Susie Tompkins Buell
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Susie Tompkins Buell is an American entrepreneur and a liberal political donor associated with the Democracy Alliance.
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[edit] Investor and businesswoman
In 1967, Tompkins Buell and Jane Tise co-founded the Plain Jane clothing label. Plain Jane was making $2 million/year by 1970. Tompkin Buell's new husband Douglas Tompkins recommended changing the name to Esprit.
Some of the liberal sheen was dulled by union-busting tactics when the National Labor Relations Board found that Esprit had illegally interrogated and intimidated $2-an-hour Chinese workers, and then to have shut down a factory to keep them from unionizing.[1]
Clashes with the existing partners of Esprit led to a buyout in 1975. By 1986, the global clothing brand had reached $800 million in sales. The Tompkinses divorced in 1988.[2]
The early sensibility of Esprit was seen as flowing from the personalities and interests of its founders. They were once described as "a pair of San Francisco hippie merchants who sold clothing over a North Beach massage parlor"
After the 1989 divorce, Tompkins Buell led a 1990 leveraged buyout that allowed her to gain control of Esprit, and also earned her a profit of about $150 million. The buyout left Esprit deeply in debt. In two years it went into technical default on its outstanding loans and in 1997, Tompkins Buell relinquished all ownership of and involvement in the company to a consortium of investors.
In March 1997, Tompkins Buell sued the new owners of Esprit for $3 million she said they owed her in reimbursement for tax payments. Her ex-husband declined to file a similar lawsuit, saying he thought the legal basis for such a suit was thin. In response to the lawsuit, Jay Margolis, the new CEO of Esprit, barred Buell and all members of her family from entering Esprit headquarters.[3]
[edit] Democratic Party activism
Buell is often described as Hillary Clinton's best friend.,[4] Buell led Clinton's fundraising efforts for 2008 in the San Francisco Bay area.[5]
In 2006, the Washington Post published a story about the Democracy Alliance, calling it an "exclusive donor club" for progressive donors and identifying Buell and her husband Mark Buell as members.[6]
Buell held a fundraiser for David Brock's Media Matters at her San Francisco home. A foundation that bears her name gave money to Media Matters through the Tides Foundation. [7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ How Susie Tompkins Buell built, wrecked, and sued San Francisco's legendary Esprit de Corp. clothing company, and why she still gets to sit next to President Clinton
- ^ Esprit de Court
- ^ Esprit de Court
- ^ Her Way
- ^ Democrat Hopefuls Getting More Green in Bay Area
- ^ A New Alliance of Democrats Spreads Funding
- ^ Soros-Funded Media Matters Attacks Conservatives
