Joseph Abboud: Fashion Designer Weaves Tale of Business' Threadbare Spots

Joseph Abboud Fashion Designer Weaves Tale of Business Threadbare Spots
Designer Joseph Abboud has more clothes than he should.

He knows -- and even sort of agrees with -- the oft-written "rule" that if a garment hasn't been worn in two years, it should be forced to give up its precious spot in the closet. His excuse for keeping a 20-year-old leather bomber jacket that he bought in Paris is that he keeps it for reference.

"My closet is my laboratory," he says with a laugh.

Abboud is breaking a few rules these days.

His book "Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion" (HarperCollins) doesn't airbrush the industry's imperfections in favor of the glossy photos that fill so many other fashion books.

He writes, with Ellen Stern, about how designer names can be overvalued:

"My ties are made in Italy. So are Armani's. One season a few years ago, we both used the same fabric (an honest mistake; not every coincidence is 'tie-jacking'), and both ties were manufactured in the same factory at Massimo, in Italy.

"Armani's linings and knots were thin. Mine had more body, better bar-tacking, and details like a self-loop in the back to pull the tail through. His ties retailed for $105, and mine were $75. Why? We all know why. His name was bigger, his awareness was greater, and his presence as a designer had existed for 20 years before I got there. I understand that.