enter spanx.invented the idea as shapewear is a business story for the ages and abc's juju chang has it. >> red carpet secret? spanx. >> spanx. >> spanx. >> reporter: it's the not so secret secret to looking slim and trim. >> you have got to wear spanx. >> reporter: that must have undergarment. >> spanx. >> reporter: celebrities can't stop blabbing about. >> spanx. >> spanx. >> best invention. >> reporter: that word of mouth has paid off over 13 years. spanx now sucks in $250 million in annual sales with not one penny spent in traditional advertising. >> i think the magnitude of it only hits me in moments. >> reporter: the woman behind all those shapely behinds, sara blakely, the inventor and founder of spanx. >> it's hard for me to absorb like that's a product i created, like, you know i created it. >> reporter: spanx is now to shapewear what kleenex is to tissue. a billion dollar household name. >> what we are hear the most from e-mails and phone calls is confidence. i feel confidence i don't ha

spanx. it helped the owner build a billion-dollar empire, all for wearing something you're not going to see. here's how she did it. >> the simple answer, christine, is word of mouth. every man out there and has a woman knows what spanx are. put them on, it gives you a slim shape. but the woman who did this sold magazines door to door to making a billion dollars in ten months. take a listen. sara blakely admits she's not your typical ceo. she's never taken a business course, nor did she have any experience in her field. but she's a grade a student when it comes to not taking no for an answer. >> i got laughed at a lot the whole way, but i learned that you had to keep going. >> blakely is the world's youngest self-made female difficult onair, thanks to spanx, tight-fitting shapewear for women, an idea that came to her while she was getting dressed for a party. >> there was a void for undergaunder d undergarments for women. so they created a shaper like a second skin. >> it will suck you in wit

i wear spanx.more information than you all need to know but -- >> one mention from oprah and 20,000 pairs of spanx were sold in less than a day. >> you can imagine it's like winning the lottery as an entrepreneur. >> blakely's road to success didn't start out easy. after failing to make the cut for law school, she sold fax machines. >> i always say failure in many cases is life's way of nudging you and letting you know you're off course. if i hadn't failed, spanx would not exist. >> after patenting her idea, she begged factories to start making it. although they were refused, blakely refused to stop trying. >> when i grew up, my dad used to encourage my brother and me to fail so i would come home from school and sit at the dinner table and my dad would say, what did you fail at this week? if i didn't have something to tell him, he would be disappointed. if we weren't failing enough in the home, we weren't trying new things. >> and the take away from that interview is if you have an idea for a produ

. >>> sarah blakely of spanx. the tag line should be don't leave home without it and ali webb.good story. >> this was so fascinating to me. i think if you're a woman, entrepreneur, business owner you're feeling really excited today because it says women are part of the fastest growing segment of society in terms of businesses. does that surprise you, number one, and what type of businesses are we talking about? >> well you know it's not surprising to me that women are making their footprint on the american economy. they're doing the business they want to. they're starting more companies as you said. importantly they're growing their companies faster and they're employed more people. >> and it starts with a woman's idea. that's what i think is so fabulous. you're a hair stylist and many were probably thinking i should have thought of that. >> as a girl with naturally curly frizzy hair there was a hole in the marketplace. you know, there was no place for women to go for a great blowout in a beautiful space in an affordable price. it didn't exist. i felt like it was my duty to bri

they face tough competition from victoria's secrets and spanx. the deal still needs to be approves by shareholders. >>> the president of carnival and royal caribbean defended their industry before a senate committee. over the past five years there have been 63 fires onboard cruise ships. the committee introduced a bill to improve passenger safety. it's certainly been a tough time for cruise lines lately. >> yeah, but people still get on boards. >> they love the buffets. >> maybe that's it. >> ashley morrison here in new york. thank you, ashley. >>> coming up on the "morning news," political pressure, former congressman anthony weiner resists calls for him to drop out of the mayor's race in new york city after his latest sexting revelation. this is the "cbs morning news." latest sexting revelation. this is the "cbs morning news." ♪ the joint is jumpin' [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex helps revitalize your joints to keep 'em jumpin'.° like calcium supplements can help your bones, osteo bi-flex can help your joints. osteo bi-flex... now available i

do you expect cyprus not stuck to russia when thirty billion dollars of thirty billion euros are in spanx. so therefore there was a conspiracy theory that eva was going to do this anyways they were going to have the hair cut done but having so much money in cyprus was like an additional extra reason to actually do it because it will also hit russian money. i know the arguments of for. such a. nature but i think all the arguments being think into account when the decision is taken so i would not exclude. that german. politicians or french reputation is so we're thinking both russia's world and they're taking the decision but i don't think that was the main argument the main argument was that cyprus is. hurting. the mainland the fewer poor by taking part of money is a go to europe or in. cyprus is a well. is a. haven for big amounts of money cyprus will do all for its problems and they would have done it anyway i guess i think i think that the russian. factor will fuck that was not big icing on a cake yes maybe yes and there were also much. yes here's a graph also going to take a look there

you expect sappers not stuck to russia when thirty billion dollars of thirty billion euros are in spanx so therefore there was a conspiracy theory that either was going to do this anyways they were going to have the haircut done but having so much money in cyprus was like an additional extra reason to actually do it because it will also hit russian money. i know the arguments of for. such. nature but i think all the arguments are being taken into account when the decision is taken so i would not exclude. that german. politicians or french reputation is so we're thinking both russia's vote and they're taking the decision but i don't think that was the main argument the main argument was that cyprus. is. hurting. the mainland the fewer poor by taking part of monies that go to europe or in. cyprus. is. haven for big amounts of money cyprus will do well for its problems and they would have done it anyway i guess i think i think that the russian russian factor which i thought fuck that was not because icing on a cake you know maybe yeah there were also much spec yet because you hurt so much

spanx staying there again hearing the story where b. and i didn't agree to talk about surveillance me. more news today. again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are today. look. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food. if you know how. i mean. i know that i'm sitting seems really messed up. in the hurry so closely apologized and said. worst superglue. my house to give it to a radio guy in fort lauderdale minestrone office. quote for about fifteen years you've never seen anything like this i'm told. on the break in the set i'm having martin today something very important is scheduled to happen the first ever vote on.

as to, they know a lot more than we do certainly when it comes to -- >> i hope you packed a lot of spanx because you may be there a while. >> i may be here a while. i'm doing a lot of shopping. i figured the longer this goes on we can come up with a royal baby drinking game. so every time i say royal baby and there's still no royal baby, we have to -- >> we have our sippy cups. we have mama's sippy cups. wine in a sippy cup. natalie, we're saving one for you. >> love you, natalie. that is one of our favorite things. >> save me a drink. >> sip for you. favorite things, this is a sippy cup. there's a woman named -- well, we'll call her square peg. she works in rehoboth. she sent you and me both little gift baskets. >> yes. yes, she did. >> and one of them that wound up in this was a sippy cup which has a nice glass of wine and you can drink out of it. anyway, square peg accessories.com. that's the website. >> now my favorite is something called -- they were heroes. it's the granite mountain hot shots. these are the 19 brave unbelievable firefighters who lost their lives on june 30th while

. >> in the u.s., it's spanx.air of spanx. >> reporter: whether kate might do the same is unclear. but one thing is certain. she's expected to look divine, especially when she follows in the steps of diana and takes a front and center seat at the baby's highly-anticipated christening, likely to take place this fall. if anyone's going to be photographed more than kate, it's going to be this royal baby. we decided to do some shopping. we found a royal snugly for the baby. a diaper bag. and onesies. great for the future monarch. >> bring it back for your son. >> you're such an american tourist, though, with all of that stuff. >> thank you, bianna. can't wait to talk about baby onesie fashion coming up next. lara? >> all right, guys. >>> also steaming up "the heat index," extreme closet makeover. it's part of our series "improve this." when you look in your closet and can't find anything to wear, it may not be your wardrobe's fault. it could be a case of closet clutter. abc's cecilia vega let with a closet guru to fin

. >> except for your spanx. >> these dresses are by muse. they start at $99. and i wear them all the time because they are multicolored. they are easy to wear. bobbie told me about them. i started going online. i just buy them online. and they are -- >> they are all adorable. >> as high as $120, $130. they aren't outrageously priced. >> okay, good. >> and sara, what's yours? >> hi. mine is i'm obsessed with this coffee called stumptown coffee. they roast it in brooklyn but it's out of portland. it's one of those coffees, even though i use cream and sugar, i have kind of gone to almost drinking it black because it's that good. >> it's sweet in nature. it's not sweetened, right? >> you know how sometimes coffee can be so bitter and strong. this has a very smooth taste. >> all righty. >> love it. all right. >> it's pouring but don't go anywhere. >> we'll dial up our fan of the week. might be you. >> probably not. >> doubtful. >> and your kids loves her as icarly. now she has something else your whole family will love. >> and all the gossip you missed when you wer

grocery stores are calling it a good day for business, while spanx is calling it a great day for businessughter ] twinkies are back. new york city is all excited. we got the all-star game. [ cheers and applause ] new york city has the all-star game! we're so excited about that here. and a ticket -- i found out a ticket to the major league baseball all-star game is $859. [ audience oohs ] or as fans call that, still cheaper than a hot dog. [ laughter ] $859. a lot of money. or as the fathers hoping for a bonding experience with their sons put it, "you like the zoo, right?" [ laughter ] we'll watch it on tv. are you following the race for the mayor of new york city? [ cheers ] it's really heating up. and as you know, one of the candidates is anthony weiner. and -- [ laughter ] most people said that he had no chance. but believe it or not, he's actually been surging in the polls. [ laughter ] check out -- the chart here. there's -- there was yesterday. [ laughter ] and look at where he is today. he's all the way up here. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ not only that -- he's also leading among both

and i found that the process of writing the book was like an emotional ripping off of my man-spanx. - ( laughs ) right. - it was like-- for all these years i sort of kept so much of it, like-- all my fears and all my neurosis and worry that i'm not gonna be the perfect parent, i kept it all in and writing the book was really a way of just saying, "guess what? this is what-- i may be crazy. i'm not-- i may not be doing it right, but this is how i've been doing it. these are the--" listen. you will never be the same after your kids say to you, "smell my fingers." - oh, yeah yeah yeah! let's talk about that. your daughter eliza, she's five? - she's five. no no! she's seven-- she's eight now. - she's eight now, but when she was how old? - when she was about three and a half, maybe four... it's the beginning of-- it's the opening of the book, so i won't give away too much, but i will say that i was not expecting while putting toothpaste on the toothbrush, and i handed it to her and she smiled at me with those twinkly eyes and said, "daddy, smell my fingers." - ( laughter ) - and did you? -

do you expect cyprus not stuck to russia when thirty billion dollars of thirty billion euros are in spanx so therefore there was a conspiracy theory that either was going to do this anyways they were going to have the haircut done but having so much money in cyprus was like an additional extra reason to actually do it because it will also hit russian money. i know the arguments of for. such. nature but i think all the arguments being taken into account when the decision is taken so i would not exclude. that german. politicians or french reputation is so we're thinking both russia as well because they were taking the decision but i don't think that was the main argument the main argument was that cyprus is. hurting. the mainland the fewer poor by taking part of money is a go to europe or in. cyprus is a. haven for big amounts of money cyprus will do all for its problems and they would have done it anyway yes i think i think that the russian. russian factor which i thought fuck that was not because icing on a cake yeah maybe yeah there were also much spec yet because you hurt so much talk i

market that is a better guardian of the people free trade capitalism and free market is what brought spanx control is not even with our lady he's at least partly going to get regulation. calls for the consolidation of the banks oh by anything to do regulation no i think reagan these are the options we need to stop just sort of that's gone three thirty years of deregulation yes i which is yes to this is what you all seem to be example of dissolving so the regulation has encouraged them to get larger too good where you can imagine good regulation would make them smaller we have yet to see that they have a right heel or oh ben cohen dutch martin guys thanks for being with us thank you for shit. going up the george zimmerman trial has forced americans to confront our country's racial divisions like no other event in recent history how do we break down social barriers and come together to form a more perfect union as dr cornell west has conversations great minds after the break. we'll. technology innovation all the developments from around russia. the future covered. furtherance conversations w

they're made in thailand, the male equivalent of spanx. will you you try an american product? . >> i will try that. i got them from a woman. >> lulu lemon? . >> she had to send me instructions there is no flap. you do need to pull down. >> you love flap, right? . >> can i tell you something? i don't think lulu lemon makes underwear. >> these were shorts that had underwear in them. >> no, no, i got, they do have the flaps. they have a thing. >> all right. >> i don't know what you are wearing. i'll be happy to talk to you about it after we're done. >> some men don't like the ripped dude on it. it's really designed for -- >> i think that's sort of, right in. >> i think it's aspiration. >> it might know aspirational as we move from a float-sexual economy into something else. >> lulu lemon. >> are you implying -- >> i don't know what i'm implying. >> is that a fantasy of yours? . >> know your competitor. >> yeah, okay. >> lululemon, they really like being an apparel manufacturer who touch on underwear. they're not and underwear per se manufacturer. >> we will be delivering alpha. >