California Apparel News

Running as an independent, the former Guess executive sees no barrier to becoming governor.

Georges Marciano seems like the most unlikely person to run for governor of California.

He dropped out of school when he was 13, he hasn’t voted in years and he doesn’t use a cell phone or a computer.

But that’s not stopping the co-founder and one-time chief executive of Guess? Inc., the Los Angeles clothing company that raked in $2 billion in fiscal 2009 and made a $213.6 million profit on blue jeans and flashy apparel, from throwing his hat in the gubernatorial ring.

The 62-year-old Marciano has been long gone from Guess, departing in 1993 when he and his brothers—Paul, Maurice and Armand—couldn’t agree on whether the company should go public or remain private. The three siblings bought out Georges’ 40 percent interest in the company he helped start in 1981. “They gave me a price I couldn’t refuse,” Marciano said, commenting on the $240 million his brothers paid him to leave the company, which went public in 1996. Maurice and Paul haven’t talked to Georges in eight years.

He took his Guess payoff and made another fortune in commercial real estate, buying and selling buildings in Beverly Hills that made him millions of dollars. He said he only owns one piece of commercial property these days, an apartment building in Beverly Hills.

With so many millions, Marciano for years has dabbled in collecting art and fine wines, which has landed him in court with lawsuits accusing former employees of stealing millions of dollars of his art and wine.

He boasts he owns 12 Ferraris, three houses and a $50 million private jet. In 2007, he bought an 84.37-carat white diamond at a Sotheby’s auction for $16 million because he had never seen such a beautiful diamond before. And it was a good investment.

But sitting inside his 15,000-square-foot mansion, located just a few blocks up from the prestigious Beverly Hills Hotel, Marciano’s attention these days has moved from art and investments to the economy and California’s dire fiscal situation.

“How could California have changed that much since I came here in 1981? It was the Golden State, the dream state, the capital of fashion. You could not find another place on earth better,” he said inside his campaign headquarters, located at one end of his mansion.

The spacious office is located inside a converted entertainment room where a yawning fireplace the size of a large cave dominates one end of the room with its arched windows overlooking a forest of trees. Perched on the mantle are stenciled wooden signs with aphorisms such as “Patience Is Wisdom in Waiting” and “Never, Never Give Up.”

In front of the two-story dwelling, several of his Ferraris—some red, some yellow—are parked, bracketed by a black Rolls Royce and a blue Bentley. Several towering metal statues stand in front of the house.

“I see a state going down the tubes,” the former apparel executive said in his French accent. “A year ago, I started to see the banks default and said, ’Oh, my God. What is going to happen?’ For one year, I didn’t see any tough action by the government. We pay taxes. We pay taxes for liberty, security and the government to act as a guardian, and nothing happened. In fact, it got worse and worse and worse. So many people are losing their jobs.”

And that’s when Marciano, after talking with friends, decided to run for governor as an independent, filing papers in early April. “I am not a politician, and I didn’t go to Harvard or Georgetown. And I am not an accountant, but I know one plus one is two,” he said, railing about how banks have been bailed out with taxpayer money and corporate executives have gotten away with millions of dollars they don’t deserve.

Marciano hired Rod Harrell, a one-time actor with no prior political experience, as his campaign manager. He and a small staff are mapping out Marciano’s campaign strategy. And Marciano’s 22-year-old son, Matt, the oldest of four children, will work alongside the candidate as his personal assistant to help with Marciano’s cell phone, text messaging and computer needs.

There are no major donations to his campaign, and he won’t go on a major fund-seeking expedition, relying right now on his own wealth. But the nouveau politician and his staff are looking for volunteers to spread the word. Focus on local manufacturing

One of Marciano’s key campaign pledges is to bring back manufacturing to California, particularly garment manufacturing, which is a dwindling proposition, as more manufacturers choose to go overseas.

“My dream is to bring 200,000 to 300,000 people to downtown [Los Angeles],” he said. “When I was at Guess, it was a pleasure to go to a [contracting] shop and say, ’Hi,’ and they were all happy. hellip; The good thing about that is that they all paid taxes. The people in China do not pay the tax in the United States.”

To encourage manufacturing, he would give tax incentives to local factories and contractors and charge a small fee for those who manufacture overseas.

(In 1992 Guess contractors were cited by the U.S. Department of Labor for failing to pay employees the minimum wage or adequate overtime. Guess ended up paying $573,000 in back wages to avoid litigation. Four years later, activists staged protests around Guess stores to protest alleged labor violations at some of its contractors.)

Health care is another Marciano talking point, as well as legalization of illegal immigrants, mandatory annual audits of state banks, lower taxes for lower- and middle-income families, and higher taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations.

He said he believes everyone should have health care, a conclusion he came to after hearing stories of people’s plight from losing their jobs and their health insurance. “[Health care for everyone] works pretty well in England, France, Italy, Switzerland, all of Europe,” Marciano said.

Higher taxes for the wealthy and corporations would help alleviate the huge deficit in California, where state lawmakers in February filled an anticipated $42 billion spending gap with proposed tax hikes, program cuts and borrowing.

Marciano isn’t the first fashion-industry person to travel down the political road. Sam Bretzfield, who owned sweater maker International Set and The Right Bank Shoe and Clothing Co. on Rodeo Drive, ran unsuccessfully for Congress and then became consul general to Bangladesh in 1977. Max Salter of Beno’s Clothing Stores has been mayor of Beverly Hills twice. And Stanley Hirsh, a longtime garment maker, ran for Los Angeles City Council in the early 1970s.

Marciano is facing a field of heavy-hitting candidates with years of political experience. There is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a popular Democrat, and former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, a Republican.

But the Algerian-born descendent of seven generations of rabbis feels his odds are good. “Seriously,” he said, “I never give up on hope—never.”