The Queen of Soul, Miss Aretha Franklin sang "My Country Tis of Thee" at President Obama's inauguration. In an interview Ms. Franklin told CNN, "Yesterday, Mother Nature was not very kind to me. I'm going to deal with her when I get home. It, by no means, was my standard. I was not happy with it, but I just feel blessed because it could have been five above zero or five below zero like it is in Detroit."
"Some singers it doesn't bother and others it does. I don't care for it. It affected my voice."
Although her preformance of the song wasn't her best effort, the hat rocked the show. Of course that famous hat, which was designed by Mr. Song Millinery in Detroit, is reportedly flying off the shelves!
Even Ellen had to pay tribute to the show stealing hat.
“It’s an art form for me,” Song said. “For me, hats define a culture.”
Mr. Song Millinery’s clientele is 90% African-American, church-going women, Song said. His wholesale business supplies hats to shops in other cities with large African-American communities, and the merchandise sell especially well in California, Houston and Dallas. He designs 100 hat styles every six months. (Source: Bill McGraw, Motor City Journal)
So, what is the take-away lesson? It certainly seems like American innovation and design is alive and kicking. Retailers should take heed to the enormous sales of creative styles like the millinary creations of Mr. Song. The reason why retail sales are suffering is that the customer has been forgotten.
It was reported that Mr. Song sold over 500 hats like the one that Miss Aretha wore. Do the math, that's 500 hats at nearly $200, or a little short of over $100,000 in sales. Not bad. Not bad at all.
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