Sara Blakely started her $1 billion Spanx empire with just $5,000: ‘They didn’t want to try what they called my crazy idea’
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00:00 I could not figure out what to wear under white pants.
00:03 And I had never taken a business class in my life.
00:05 I'd never worked in fashion or retail.
00:07 I was actually selling fax machines door to door
00:10 when I cut the feet out of control top pantyhose
00:13 because these pants hung in my closet for eight months.
00:16 And I recognized that there was a really big gap
00:18 between traditional underwear and the heavy duty girdle.
00:23 I just didn't want panty lines.
00:25 Actually, my inspiration was my own butt.
00:28 So that's where the idea came from.
00:30 I had $5,000 of savings set aside
00:33 from selling fax machines.
00:34 So that was what I used to start the company.
00:38 But when I was going door to door to the hosiery
00:41 manufacturers and really trying to pitch them the idea,
00:44 that was the toughest part of my journey
00:46 because it had never dawned on me as a consumer,
00:48 but everybody making our shapewear and hosiery were men.
00:52 I was breaking into a very commodity driven industry
00:55 where they didn't want to slow down the machines
00:57 and try my quirky idea or what they called my crazy idea,
01:01 especially when they found out I had $5,000.
01:03 And so I went from mill to mill.
01:06 And they would always ask me the same three questions.
01:08 They would say, and you are?
01:09 And I'd say, Sarah Blakely.
01:11 And they'd say, and you're with?
01:13 I'd say, Sarah Blakely.
01:15 They'd go, and you're financially backed by?
01:17 And I'd go, Sarah Blakely.
01:18 - Great.
01:19 - And they'd show me the door and say, no thank you.