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William Wilson to Design Jacket for Bronko Nagurski Winner

From  the Grammys, to the Oscars, to NASCAR, if there is a high profile sports award to be given, celebrity clothing designer, William Wilson appears to be the man to call. The Bronko Nagurski Awards are no exception. William Wilson has been chosen to design the jacket for the winner of the 2011 Bronko Nagurski Award. This is one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports. It is presented to the top defensive player in college football. The award will be presented on December 12 at 7PM, at the Westin Hotel.

Previous award winners include some of the most recognizable names in the NFL. Some of the legendary winners are Warren Sapp, Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson, Terrell Suggs, James Laurenitus, Brian Orakpo, and last year’s winner Da’Quan Bowers. This years finalists are nothing to sneeze at either. They are Mark Barron from Alabama, Morris Claiborne from LSU, Luke Kuechly from Boston College, Whitney Mercilus from Illinois, and Devon Still from Penn State.

“The Bronko Nagurski Award is about consistency in excellence, at the highest level. The William Wilson brand operates on the same principle. To partner with such prestigious brands as the Bronko Nagurski Award and The Touchdown Club was an easy decision.” says CEO, William Wilson. “I only partner the William Wilson brand with brands that share a common creed. John Rocco has done an amazing job with the Bronko Nagurski brand, and I look forward to a long lasting relationship and productive relationship.”

No one knows who the winner is. That secret is kept well guarded. But whoever it is, they will definitely be well dressed. They will be presented with a midnight black, custom sports coat from the William Wilson Black Label Collection. The Black Label is an invitation-only collection, and it one of the most exclusive clothing brands in the world. Though the jacket will be priceless, a regular sports coat from the collection has a starting retail price of $3500.

Posted by  |  December 3, 2011 | Categories: Clothing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Shut Up and Do It

William WilsonI’m just gonna come out and say this. Do you know why many of you aren’t successful? You don’t deserve to be. Why? It’s simple. You talk too much, and don’t work hard enough. You TALK more about being successful than you are willing to SACRIFICE to be successful. Until you are ready to commit to being successful; just shut up. Stop holding our ears hostage. Stop telling everyone what you are going to do “one of these days”. We all have that friend, buddy, or colleague that since the day you met them, they have always told you what they need to do, but you never see them do it. They are always talking about success, but they never commit to having any.

Success doesn’t accidentally happen. You don’t just fall into it. You work for it. You fight for it. You risk for it. And you sacrifice for it. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but you fight. You get knocked down and you get back up. THAT is where success comes from! I laugh sometimes when I read my Twitter timeline and I read “Lets Go!”, “Let’s Get It”, “Make it Happen” and all the other stuff. I can read their timelines for a month and not see what they are doing to actually “Get It”. It’s bravado. Don’t get me wrong. I say it sometimes too. But then I make something happen. Not everything I make happen results in success, but they do result in a lesson learned. A lesson I wouldn’t have learned just typing “Let’s Get It” on Twitter and then going about my usual routine. Yelling words of encouragement, with no plan of executing it, is cheer leading. “Let’s Go?” Yea right!

On Christmas night at 12:30 I sent out a tweet asking 1 simple question: “Whose working?”  The people that responded were the ones I thought would respond. They were on their computers planning for 2011, while most were out partying. They were exactly who I thought would be at home working. Because I see them all year doing the same thing. They don’t tweet about parties, they don’t tweet about their relationship problems, and they aren’t constantly re-tweeting what everyone else is saying or doing. They are moving forward. They are sacrificing. They have put their heads down and committed to being the best. They will be successful. Or at least they have the best chance. I’m not saying, you can’t party. I’m not saying don’t enjoy yourself. But I AM saying, if you don’t fully commit, you won’t fully grow.

While sitting at my computer at 12:24 Christmas night, I came up with an incredible idea, that I will be launching soon. I’m giving away $100,000 dollars to a fortunate person that follows me on Twitter and “Likes” my Facebook FanPage. This is going to be an incredible branding opportunity. I wouldn’t have come up with this in the club. I also formed a strategic partnership that I will be announcing next year. I wouldn’t have done that in the club either.

I’ve had over a hundred people ask me what am I doing for New Years Eve. I told them “I will be in church. I am giving God my real time, not my obligatory, or spare time.” Many of them applauded my actions. Some even said, they needed to do that. To which I responded, “Why don’t you just do it then?” They have a variety of different answers, but it all comes down to where your priorities are. I’m not saying they should be like me, or that I am right and they’re wrong. I started doing this a couple of years ago, and my life began to change. I started becoming more successful; and the craziest goals I could think of began to be exceeded. This has worked for me, and I will keep doing it.

Success is a fruit that takes time to ripen. We are about to embark on not only a new year, but a new decade. Now is your chance to commit to greatness. I’m no one special, if I can  be successful, you can definitely be. But you have to commit. You have to be 100% in. Otherwise, you’re only fooling yourself, and wasting a ton of time and money. Buying a pack of business cards and building a website doesn’t make you a success. It doesn’t even make you a business. I can build a website, and buy business cards that say I’m a neurosurgeon; but you don’t want me cutting into your brain. Trust me! Hard work, dedication, commitment, and sacrifice are key ingredients to success. If you aren’t willing to give it 100%, then why bother? Why start a goal or a business if you aren’t willing to work, fight, and sacrifice to see your vision come to life? If you choose the club over planning. If you choose sleep over research. If you choose the party over the paperwork; that’s fine. Just don’t be upset when your competition leaves you in their dust. After all, at least you got your party on. Until next time…

God Bless and dress well,

William Wilson, CEO

William Wilson Cloting

Posted by  |  December 30, 2010 | Categories: Business, Clothing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Don’t Make The Mistakes I Made This Year

William Wilson I want to personally thank you all for helping make 2010 an incredible year for William Wilson Clothing. Like any company, we have had our share of ups and downs, yet it simply made us a stronger brand. As you know, I’m a transparent guy. I like to help those I can. I have made some good and bad decisions this year, some could have been catastrophic, but God placed people around me to make sure it wasn’t. In hopes of helping you avoid some of the mistakes I have made, I will let you in on some of my LEAST desirable situations.

First, I waited too long to put together a team. I treat my company like it’s my child, and I didn’t trust anyone else to take care of certain things. I tried to do everything myself. As a result, some of my greatest accomplishments went unnoticed.

For example, I did Calvin Richardson’s suit for the Grammys this year. He was recognized as “Best Dressed on the Red Carpet”. This is a big deal. For a local clothier from Charlotte to even be doing a suit for the Grammys should have at least warranted some interviews, not to mention being named best dressed. But it went relatively unknown. I may never repeat that feat again, but again it’s a lesson learned. Fortunately there’s a bright side to this lesson, Calvin has been nominated again for the Grammys, and I will once again be doing his suit. This time it will be the William Wilson Black Label Grammy debut. And I’m determined that it receives its proper press.

Second, I contracted with a PR firm and didn’t have the outcome I anticipated. I will take the blame and say I did this without fully understanding how PR works. I assumed they kind of took the lead in this arena, since they were the experts. Apparently, I wasn’t as involved as I should have been. I now know EXACTLY what is a reasonable expectation, and I will make sure to leave no window of doubt concerning my expectations next time. In addition, I will ensure that I don’t allow myself to feel as if I’m not a big enough client to demand the attention I feel I should have received. Again, my fault.

Third, I hosted my first golf tournament, The William Wilson Celebrity Invitational presented by Jetpool. The tournament, and the pairings party, was a smashing success. Everyone had a great time. You would never guess the mess we had with the food. I will show the guilty parties more respect than they showed me, or my events, and not get too detailed. Let’s just say I thank God for providing me with a sponsor that was more involved with the event than the food sponsors. We were in a precarious position, because the ball was dropped and we didn’t know until 48 hours before the event. This actually left us in a tight spot up to 20 minutes before my event was set to start. Through Jetpool’s professionalism and preparedness, we were able to form a contingency plan to keep a potentially catastrophic and embarrassing event from happening. I have three words of advice on this one: “Trust but verify.” I didn’t think of this, it was actually a quote from Pres. Ronald Reagan.

Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Conway

Kevin Conway,with girlfriend Angel Taber, wearing William Wilson Black Label on the Red Carpet at the NASCAR Awards.

Fourth, I again was not prepared to maximize an opportunity in front of me. NASCAR driver, Kevin Conway, won the 2010 Sprint Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Kevin debuted the William Wilson Black Label, the most exclusive line of men’s custom suits in the world, at the NASCAR Awards Banquet in Las Vegas on national television. Again, as incredible as this was, it went relatively unnoticed, except by you, my loyal fans. Even some people in the media that knew about it, let the moment pass; preferring to write yet another article about one of the 300 local fashion shows taking place in Charlotte.

As you can see, I made some huge errors in judgment. I made many, many more as well, but I don’t want to bore you with them. Fortunately, I have learned from my mistakes. The first thing I did was acquired a mentor, Leonard Wheeler. Next, I began to assemble my team. God has put some incredible people in front of me to help guide me. Now I have Alexander Sok as my Director of Creative Development and Operations, Lilly Pad & Pen as my Editorial Firm and Kaytlyn Lackey to head my Video department. On Christmas Eve, I added our first intern, Grace Mills to serve on board our Graphics department. I feel these individuals, as well as others I will add to the team, will help William Wilson Clothing fill some voids in our brand. I look forward to what the New Year will bring. We have some incredible projects in store for 2011. I hope God blesses your 2011 to be more amazing than you could ever dream of, and that this blog will help you avoid making the same mistakes I did. Until next time…

God bless and dress well,

William Wilson, CEO

William Wilson Clothing

Posted by  |  December 28, 2010 | Categories: Clothing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

On The William Wilson Radar: Model: Seth Carter

As a CEO of a premium luxury brand, I am bombarded with offers and requests to mentor people. Due to my busy schedule and responsibilities, I cannot always acquiesce these requests. But every once in a while, I meet someone that makes me sit back  and take notice. This happened recently with a young model by the name of Seth Carter.

Now Seth is a different kind of cat. He’s a good looking kid, and he has a great body. These are things you expect from a model. But he’s extremely quiet. At first glance, you would almost take it as arrogance or conceit. He’s doesn’t really talk much, and he is prone to just disappear for minutes at a time, when there is nothing going on. When it’s time to work, he does what he’s told, and may just disappear again until the next time you need him. The kid is so cool, he even moves slow. I joke with him and tell him if he ever got shot, he’d be okay, because it would take him 30 days to bleed to death.

Well yesterday, I was leaving rehearsal for a fashion show I’m walking in, and Seth was outside. I walk over to say good bye and he asked me if it was okay to ask me a question. I said sure. I will not divulge the details of our conversation, but over the course of what I thought would be a 5 minute chat, turned into an almost 30 minute conversation in a cold parking lot. It was very reminiscent of the conversation I had with my mentor, Leonard Wheeler. Over the course of the conversation, I could tell that asking questions and advice wasn’t extremely comfortable for him, but he did it anyway. That took courage. It takes a strong man to ask another man for help, or advice. We had a good talk and I could tell he was really processing what I said. I told him,”If you want to be successful, you have to stay focused and be prepared to lose friends. Be prepared to have naysayers and haters. And build yourself a network of successful people. As your career blossoms there will be days when the people in your circle will not understand what you’re going through. You will need those people that have been where you are, to help you get through it.” We also discussed other stuff. But the important thing to me was, he WANTS to be good. He wasn’t looking for a hookup. He wants to bebetter. He wants to be the best. Metaphorically, he wants to eat fish, but he wasn’t asking me to give him a fish. He was asking how to be a better fisherman, to catch his own fish.

That is the way you stand out in a crowd. There are many people out there that do what I do. I don’t have the answers to everything. I often have more questions than answers. But I bust my tail to be the best I can be, and I seek advice and counsel from others. And I keep God first. I believe God has blessed me because I strive to do the right thing, I work hard, and ask for advice from those wiser than me. That’s how Seth got on the William Wilson radar. He is already an extremely talented model. Other than Yandrick Paraison (who may be the best I’ve ever seen, period), Seth is one of the best around. He is off to a good start, and is doing things the right way. He has a few things to work on (and who doesn’t) but he is going to be a star. Seth is being groomed by Lesan Entertainment under the guidance of DeAngelo Byrd. He is getting good advice and is connected with a firm that is looking out for his best interest. That’s important. In the dog-eat-dog world of the fashion business, it’s great to have some protection. Until next time…

God Bless and dress well,

William Wilson, CEO
William Wilson Clothing

Posted by  |  December 11, 2010 | Categories: Clothing | Leave A Comment »

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