, cause youll be out of business like this. Lemonis i brought you to one of the biggest Fabric Stores in new york city to come up with ideas. You keep telling me that inkkas is a worldwide brand. Do you think maybe, just by chance, you want to cover america . Dan you know, i think that would be a great idea. Lemonis i love dans use of patterns from other regions. Theyre colorful and theyre bright. But i dont like the fact that hes left out his home market. Its kind of crazy to me. Today im asking dan to pick out patterns and styles for north america. But more importantly, i want to see his process for myself. In the past, his creativity has gotten the company in trouble, and im not gonna let that happen again. Charles, whats happening . Charles hey, whats going on, marcus . Lemonis good to see you again. How many reams of fabric are here . Charles i think half a million rolls, at least. Dan geez. Lemonis so you should be able to find something. Dan something. Lemonis okay . Dan went to town picking out every fabric in the store. I only asked him to pick out a few. Its no wonder that hes made shoes that have every pattern and every color variation. Dan so, these three are obviously from india. They obviously have a nice ethnic, indian vibe. Lemonis and so why did you pick these three . Dan we dont have anything currently from india. Lemonis were you outside with me . Dan was i. . Yes. Yes. Lemonis so, what am i missing . Before we walked inside, it wasnt to do anything else, other than solve one problem. Dan the north American Textile problem. Lemonis you didnt solve that with this. Dans all over the place. What he doesnt understand is the cost and the Time Associated with not following directions. And my confidence is very shaky. Youre not staying on point here. I said pick one fabric from each region and make one pair of joggers. Do you not remember any of that . Dan i do. I remember it like it was yesterday. Lemonis so why would you make 40 . Remember here at ally, nothing stops us from doing right by our customers. Whos with me . Im in. Im in. Im in. Im in. One, two, wait, wait. Wait wheres tina . Doing the hand thing . Yep we are all in for our customers. Ally. Do it right. Great time for a shiny floor wax, no . Not if you just put the finishing touches on your latest masterpiece. Timings important. Comcast business knows that. Thats why you can schedule an installation at a time that works for you. Even late at night, or on the weekend, if thats what you need. Because you have enough to worry about. I did not see that coming. Dont deal with disruptions. Get Better Internet installed on your schedule. Comcast business. Built for business. Aying comcast business. On point here. Its the pride of authorship that i think ends up creating shoes that dont sell. It ends up making models that are just throwing darts at a wall. We dont have the luxury of throwing darts. I believe in you. Lets be clear about that. So what i want to do is im gonna get out of your hair for a minute, and i want you to pick out five fabrics that represent north america. And were gonna go over them tomorrow. All right . Dan lets do it. Lets do it. Dan all right, so. Lemonis let me see what you got. Dan okay, so, this is kind of a southwestern fabric, inspired by arizona, new mexico. This one is scottish tartan. You know, a very, very common design. Lemonis my task to dan was for him to pick five fabrics, and then well select one or two of them to make the prototype north american shoe. Whats important about the task is that dan focuses and takes direction, which i expect the c. E. O. And creative director to do. Dan so, these, to me, felt very american, very bandana. This one is a more premium textile. This, to me, kind of is coachella. Its a little bit burning man. Lemonis okay. Dan there was this one. This would be the east coast. This was a womans winterjacket fabric. These are actually printed textiles. This is kind of a chinese print. This one istanbul. Lemonis okay, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Dan okay. Lemonis . 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Dan got one more in here, which is. Lemonis i asked you to pick five fabrics that were north american. That was the task. It was very clear. If you look objectively at this table and you say, well, theres way more than five here, which means i spent more money than i was allocated to spend, which is the problem with the company, and then i look at the actual execution of it youre not prudent with your time, and youre all over the place. Now, dont get me wrong. Dans got a good knack for design, but part of this concept with him is him sort of doing what i ask him to do and sort of improving his listening skills. I dont know what his problem is, but he sort of never listens. Going forward, there are going to be five forms. Then theres gonna be four geographic territories that speak specifically to the fabrics that we choose north america, were gonna do south america, europe, and africa. In the next task, im gonna make Crystal Clear to you i want four joggers. Dan four joggers. Lemonis one prototype for each area. I want these in my hand by next friday. Dan definitely. Lemonis and i dont want anything else. Dont come back to me with any sort of other craziness. Dan [ laughing ] okay. Lemonis okay . Dan got it. Were going to hit a deadline. Dan lets do it. Ill see you back at the shop. Dan thanks a lot, marcus. Lemonis here in the middle of new york city, park avenue right here, madison there, all the fabrics and design areas right around here. Dan totally different energy. Lemonis so, are you ready to move in to your new home . Dan absolutely. 100 . Dave lets do it. Lemonis we finally got out of the lease and moved out of the retail space in brooklyn, and weve moved into a brandnew showroom in manhattan. These tables can become desks. Dan im liking it. Liking it. I love it. This looks like a real showroom. Lemonis the benefit of inkkas operating in manhattan in the middle of the Fashion District is that theyre closer to the action, where buyers from around the world can come see your product. You need to be in the heart of things. Theyre not gonna drive out to brooklyn. Dan this is honestly, like, the dream that we set out upon when we arrived to new york three years ago to create a Footwear Company. Its perfect for us. Lemonis so, what i want to do is i want to have this ready by friday so when the new shoes show up on friday, i have some buyers coming, and they can come see all the different shoes. Dave perfect. Lemonis great. Dan one thing i did want to point out is that you said that the shoes would be ready on friday, but last time we spoke, we said that it would take at least 10 days. Lemonis no, no, no, no. When we were at the restaurant, i said, pick these fabrics, and you got a week. You said yes. I even used the words next friday. And so. Dan all the designs have been submitted. All the fabrics are at the factory, but its going to take at least by monday to get those. Lemonis why . Dan i think you can have lemonis i just need one pair of shoes from each region. Theres four pairs. Just one pair in each region. Okay. cause im preparing 40 right now. Lemonis thats not what i asked you to do. I said, pick one fabric from each region and make one pair of joggers. Do you not remember any of that . Dan i do. I remember it like it was yesterday. Lemonis so why would you make 40 . Im giving you all these assignments, and you keep failing at it. Dan so, here are the five inkkas forms that were gonna be moving forward with. Daniel um. Its a performance machine. Engineering. With this degree of intelligence. Its a supercomputer. With this grade of protection. Its a fortress. And with this standard of luxury. Its an oasis. Introducing the completely redesigned eclass. Its everything you need it to be. And more. Lease the e300 for 549 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Alright, hows this for a tv show. Sous chef. Lawyer by day, prepcook by night. Also, his name is sous. No. Sloppy joseph. A middleaged man whos trying to get his life together, but he cant hes to sloppy. Huhhh no here you go. I got this. I get cash back so its like everythings on sale. With the blue cash everyday card from American Express you get cash back on purchases with no annual fee. Everythings on sale a Home Shopping show takes place on a sailboat. Thats the one banana boat dessert on me. Look at you being all lactose tolerant. Its more than cash back. Its backed by the service and security of American Express. Its mpoallergies . Reather. Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Take that. A breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than allergy medicine alone. Shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. Breathe right. No. They feel good . You wouldnt put up with part of a pair of glasses. So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with part of a day . These are not useful. Live whole. Not part. Aleve. And pull and struggle and fight and love to run your business. And when you need legal help with that business, were here for you. Were legalzoom. And over the last 10 years weve helped one million Business Owners navigate every day challenges. So visit us today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. Lemonis i said, pick one fabric from each region. Do you not remember any of that . Dan i do. I remember it like it was yesterday. Lemonis so why would you make 40 . 40 shoes . I asked for 4. I mean, this guy hasnt completed one task that ive assigned him to complete. Hes all over the place, and hes scattered. This is insane. Dan im a perfectionist, you know . I always like to not just get it done, but get it done, you know, really right. Dave hes trying to, like, impress you. Hes trying to wow you. Lemonis but we cant keep making excuses that the intent was right. Dave thats true. Lemonis youre gonna spend money on 36 pairs of shoes that i didnt ask for. Im like, what are you doing . Dan now that you explain it like that, i understand that i just need to give you exactly what you want. I fully intend to bring the assignment delivered on time. Lemonis on time was friday. So lets just stop saying that. I would like this done by monday, okay . Dan i understand you. Lemonis this is dans last chance to get this right. I have buyers coming here on monday, and were gonna sell shoes. If he doesnt have everything ready, hes no longer gonna be the creative director. This space needs to also be completed by monday. Dan excellent. Lemonis so whatever sort of decor, arrangement, computers, whatever by monday. Dan okay. Lemonis does that work . Dan that works. Thank you. Thank you. Lemonis whats happening, guys . Dave hey how you doing . Lemonis how are you . Dave good to see you. Lemonis whats happening . David how you doing, my man . Lemonis im gonna be honest with you. You guys did a good job. Dan im very glad that you like it. Really. It makes me really happy. Lemonis these guys have done a great job decorating their space. They have dedicated work areas to do their job. And they now have an actual professional showroom where real buyers can come and purchase their product. This showroom looks really good. Totally different impression than going to the store. It just feels like a professional environment. Dan i would agree to that 100 . Lemonis lets look at the four shoes you came up with. Dan so, the task was to create one jogger per region. This one is america. The red bandana is the most classic of all the bandanas. This represents europe. We incorporated some nice caramel leather on it with a caramel rubber sole. This one is representative of patagonia, south america, and we tried to mix colors that would really bring out the beauty of the mountain range. So, this is inspired by the patterns of north africa tunisia, algeria, and morocco the maghreb region. And so theres really beautiful, intricate islamic architecture in these designs. And so this was the four set that we came up with for you. Lemonis i wish i could find something wrong with them. Dan hey thats a first. Thats a first. Lemonis that was a home run on your part. Dan thanks, man. Lemonis home run. Dave i also wanted to add that this new addition onto the shoe, which is the double needles, is something we added on. Lemonis i think this elevates the shoe from a perceived value big time. Dan the needles, for us, represents handmade, authentic textiles. Lemonis what was the incremental cost . Dan a few cents on the dollar, four cents. Lemonis look, dan did a nice job, and the finished product came out fantastic. I know its been a bumpy road, but at the end of the day, he delivered on what i asked him to do. I think that whats on the table here is really a credit to all of you. And so daniel from dna is on his way here. Dan okay. Lemonis i want to see a strong presentation from you on five forms, four geographic regions, and how youre sort of focusing the company. Dan okay. Lemonis the numberone thing is give them an inventory reassurance. We will have inventory. We will have sizes. Lets get ready for that, hell be here in a few minutes. Dan lets do it. Daniel hey dan hey, hey daniel whats going on . Dave how you doing . Good to see you. Dan good to see you, buddy. Heres the new showroom. Daniel nice. Dan so, here are the five inkkas forms that were gonna be moving forward with. We have the camping boot, the high top, the low top, and the slipon, and, of course, the jogger, which we added our new signature pin, the cross needles, on the back. Lemonis would you wear that . Daniel brown sneakers are tough. Dan we make each style from one of four regions north america, south america, europe, and africa. And we tried to create something that embodied the leathers and the patterns of europe. Lemonis how do you feel about the four geographic areas . Daniel um. You know. Poallergies . Reather. Stuffy nose . Cant sleep . Take that. A breathe right nasal strip instantly opens your nose up to 38 more than allergy medicine alone. Shut your mouth and say goodnight, mouthbreathers. Breathe right. Hahaha umhmmm hey nikki what are you doing here . You tell me, stephen. What . Im snapping. Youve been streaming my videos all morning. Now youre with this thing . 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Daniel brown sneakers are tough, you know . Brown is tough. Dan we tried to create something that embodied the leathers and the patterns of europe. Lemonis how do you feel about the four geographic areas . Daniel um. You know. I think thats cool. I think its cool. I like it. I mean, its different. You know what i mean . I think that you first of all, the right thing you guys did is sticking with silhouettes that already work for you, and then just playing around with different materials. Dan yeah, the basics. Were building on the basics. Daniel yeah, and stay with it. Lemonis i was thrilled that daniel liked the new product lineup and the fact that its simpler and cleaner. I think this bodes really well for our wholesale business going forward. Now, all we have to do is sell him some shoes. Dan this feature is a really beautiful european textile that, you know me, it reminds me of chanel. Daniel i like this print. You know, i like this metallic. Its a dressycasual. I love these prints. I think they look great. Dan yeah, and its an americanstyle fabric. Daniel i dont like this. Dan its too bright . Too much . I dont like the suede colors. Its not red, not burgundy, not anything. I dont know what that is. Lemonis you like this touch . It looks nice on the back of the shoe. Daniel yeah, im not against it. I think it makes it a little bit more premium. I think its cool. Lemonis so were gonna make that inventory commitment. We are gonna make sure that were deep in the most popular sizes. Daniel cool. All right. I like it. Lemonis daniel ended up taking all five models in a few styles each. This meeting couldnt have gone any better. Daniel, i appreciate you coming here. What id like to do is bring a lot of these shoes to your store and have sort of a nice openhouse event, get people excited, get them in there buying shoes. Daniel okay. Lemonis cause i think our shoes will look even better in your beautiful space. Daniel yeah, lets see what their reaction you know what i mean . Lemonis thank you, my man. Appreciate it. I look forward to doing business. Thank you. Dan thank you so much. Daniel you got it, brother. Lemonis come on in to the inkkas trunk show. What do you think of these . Woman i like the design. Dan thats patagonia. Each one kind of has a story. Woman 2 nice idea. Dan thank you. Thank you. Woman 3 i think these will be very popular. Lemonis what do you think of that . Woman 4 i like that. Man these look so classic. That does look nice. Daniel we have some african models, south american, european models. Man 2 this is the african . Dan correct. Woman 5 i see home. It hits home. Dan are you from maghreb . Woman 5 im from east africa. I really like these ones. Lemonis you do . And the colors fun, isnt it . Woman 6 yeah, i like that a lot. Dave all right, yes, we got another taker over here. Lemonis we had a great reaction to our new product line. And we were able to gain a bunch of new customers. You guys should be very proud of what youve accomplished. You enter into a very competitive fashion business, and you guys muscled through it. Going forward, we have one objective great designs, great comfort, great price, and. Dave great profi lemonis great profit. Dan there it is. Lemonis all right, guys. Im really proud of these guys, and dan is learning to focus his efforts. Hes working really well with his brother and david. And weve already sold more shoes tonight than we did a whole week in our brooklyn store. Now i feel like these guys are really ready to hit the ground running. Dave all right. [ cheers and applause ] dan Nice Distance trying to stay with curry. Catches. One dribbles. Steps back, puts up a three. Wont go rebound tip taken by speights. Final seconds [buzzer] its over its over [cheering] cleveland is a city of champions once again lebron i came back home to win a championship. And energize northeast ohio. But in a place like cleveland, theres so much more work to do. 3300 acres of land sits vacant. Almost 2 of the population has left in the past three years. To revitalize cleveland, we need to work block by block. Straight up. And street by street. I wanted to invest my time and influence to create a movement that could maybe strengthen our community and transform neighborhoods. Im just like the underdog around here. So i recruited four local investors that share my