Joe Mimran net worth is estimated at £150 million (USD $200 million; CAD $250 million) – Canada’s Dragons Den dragon and Toronto-based fashion entrepreneur…
This article is about Joe Mimran net worth and how this Canadian immigrant became a successful entrepreneur. Joe Mimran or also known for “Jo Fresh” or “Joe Fresh.” He is a dragon on CBC Dragons Den and a Canadian fashion pioneer.
He’s also known as “Joe Mimran no socks“, as he appears on Dragons Den with shoes, but without socks. Which for a man at the age 65 is a trendy point of fashion. With his almost trade-mark glasses look, Mimran is a sharp-dressed entrepreneur. His glasses are bespoke made by Oliver Goldsmith and he says: “I can’t live (or see) without them.”
Why this article on Joe Mimran net worth?
My interest in Joe Mimran is several fold, as follows:
- Firstly, he’s a dragon on Dragons Den, a program I love.
- He’s a successful entrepreneur and I love to research and find out about success.
- He began his career as a fellow Chartered Accountant.
Main sections of this article on Joe Mimran net worth are:
- What is Joe Mimran net worth?
- Where business life began for Joe Mimran and his background.
- Joe Mimran Dragons Den Canada.
- Joe Mimran brands.
- A few of Joe Mimran quotes.
- Joseph Mimran home and his life away from business and investing.
A Moroccan-borne entrepreneur, let’s start at the beginning…
What is Joe Mimran net worth?
Joe Mimran worth is estimated at around £150 million (USD $200 million; CAD $250 million). This retail guru has been in the fashion industry since around 1977.
His business career in fashion started when he joined the family business alongside his brother Saul Mimran. However, Joe Mimran’s net worth climbed for himself when he began a new business Club Monaco. Club Monaco consolidated his wealth significantly when he sold this company to Ralph Lauren in 1999.
The net worth of Joe Mimran is amongst the highest in Canada’s Dragons Den. Joe Mimran has been a dragon on the show since 2015.
Where business life began for Joe Mimran and his background…
Destined to become a fashion icon, Joe Mimran grew up with the sound of a sewing machine in the background, as his Jewish mother was a couturier. In fact both his parents are of Jewish origin and he has a Moroccan nationality.
He moved from his birth place of Casablanca at an early age to Toronto. He originally qualified as a Chartered Accountant, but his accounting career was not to last for long.
He left working as an accountant to join his brother to help him run the family dress-making business. In the beginning they had just five sewing machines and Joe had to do everything, including the books of the business.
His brother and Joe hire Alfred Sung, a Canadian designer, in 1979. They used Sung to help them design their new range and in 1981 they launched Alfred Sung.
The Alfred Sung Design Range became extremely popular and they’d soon opened a number of stores across North America. The brand eventually went international and the brothers expanded into fragrance, wedding dresses, eye-wear and home-ware too.
Joe Mimran left the family business to setup his own brand and business Club Monaco, which is where his fortune was to be made.
Joe Mimran Dragons Den Canada…
Joe Mimran dragon has been on Dragons Den Canada since season 10 in 2015. He joined veteran dragon Jim Treliving, The Wek Michael Wekerle, Tech and Fintech entrepreneur and business woman Michele Romanow, beer baroness Manjit Minhas and returning dragon Arlene Dickinson.
In an interview with Toronto Life he’s asked about the requirement to wear the same outfit throughout the Dragons Den series, to which he replies “It’s fashion purgatory! It’s like Jean-Paul Sartre’s world, where there are no mirrors. It’s my personal hell.”
In the same interview where Jim Treliving is referred to as the veteran of CBC’s Dragons Den, Mike Wekerle as the wild man, Michele Romanow is the techie and Manjit Minhas is the sweetheart, Joe describes himself as the “Velvet Fist.”
Joseph Mimran is a snappy dresser and a fashion pioneer. He has built successful clothes brands like Club Monaco, Made in Canada Pink Tartan and Joe Fresh Baby, which have all been responsible for building his current wealth and success.
In order to create the time he needed to become a dragon investor, Joe Mimran had to resign from Joe Fresh.
Joe Mimran Dragons Den deals…
In a surprise offer in the den by Joe Mimran, he offered £30,000 (USD $40,000; CAD $50,000) for Resourceful Redneck business. The original dragons den deal on the table was CAD $50,000 for 10% of the business. But in the end Mike Holland and Steen Gunderson accepted an equity stake of 20% from Mimran.
Resourceful Redneck is a business setup to supply products for hunters and fishermen, including deterrent to prevent bears from climbing trees. The business had only sold CAD $6,000 (£3,500; USD $4,800) before appearing on Dragons Den having only launched it 22 days before appearing in front of the dragons.
The other dragons, including Michele Romanow gave the pair of entrepreneurs advice on what they should do. The advice included setting up a Facebook page and supplying out their products to bloggers to get the message out there. However, it was Joe Mimran who decided in the end to make this one of his Dragon den investments.
Ellebox Dragons Den Investment…
Another of Joe Mimran Dragons Den investments is Ellebox. This small startup business is a monthly subscription box of customised organic pads, tampons, and self-care gifts to treat women on their periods.
The deal offered to the dragons on the day was for CAD $25,000 (£15,000; USD $20,000) for a 15% stake in the company. The three Vancouver entrepreneurs Bunny Ghatrora, Taran Ghatrora, and Jessica Bilmer were delighted to accept Joe Mimrans offer to invest in the deal as it stood.
Joe Mimran brands include…
This fashion icon of Canada is responsible for a number of successful fashion brands emanating from Canada.
The first of these fashion brands is Joe Fresh…
Joe Fresh Style was launched in the spring of 2006. This was achieve via a link-up for Joe Mimran with Loblaw. This cheap-chic clothing line became a big hit for Loblaw. The company approached Mimran to design their own in-house brand after Walmart Canada introduced clothing brand George, which is a successful brand in their British division Asda. It was this brand that originally led to Mimran first becoming a house-hold name.
Joe Fresh suffered a PR nightmare when the Bangladesh factory collapsed in April 2013. The disaster at the factory, which manufactured Joe Fresh garments, killed more than 1,100 workers. As Loblaw’s reputation was to be affected too, they employed a full-time manager to oversee sourcing and standards in Bangladesh. They also helped the affected families and worked to help raise working standards in the region.
Joe Mimran resigned from Joe Fresh in 2015, to be replaced by Mario Grauso. His resignation from the Loblaw chain gave Mimran the spare time he needed to allow him to become a dragon on CBC’s Dragons Den.
Fashion brand Club Monaco…
When Joe Mimran was faced with not being able to find a white cotton shirt he founded Club Monaco, which was his first major business. This was in the mid 1980’s when he began his Canadian fashion business. Originally the business was developed as a line of minimalist basics.
The company has been a public company twice. The first time was in 1986, but was made private again in 1989 until it was floated once more in 1996. To add to the brand of Club Monaco, Mimran created home-ware business Caban.
Caban is where he met his now wife Kimberley Newport-Mimran…see below for more details.
Joe Mimran increased his wealth significantly when he sold both Club Monaco and Caban to Ralph Lauren in 1999 for a cool £73 million (CAD $ 122 million; USD $ 98.6 million). At this stage in the growth of Club Monaco, the business was international with 125 stores world-wide including New York, American and London, England.
Joe Mimran Pink Tartan…
Kim Newport-Mimran is the president and creative director of Pink Tartan. Pink Tartan was launched in 2002 and is a women’s ready-to-wear collection and luxury sportswear. The brand is based around Kim’s favourite colour…pink.
The brand is sold in up-market department stores including Holt Renfrew and Saks. They also sell in their own store in Toronto’s Yorkville too. The brand has done well. Pink Tartan is sold overseas. Now sold in many states of American, plus as far afield as Seoul and Dubai.
At around the same time as starting Pink Tartan with his wife Kim, Joseph re-opened his design consultancy firm Joseph Mimran & Associates too. This was at the time when he’d sold Club Monaco to Ralph Lauren.
Joe Mimran Gibraltar & Company…
Another venture which adds to Joe Mimran’s net worth is a recent venture capital company Gibraltar & Company, where he acts as chairman. He started Gibraltar Ventures in 2013. This venture capital business backs exceptional entrepreneurs and in particular entrepreneurs with Canadian technology companies.
Headed – Joseph Mimran as the co-founder, president and CEO “Jo Fresh”. The business provides private equity and includes Fanxchange, Blue Ant Media and Pressly in their portfolio of investments so far.
Joe Mimran quotes…
As with most of my entrepreneur-focused articles I like to include some inspiration quotes by the entrepreneur. Joe Mimran quotes include…
“If you do something based on integrity and honest, and try to do the best you can, money will follow.”
Another quote from Joe Mimran showing his dogged determination as an entrepreneur…
“I would say I used to spend 60 percent of my time just to raise capital, when I was growing.” Which leads on to another Joe Mimran quote…”The hardest thing, particularly in the fashion industry in Canada, has been access to capital.”
A Joe Mimran quote of his own taken from an article in Canadian Living:
“I think part of being a good entrepreneur is being prepared to make some mistakes, and then adjusting your strategy as you go—because not everything works. “
In the same interview when asked about the qualities needed to be a successful entrepreneur, he answers with:
“You have to have a belief in yourself, you have to have energy and you have to go out and get it done.” He adds: “Don’t fall in love with the product until your customer tells you that you should fall in love with it. “
Joseph Mimran home and his life away from business and investing…
Joe Mimran lives in midtown-Toronto Canada where the house-design is akin to a luxury hotel. Joe Mimran’s house includes of course fashion-filled closets.
A separate closet and bathroom is the recipe to a happy marriage according to his wife Kim…
Joe Mimran wife Kimberley Newport-Mimran…
A picture on his Twitter feed with Joe Mimran and wife Kim…Kim admires her husband describing him as very attractive and very charismatic. They travel together and exercise together to.
Joe Mimran House and home…
Joe Mimran lives with his wife Kimberley Newport-Mimran in their Toronto home. Joe and Kim Mimran got married in 2001 and are a design duo. In an interview in Hello magazine he explains about when it comes to design: “Kim and I usually agree on everything.”
Joe and Kim Mimran also have a house in Upper East Side Manhattan, New York. The walls of their New York maisonette houses many of Joe Mimran’s art collection. His extensive art collection includes paintings by Thomas Zipp, Hannah van Bart and Larry Poons. It also includes a scupture by Volker Huller too.
Joe Mimran also has a Palm Beach house too. Their Palm Beach home is an ultra modern 3,483 square-foot home, complete with a pool. He bought this beach house property with wife Kim in 2011 for a cool £1.6 million (USD $2.14 million; CAD $2.65 million).
His wife Kim is a self proclaimed foodie. She loves to cook at home and Joe loves her cooking.
Joe Mimran family and children…
Joe Mimran and Kimberley Newport-Mimran have a daughter together, named Jacqueline.
But Joe Mimran also has three children from first wife and interior designer Sharon Mimran. One of his children is his son Alexander Mimran who has followed in his fathers foot steps to become an entrepreneur, but not in fashion. His son is a web entrepreneur who shares his condo with Jordan Porter a fashion and beauty editor.
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