An Ugly Business reading

Are Christmas-themed jumpers popular in your country during the winter holiday season?
Do you have one?
B Why is the second or third Friday of December an important day for ugly
jumpers? Read the first part of the article below and check your ideas.

November 2014
Businessweek
The Big Business of Ugly Christmas Sweaters

A
s an avid sports fan and
the owner of Forever
Collectibles, a sports
memorabilia company in Somerset,
N.J., Michael Lewis has seen his
share of over-the-top apparel.
Still, he wasn’t prepared for what
he encountered last December 20,
when he came to work and found
dozens of employees wearing
garish sweaters covered in lights,
bells, and ornaments. “It really ugly Christmas sweaters.
hit me like a brick, because one
outfit was more hideous than the
next,” he says. It turns out it was
National Ugly Christmas Sweater
Day, celebrated since 2011 on
the second or third Friday of
December. The craze had eluded
Lewis until then, but by day’s
end he was hashing out a plan to
develop a line of sports-themed

b Is National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day celebrated in your country?

Would you be allowed to wear one in your office?

B Discuss these questions and then read the next part of the article to check your ideas.

1. How much do the sweaters sell for? 4. How many retail chains are selling DIY
2. How many jumpers do Forever Collectibles Ugly Christmas Sweater Kits?
anticipate selling this year? 5. The producer of the kits sold 35,000 last
3. What income does Forever Collectibles year. How many does it expect to sell this
predict this year from jumper sales? year?

The National Football League
agreed to license team logos for
the novelty sweaters, as did all the
other sports leagues and college
teams Lewis approached. “Our
designers created seven designs
for over 300 different logos,” he
says. After putting out the $59.99
tops in July, Lewis says, Forever
Collectibles is on track to sell out
of 300,000 sweaters by the end of
the holiday season and bring in
sales of $10 million.
Ugly Christmas sweaters are
hot for retailers big and small.
Wal-Mart Stores, Target and
Forever21 all have rolled out their
own versions. Macy’s, Nordstrom
and SkyMall are among more
than 20 retailers selling DIY Ugly
Christmas Sweater Kits (about

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$30) that include a sweater, stencils,
and embellishments such as felt
and googly eyes. “I’ve never seen a
product or category blow up like
this,” says Meri Barnes, product
and business developer for Michael
Gerald, the company behind the
kit. “Last year we sold more than
35,000.” This year, she expects that
number to rise to 400,000.

b Are you surprised that the NFL and the other

sports leagues agreed to licence their logos?
Would you pay $60 for one of the jumpers or
would you make your own for $30? Do the major retailers
sell Christmas sweaters in your country? Can you think of
any other product that has grown in popularity so quickly?

B
Discuss the following statements and decide if they are true % or false X. Then read the
article and check your ideas.

1. Christmas sweaters are only for major sweater company, Tipsy Elves, sold more than
retailers.
2. When designing sweaters, one woman
pictured what she would want to wear to win
the Most Ugly prize.
3. In 2008, she sold 50 sweaters on EBay,
priced from $50 to $150.
4. She has now sold more than 250,000
jumpers.
5. All her jumpers are entirely made in the U.S.
6. The co-founders of another Christmas
6,000 sweaters at $165 each in 2011.
7. Tipsy Elves can sell 500 – 1,000 of a popular
design.
8. Another entrepreneur, Jack McCarthy,
buys sweaters for $3 to $5 in charity shops
and sells them for $20 to $50.
9. McCarthy doesn’t wash them for fear of
spoiling their ugliness.
10. McCarthy says there is more competition
every year.

stay-at-home mum with a wear to win the Most Ugly prize.”

The novelty item has been
especially good for small businesses
and individual entrepreneurs.
Anne Marie Blackman, a former
background in computer science,
picked up on the rage for ugly
holiday sweaters in 2008 with
the help of Google Trends. “I
was looking for something to sell
on Ebay to help pay for my kids’
college,” she says. With the metrics
pointing to ugly sweater parties,
Blackman visited local thrift stores
and picked up men’s and women’s
designs. She then went to work,
decorating them with more thrift
store finds “like hook rugs and
macramé Christmas trees,” she
says. “I pictured what I’d want to
That year, Blackman sold 50
sweaters on EBay, priced from $50
to $150. It was just the beginning
of what would become a year-
round, full-time job — one that
provided enough money to pay for
her two sons’ college tuition. “I’ve
sold about 25,000 and certainly
made over a million dollars in
revenue,” she says. Blackman now
runs My Ugly Christmas Sweater,
which offers vintage and modern
designs to suit the full spectrum of
bad taste. Some of her collection
is made in Bangladesh, but all

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embellishments, such as the
white snow-like fluff on a design
featuring a sledding cat, are made
in the U.S.
College buddies Evan
Mendelsohn and Nick Morton,
co-founders of Tipsy Elves in San
Diego, produce most of their ugly
sweaters in China. The two quit
their respective jobs as a lawyer
and root canal specialist after they
sold more than 6,000 sweaters at
$65 each in 2011 — a nice return
on the $140,000 they invested in
the business. In 2013, Tipsy Elves,
which has 11 employees, received
a $100,000 investment from the
reality show Shark Tank. That
year, Mendelsohn says, revenue
reached “several million,” up
from $870,000 in 2012. “We can
sell 5,000 to 10,000 of a popular
design,” he says. This year’s hit
sweater features Jesus as a birthday
boy.
Jack McCarthy, 20, has been
selling vintage ugly Christmas
sweaters online since he was
in eighth grade. “I just see the
trend as a good excuse to wear
something ridiculous that your
grandma used to wear,” he says.
For many, the Christmas sweater
is a prized tradition and a genuine
expression of holiday spirit, so
finding inventory isn’t a problem.
McCarthy, who runs the site
UltimateUglyChristmas.com,
has salvaged many from thrift
stores while on summer road trips
through the Midwest. “I buy the
sweaters for $3 to $5 and sell them
for $20 to $50,” he says. Unless
necessary, he doesn’t wash them
for fear of “causing harm to their
ugliness.”
Last year, while completing his
freshman year at Babson College,
McCarthy earned almost $50,000
from the vintage treasures. He’s
been able to pay for a good chunk
of his college tuition with the
money, he says — something
that’s pleased his parents, in whose
basement he stores his inventory
of sartorial masterpieces.
McCarthy, who keeps a special
collection of his most atrocious
finds, never tires of Christmas.
Still, he doesn’t plan on staying in
the ugly sweater business forever,
although he probably could.
“Competition picks up every year,”
he says. “But so does demand.”

b In your opinion, are Christmas-themed jumpers a good business to get into? Can you
think of any downsides? What is the most you would pay for one of these jumpers? Do
you know of other people who have started businesses that were very successful so
quickly? Have you ever bought or sold anything on Ebay?

V Find words in the article than mean the following.

1. very keen, enthusiastic the risk for a business venture

2. a short-lived popular fashion 5. characterized by excellence, maturity and
3. the state or quality of being new or unique enduring appeal; classic
4. people who organise, operate, and assume 6. resign; leave a job
Use the words from the article to complete these sentences:
1. Richard Branson and James Dyson are well-known British _____________________.
2. My father collects _______________________ motorbikes – he loves the old models.
3. Our boss is an ______________________ collector of comic books. He owns over a thousand.
4. If I have to work at Christmas, I’m going to ________________________ - I hate working then.
5. Did you have a skateboard when the _______________________ arrived in your country?
6. As well as jumpers, there are ______________________ Christmas hats, gloves and scarves.

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E Look at this extract from the article. What does the highlighted expression mean?

November 2014
Businessweek
Michael Lewis has seen his share of over-the-top apparel.

There are other expressions with top in English. What do you think these mean?

1. top dog

2. top of the line

3. pay top dollar

4. take something from the top

5. at the top of one’s game

6. blow one’s top

Match the expressions to the following explanations.

____ pay a lot of money for something

____ performing extremely well
____ become very angry
____ the very best of something
____ the most important and powerful person in a group
blow one’s top
____ start (again) at the beginning

Respond to these prompts using the expressions above:

1. Jim has broken all the sales records this year.

2. The new manager has a terrible temper – he can explode at any moment.
3. Can we go over this again as it’s still not clear to me?
4. Although Mark is the CEO, it’s David, the Finance Director, who really runs things.
5. This model is the best one available.
6. I think we paid too much for this small company – it cost us a fortune.

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reading
student pages 4 intermediate+ (B1+)
Teacher’s notes 1

Discuss the following statements and decide if they are true % or false X.
1. false 2. true 3. true 4. false 5. false 6. false 7. false 8. true 9. true 10. true
Find words in the article than mean the following.
1. avid 2. craze 3. novelty 4. entrepreneurs 5. vintage 6. quit
Use the words from the article to complete these sentences:
1. entrepreneurs 2. vintage 3. avid 4. quit 5. craze 6. novelty

What does the highlighted expression mean?

over-the-top = more extreme than is necessary or suitable
Match the expressions to the following explanations.
3. pay a lot of money for something
5. performing extremely well
6. become very angry
2. the very best of something
1. the most important and powerful person in a group
4. start (again) at the beginning
Respond to these prompts using the expressions above:
1. Jim’s at the top of his game.
2. He can blow his top easily.
3. Let’s take it from the top.
4. So David is the top dog.
5. It’s the top of the line.
6. You paid top dollar for it.