FROM OUR JANUARY 2025 ISSUE: EDITOR’S LETTER-2025 RESOLUTIONS TRY, TRY AGAIN…

The entire MR team proudly presents our January 2025 issue. If you haven’t received a hard copy, please page through our digital version, and we’ll continue to post individual stories here on  MR-mag.com. If you haven’t been getting MR in print, be sure that you are on our mailing list for future issues by completing  this form.

It’s a new year, and as we make resolutions we’re unlikely to keep, how about a few easy ones? Here’s my 2025 checklist; feel free to steal any of these you like and ignore the ones you don’t. And forgive me if you’ve read some of them before: even after sharing New Year’s resolutions in the past 35 January issues of MR, I’m still struggling to keep at least a few of them.

1. Dress better! We’re in an industry where fashion matters. Dress like you believe it.
2. Stay positive. Stop watching the news 24/7, and remember that ours is a fun business!
3. Be kind. Everyone you pass on the street is dealing with something. Offer a smile. Keep a few folded bills in your coat pocket so you don’t have to flounder through your bag if you pass someone in need.
4. Get to know new retailers and emerging brands. Yes. it’s easier to stick with the usual suspects, but there’s a universe out there of great stores and exciting product that you might benefit from seeing. (We at MR will continue to showcase our new finds in our pages and online.)
5. Hand-written notes have tremendous power. Yes, it’s easier to text a quick thank you but the impact of a thoughtful note lives on. (Says one who hasn’t written a personal note in ages… ☹☹)
6. Allow yourself the things that bring you pleasure, even if they’re not doctor-approved. Okay, you probably shouldn’t drink wine with every meal or start each day with crumb cake and almond croissants, but denying yourself everything that makes you happy is no way to live. (Says one who eats crumb cake for breakfast 6 days a week; don’t ask about the wine…)
7. Admit mistakes and apologize when you screw up. The lessons learned from bad decisions are far more valuable than the appearance of perfection.
8. Cherish good friends. We never know how long we’ll have them, or them us. Let them know now how you feel about them.
9. Laugh as intensely and as often as you can. Not only does laughter nourish the soul, but it’s one of few indulgences that’s calorie-free and costs nothing.
10. Take more risks in your assortment planning, especially in today’s precarious world when it’s impossible to predict what will happen next. Will there be another pandemic? Will the stock market flounder? Will the looser, less constructed men’s clothing trends catch on? Will global warming continue to impact shopping patterns? Where will menswear stores find trained tailors? Will the proposed tariffs cause excessive inflation? Will online shopping overtake in-store? Will businesses ever again enforce dress codes? So many questions, so few answers. So why not trust your gut and bring in some new product that’s notably different from what you usually show. As your industry magazine, we promise to do the same. The one thing none of us can afford to be these days is boring.

Best wishes to all our readers for a peaceful and profitable 2025. And thanks for staying with us for the past 35 years!

Karen, Lizette, Charles, John, and the whole MR Team