Warren Buffett, fashion icon?
Posted
Sep 24 2009, 08:31 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett gets business pitches all the time, but this one he didn't turn down.
Buffett was in China two years ago when a friend of a friend suggested he get fitted for a Trands suit. He agreed, and two tailors soon burst into his hotel room to take measurements, according to The Wall Street Journal.
And that began the ongoing love affair between Buffett and Trands, a menswear label founded by a former Chinese farmer who knows how to pounce on opportunity. Buffett received two suits for free and said no suits had ever fit him better.
Bing: What are the best mens' suits?
He likes them so much, in fact, that he recently filmed a promotional video for the company's Web site, the Journal reports. Now, he has nine suits and recommends the brand to people like Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates.
After the video went online, shares of Dalian Dayang Trands (SHA:600233) soared by more than 70%, the Journal reports. Investors are hoping that if Buffett is a huge fan, perhaps America is Trands' next target. China's president, Hu Jintao, is already a customer, and the company's success in China has helped it grow to 15,000 employees.
Except that Buffett isn't exactly a fashion maven in the U.S. He admitted to the Journal that he went 78 years before he was complimented on his appearance (and he happened to be wearing a Trands suit at the time).
Could a Buffett endorsement help Trands make headway in this country? Probably just among the rich and famous. I don't even know where the rest of us would even find a Trands suit here. But Buffett has some ideas on that point.
"Maybe Bill (Gates) and I could start a clothing store," he mused on the promotional video,
"and if we sold the suits made by Dalian Trands, some day we might even
be rich, who knows?"
Related reading:
What's wrong with following Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett wins again
Is Berkshire worth buying?
Berkshire Hathaway's terrible year
How Buffett will win in a bailout
A look at Warren Buffett's third-quarter holdings