Alan Robinson left school at 16 hoping to make as much money as possible. At first, he worked for his father, who owned several newsagents' shops in London. "I learnt a great deal about running a business from being in a small shop. You find out that every penny matters." {{U}}(9) {{/U}}, and a couple of years later he was offered a job by his uncle. "He asked me to manage a chain of bookshops he had in South Africa and taught me everything I know about management."

When he came back to Britain, Alan was offered a job in London as a product development manager with an exciting new clothes company called Naismith's. {{U}}(10) {{/U}}. "I found I really understood the fashion business and what influences products, {{U}}(11) {{/U}}."

One day in the warehouse he noticed a range of sports clothes that had been sent from a manufacturer in New York for the company to look at. "I took the clothes round the office and everyone loved them. {{U}}(12) {{/U}}, so this range was something new." {{U}}(13) {{/U}}. However, she was happy with the way things were and, feeling disappointed, Alan decided to leave and try to sell them himself.

Robinson went to New York just to talk to the manufacturer. He went with his father and they took $12,000 from savings to buy stock. Alan says, "We tried for a whole week to get an interview with the manufacturer and he refused us three times. {{U}}(14) {{/U}}." On his return, Robinson successfully sold the clothes to small fashion and sports shops, and he began to start producing designs of his own.

"Then, I had my big break when I received a phone call from F&G, one of the largest department stores. They had heard about Robinson Sportswear from the trade journals." F&G were looking for good-quality sports clothes to expand their limited range and asked Robinson to produce items especially for them. Over the next three years the company became his biggest customer.

Robinson Sportswear now makes profits of $2.3m on sales of $10m and Robinson himself is worth over $21m. "Money doesn't matter to me—what's really exciting is making deals."
A. so I was able to take the design team's ideas and turn them into commercially successful products
B. at the time, most sports clothes were not very fashionable
C. but finally he gave in and he became our main supplier
D. then he quitted this job and went to school again
E. he felt immediately at home there
F. we felt rather upset then but got nothing to do
G. Robinson then tried to persuade his boss to sell these clothes
H. then he took a job as a salesman for a food manufacturer