Page 93 - The Way to the Top

M. J. GORDON

Chairman of Tootsie Roll Industries

In 1946, after serving for almost three years as an Army officer in World
War II, I was about to report for work in our family’s extremely
competitive women’s hosiery manufacturing business. My father sent me

off with this advice: “Son, remember to buy low and sell high.” In
addition, he told me that if I really wanted to secure high prices regardless
of competitive conditions, I should seek a business protected by a strong
trademark, a patent, or a secret process. I took those words to heart. In

order to sell at a high, branded price, I invented a new brand called
Ironwear Insured Hosiery—insured against runs regardless of cause.

Insuring women’s hosiery against runs had never been done before. We
were pioneers. At the factory, we used indelible ink to stamp a registration

number on the thigh portion of each stocking in a pair. We inserted with
each pair a registration card with the same number. The store clerk filled
in the expiration date on the card for each pair sold. The first pair
purchased at one time was guaranteed for seven days from the purchase
date, the second pair for fourteen days, and the third pair for twenty-one

days. Ironwear hosiery, which contained a patented double-knit feature
that prevented runs at the gartering point, was an instant success, and kept
growing among our customer base of older, heavier women whom our

salesmen respectfully referred to as “the ploppers.” Returns of damaged
hosiery amounted to less than 1 percent of sales.

In 1962, after serving on its board for ten years, I became Chairman of
the Sweets Company of America, makers of Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie
Pops. I renamed the company Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. From 1962 to

1977, I ran both the candy company and the hosiery company (which had
expanded to branded sweaters and leotards). Both companies were