In the early days of Warden-Brooks, Ltd. corporate ties and scarves were  a staple of every company in America. Very much in keeping with British tradition, it would be a silk tie in the club repeat with a discrete logo, small and subtle.  As women ascended the ranks, a ladies scarf would be added to the offering. We advertised in the regional issues of the Wall Street Journal. Armed with the leads generated by the ads, I would fly all over America, calling on clients requesting information.  Houston and Dallas, LA and San Francisco…it was all virgin territory. Typically I would see five or six clients a day, go all over the city in a limo, samples lined up in the back. So after a sales call to Transamerica in 1982, I had an apt with a fairly new company, a referral from a very good existing client, PepsiCo. Since it was outside the city limits, I had left it for the last call of the day.  They specifically were interested in silk ties. When I got to the office, I was a bit taken back by the unorthodox atmosphere, very relaxed and casual. I had never called on a client quite as casual. They wanted a design that would appeal to Wall Street bankers. Conservative and elegant, right up our alley. Then they showed me the logo and were explaining the company’s business. The name seemed a bit unusual to me, a rainbow apple with a bite taken out, and they were all very intense about the details of the design, the placement of the logo, the packaging.  That was not the norm either. All in all, I figured they were just fishing, but since it was a client referral, I plugged away, answering their questions and coming up with a rough sketch of the design I thought would work best. There were no digital logos back then.

And so on July 14, 1982 we shipped Apple Computer $19,000 worth of pure silk ties in navy and burgundy background.  Chances are the intense guy in charge that I was dealing with was Steve Jobs, and obviously the ties did their job. Wall Street paid attention and now 32 years later, the world pays attention when they do anything. Wish we had bartered the ties for Apple stock!