Fast Company  They Sell Suits with Soul  At Men's Wearhouse's
Suits University, salespeople don't just learn how to sell suits
- they learn how to understand people.  The only thing worse
than a pushy salesman in a slick suit is a salesman pushing a
slick suit. In 1973, that insight led George Zimmer to open a
store that would sell suits differently from how they'd been
sold before. Much has changed since he opened that first store
in Houston: The Men's Wearhouse Inc. is now the country's
leading discount retailer of men's clothing, with 6,000
employees, more than 400 stores, and annual revenues of $630
million. But Zimmer's basic idea remains the same. "The average
man enjoys shopping for clothes about as much as going to the
dentist," says Zimmer, 49, the company's CEO.  How do you build
a company around customers who hate buying what you sell? By
building a company that reinvents the shopping experience. "Most
business practices repress our natural tendency to have fun and
to socialize," Zimmer says. "The