Vladimir Melnikov is the founder of Gloria Jeans. Since November 1, 2018, he has been the CEO of Sharen Jester Turnie. He is actively involved in charity work, is a religious person.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Melnikov is a famous Russian businessman. The owner and chairman of the board of directors is Gloria Jeans. Born March 10, 948 in Belarus. In October 2011, he was noted by Forbes magazine as the most unusual businessman.
Biography
Vladimir Melnikov was a teenager when his parents died. At 12, he left school, and at 15 already got a job at the Rostselmash plant. In his free time he read a lot. The passion for books has been preserved to this day. While working at the enterprise, the young man noted: the farther the point of sale is from the factory, the more expensive the final product is.
The makings of an entrepreneur at this age began to manifest themselves actively. The boy could buy a bag of fish from fishermen for a liter bottle of vodka (its average price was 2.5 rubles) and sell a kilogram of fish for 15 rubles. On particularly successful days, a young man received an income of about 150 rubles a day.
A little later he began to make a living by reselling scarce goods and illegally selling foreign currency. For such actions, in those difficult times for the whole country, they put him in jail. Punishment could not be avoided by Vladimir Melnikov. In 1969, he first ends up in a general prison for five years.
In total, he was arrested three times. In total, he served 10 years, which did not prevent him from creating a “jeans empire”. In prison, the young man severely froze his legs, for this reason almost always wears woolen socks and does not tie shoes.
Vladimir Melnikov has a son. When he was two years old, a poster was hung over the crib with the inscription: "Take care of the honor from a young age." When the son learned to read, he began to dislike this expression. He constantly tried to tear him off the wall. Once, when his son was already big, Vladimir Melnikov in one of the blogs read the correspondence of his child. They asked her what was most important for a young man. He replied: "Protect honor from a young age." The phrase helped shape the choices and start making the right decisions. Today, his son, educated in the United States, is the head of the charity foundation. V. Melnikov also has a daughter who devoted her life to raising children.
Gloria Jeans Opening
In the first half of the 80s of the last century, Vladimir bought a sewing machine. He did not plan to work on it independently, so he became the organizer of an underground workshop in the basement of one of the Rostov schools. They were engaged in tailoring jeans pants. To obtain a fashionable effect, the fabric was rubbed with a stone. Very quickly, clothes became popular, and Melnikov’s income began to grow rapidly.
The time has come in the country when it became necessary to withdraw one’s business “from the shadows”. In 1988, the Gloria sewing cooperative appeared. A year later, the idea came to upgrade the equipment to a more modern, imported one. For this, Vladimir Vladimirovich himself went for new machines. For an attempt to withdraw dollars was again taken into custody. During these years, the wife of Lyudmila Leonidovna Melnikova was engaged in business.
The businessman himself was crying in the courtroom because he did not understand why he was being tried. In his opinion, capitalism is the most correct regime, since it allows you to significantly increase income.
Case development in the 90s of the last century:
- 1991 the first affiliate store of the company was opened;
- 1994 acquired a factory in Bataisk;
- 1995 a factory was bought in Novoshakhtinsk;
- 1996 Representative offices were opened in the largest Russian cities.
In the first ten years, the company became one of the largest manufacturers of clothing and children for adolescents.
According to the Federal State Statistics Service (1999), “Gloria Jeans” has become the absolute leader in children's clothing in the country. In the same year, 4.3 million products were launched.
The company has repeatedly won various competitions:
- “Brand of the year”;
- “Leader of the Russian economy”;
- “People’s Brand”;
- "The most bought brand."
In December 2012, due to a serious illness, Melnikov's wife died. She was ill for 1.5 years. At this time, the entrepreneur retired, devoted himself to caring for his wife. About the personal life of a businessman, nothing is currently known.
