Peterman Reboots

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Meanwhile, Peterman can't help being an entrepreneur--he's been dreaming up future licensing ventures that include "a company that supplies safaris and other adventure travel in the Peterman style" and a TV shopping show. "Not a shopping channel," he says, "but a show done in a Peterman way, like 'shopping the world with J. Peterman.'" The key to such plans, he adds, "is that I remain in control and focused on the Peterman brand."

Whether or not such grand schemes materialize, Peterman has turned the failure of his previous company into a lucrative career move. He has written a book about his rise and fall, Peterman Rides Again (Prentice Hall Press; $25), and lectured M.B.A. students at N.Y.U.'s Stern School of Business, and he continues to speak to business groups and university students. "I tell them that failure is part of the learning process," Peterman says. "If you're afraid to take a risk and make a mistake, you'll never create anything. It was only F. Scott Fitzgerald who said there were no second acts in American lives."