metro
Back In Business
A local entrepreneur creates a stunningly successful brand.
Lynne Konstantin
bandeaus, leggings and yogawear, all easily,
comfortably and stylishly to be worn alone
or layered.
Contributing Writer
L
inda Schlesinger-Wagner is no
newcomer to success in the fash-
ion business. The West Bloomfield
resident, 66, was the owner of children's
clothing stores Rainbow Lollipop at the
Somerset Collection and Kidz Kloz in West
Bloomfield in the 1980s and '90s. At the
same time, she bought a knitting machine
and created a children's knitware collec-
tion, Annie's Antics, and women's knitwear,
Annie M Designs, both named after her
daughter, Annie, and sold at high-end bou-
tiques and department stores around the
country, including Neiman Marcus.
But this time it's different.
"Each store, and each collection, was
always special to me says the 35-year-
veteran entrepreneur. But since then, her
life has undergone a transformation of
sorts; and the experiences she has thrived
through and the lessons she has learned
have had an impact on every aspect of her
life. So when she launched Skinnytees in
2009 and the brand was welcomed with
enormous success that has only snowballed
since then, she has made it a point to give
back whenever and wherever possible. Now,
it's just who she is.
Eight years ago, Schlesinger-Wagner and
her husband got a divorce. "I bought a little
yellow house in Huntington Woods on an
ARM mortgage she says. And all of a sud-
den, the economy started tanking, which
made my mortgage skyrocket:'
Now, the mother of two who had raised
her children in a comfortable, upper-mid-
dle-class West Bloomfield home just wanted
to hold on to her house.
Working at the time for Sylvan Lake por-
trait photographer and friend Monni Must,
Schlesinger-Wagner assisted Must on her
well-known Living Witness Project, help-
ing Must interview hundreds of Holocaust
survivors in the Detroit area and around the
world, which culminated in four exquisite
books of photographs.
"It was an amazing experience, getting
to talk to these people who triumphed after
going through so much, and their trusting
us with their stories:' Schlesinger-Wagner
says. "I would go home and cry my eyes
out, for the survivors, for my kids, for a
marriage I believed in that didn't work out.
But at the same time, I felt it was happening
for a reason:'
At the time, Must was also learning how
to live with a recent devastation — the
loss to suicide of her eldest daughter. "We
helped heal each other," Must says.
Then, Schlesinger-Wagner began to
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July 10 • 2014
Linda Schlesinger-Wagner, founder of Skinnytees, with her children, Annie and David
notice something was not quite right with
her son, David, now 41.
"He had been very successful since a
young age. He drove a Mercedes, lived
in Laurel Canyon [an upscale area of Los
Angeles]," she says. "He started losing it all.
It happened during a two-month period
while I was going through my divorce. I
just knew in my heart that he had a drug
problem:'
Schlesinger-Wagner called his former
boss, and said, "You're a dad; I'm a mom:'
and he said, "'Let's do something: He's a
wonderful man:' she said.
David says, "I had too much money at
too young an age. I had never had any real
failure in life. Narcissism can get the best of
people. I didn't identify what was happen-
ing to me as a drug problem, even though I
was losing everything:'
David spent some time in jail, at a point
when no one would bail him out anymore.
"It was not a nice place for a suburban boy:'
he says.
In and out of rehab from 2005 to 2008,
David then found Beit T'Shuvah: The
House of Return, a Los Angeles treatment
center that combines the traditional 12-Step
program with tenets of the Torah. It clicked
for him. "The 12 Steps taught me how to be
a better human being," he says. "But if not
for Beit T'Shuvah, I would be dead:'
A New Life
Soon, David had his hands back in busi-
ness, and his mom was busy developing a
new idea: Years ago, she had created a cami-
sole to wear under a Japanese-style sweater
in one of her collections, and the camisole
had been hanging around in her head.
"Everyone always complains about cami-
soles creeping up their back:' Schlesinger-
Wagner says. "My friends, in their 50s and
60s, are concerned about this as much as
younger women are. We are always in search
of the perfect cami. I thought of the name
Skinnytees, went online that night around 2
a.m. and registered the domain name:'
The next day, she called David.
"I've been in digital advertising forever;
he says. "I buy and sell a lot of domain
names. This is a $50,000 name. I couldn't
believe she had gotten it:'
Schlesinger-Wagner began carrying her
bin of camis in a handful of colors and one-
size-fits-most (sizes 2-22) design, to her
friends in the business: Caruso Caruso and
Lori Karbal in Birmingham, and Guys N
Gals and Rear Ends in West Bloomfield.
And the Birmingham-based business
grew. So David made a call to a connec-
tion at the QVC network. 'Mout 999 out
of 1,000 presentations get thrown in the
garbage David says. "They went crazy for
Linda, and their watchers went crazy for
the line.
"This February, when Linda was being
featured, I woke up early the next morning
to check the numbers, and there were no
numbers. It was done. Sold out:'
Since then, Skinnytees have been fea-
tured 28 times, often selling out; and the
soft, seamless, body-flattering cami collec-
tion has expanded to include more than
120 colors and prints, more than 60 styles,
including tanks, tees, tops, skirts, dresses,
A Thriving Brand
In addition to the QVC offerings, Skinnytees
can be ordered online at Skinnytees.com
and are available at hundreds of stores
nationally. They have been scooped up by
the likes of Kristin Bell, Kristin Cavallari
and Britney Spears and have been fea-
tured in Us Weekly and last month's Good
Housekeeping.
Today, Skinnytees is thriving — and
growing, with underwear, accessories and
pajama lines all in the works. In addition to
David, who does the company's marketing
from L.A., Schlesinger-Wagner has brought
on her daughter, Annie — a new mom and
the company's core demographic.
"Who would have thought that I would
have started out just content to pay the
mortgage for my little yellow house?"
Schlesinger-Wagner says. "We are living a
fairy tale. We are all in good places:'
And because of that, she makes it a
priority to give back, making contribu-
tions to organizations like Make-a-Wish
Foundation to a stranger who lost her
home in a fire. She hopes to eventually give
back a portion for each purchase, similar
to Toms, who matches every pair of shoes
purchased with a pair of new shoes for a
child in need.
"I was told that most people like David
don't survive she says. "And 6 percent
recover. I was that mom — the nice
family this is not supposed to happen to.
But it can happen to anyone. Now here we
are, in business together. I have my son
back. I have a more humble David. We live
in gratitude:'
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Skinnytees offers a rainbow of colors.