It’s no secret that retailers know every trick in the book to make their customers buy their goods. How exactly does the luxury goods industry work and is “retail therapy” healthy for us?
In his second novel, AMY UNBOUND, longtime fashion industry insider Martin Sneider offers, according to former Bloomingdale’s Vice-Chairman Frank Doroff, “…a peek inside a fashion empire, and a family in turmoil…..”
Opening in 2009, Amy Unbound continues the saga of the Feldman family—focusing on Josh’s wife. Martin Sneider captures the toll of the drive for success in a marriage while drawing readers into another volatile, adrenaline-fueled world: politics. Amy throws herself into her work and begins to question her marriage. While Amy flirts with a dangerous romantic relationship, her husband, Josh, comes to terms with the cost of his obsession with leading a fashion retail empire.
Martin Sneider, a leader in the shoe and clothing industries for more than five decades who rose to president, chief merchant, and co-CEO of one of the nation’s largest fashion and shoe apparel specialty chains, will discuss:
- His fascination with the inner workings of the fashion industry and why it provides fertile ground for intrigue and scandal.
- His insights into the current troubled state of retail and whether the days of brick-and-mortar stores and on-site shopping are truly gone forever.
- His views on betrayal and revenge—whether in personal relationships or business—and the power of forgiveness.
- His perspective on the combustible nature of mixing family and business
- The challenges of writing from a woman’s point of view.
MARTIN SNEIDER has been a leader in the shoe and clothing industries for more than five decades. Since 1992, he has served as an award-winning adjunct professor at
Washington University’s Olin School of Business, where he created and taught a course devoted to luxury goods merchandising and marketing that included trips with students to Milan, Paris, and London to visit the showrooms of Armani, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Burberry, and Cartier. A fourth-generation retailer, Sneider started as a shoe salesman and rose to president, chief merchant, and co-CEO of one of the nation’s largest fashion and shoe apparel specialty chains. He served on the Alumni Board of Directors of Harvard Business School, was chairman of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University. In addition to his acclaimed debut novel, Shelf Life, and it sequel, Amy Unbound, he is the author of a nonfiction book on the shoe industry. He has two children and four granddaughters and lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and New York City.
Listen to Martin & Mark here: