Director and NSD Suit Buzz
Written by Parsons Green
A new petition has been created by NSD Deborah Wehrer asking for the company to release an updated director and nsd suit at the January Leadership Event in Nashville. This is always the typical time line for new suits to be released, since the company has been releasing a new suit every 2 years. (Remember the good old days of a new overpriced suit each year?)
So what has Deb heard and why is she taking this public? Is MK delaying a new suit for an extra year or two, or are they thinking about doing away with the suit altogether?
Mariann begs Ryan Rogers to continue the tradition. Under Ryan’s leadership, the Ruby Seminar was dissolved. Is Ryan truly concerned with the legacy of his grandmother’s company or the profitability of it going forward?
Pansy Pierce has been in Mary Kay for 46 years. She remembers a 60 Minutes story where the company was praised for how well dressed their sales force was. Did Pansy watch the 20/20 story where three sales directors could not tell the reporter how much income they had?
Pamela and Donna discuss how consultants will work for the privilege of earning a director’s suit. (Yes, it’s another manipulation tool when recruiting and encouraging consultants to move up the ladder.)
Marcy mentions how the suits are used to show a visible ranking of where you are in the Mary Kay structure. 
Cindy would like a dress or skirt option to be offered along with the jacket. She admits that some outsides may see the directors in jackets and think that the company is a cult. She then ends her plea by letting Ryan Rogers know that she loves him.
The petition has been shared multiple times in consultant and director Facebook groups. One director mentions her national area was asked by Deb to share it!
Katrina Balding Bills asks if anyone has called the company to clarify the suit status.
Siobhan Spears jumps in to post that she has heard that nsds have not been asked for feedback on a new nsd suit option, which is outside the normal timeline for suit replacement. She then helpfully reminds everyone that this petition is aimed strictly for nsds and directors and NOT consultants.
Pastor Carolyn Evans wants everyone to know that things will be ok. She heard from someone that the new nsd suit option was ready but wasn’t up to Mary Kay quality. The suit is currently being redone. She’d like the suits to continue.
It’s very telling that the 122 remaining nsds have not yet heard what the new suit options will be, and that one created an outside petition to stir up a panic.
Could Mary Kay be ditching the traditional director jacket? Would they discontinue the jacket if they were making a profit selling them?
Visit the
Oh my, the bad spelling, lack of apostrophes, incomplete sentences, etc. and “I wear my seat proudly”??
Being cynical … the designers on fiverr were unsatisfactory for what the company wanted to pay? The TEMU sellers wanted up front payment?
BTW the old provider, St John Knits, is still in business and selling jackets at $1K a pop.
Many of the St. John’s jackets with metallic details are priced at $1500-1800, and you know how those NSDs love their sparkles!
I’m old enough to remember when NSD’s secretly flew to Dallas to confront Laura beitler on her horrible decisions. Would be much more professional for nationals to handle this situation quietly like that also. What’s with the drama? Why involve everyone? Go handle it so you’re not getting everyone all stirred up. Except maybe nationals can’t afford to fly next day to Dallas like they could in 2019ish. A petition from the couch is more their financial situation now.
Pansy L Pierce We were known as the best dressed women in America in our uniforms SD suits, better than the women who worked for the Airlines.
Not a ringing endorsement as I’m sure Ms. Pierce thinks of “Airline Women” as glorified waitresses and not highly trained professional staff.
Jennifer I get compliments when wearing my “MK director uniform from young, mature, men &women.
Insert “Sure, Jan” Gif.
I rather have a reputation for being conservative address like the royal family.
Guess Jennifer has never seen photos of the late Queen and Princesses Anne and Margaret in the 60’s and 70’s rocking mini-skirts and pant-suits. Or some of their evening dresses of the early part of QEII’s reign when bare shoulders and decolletage were de rigueur. Not to mention how the younger royals especially Catherine, The Princess of Wales wears pants, a lot on royal visits. Princess Anne in a male admiral’s dress uniform for her mother’s funeral.
We had apparel for my sandwich franchise that was for managers only. To help them stand out. I’ve always held the belief that in my busy kitchen at the shop, you should be able to tell who the manager is even if everyone is wearing the same shirt.
OK, I guess that does hold true for the SD and NSDs. They are the ones with the wigs/extenstions, caterpillar eyelashes and questionable attire that you can not miss.
Before I stepped down, I was asked by MK Corporate staff about my thoughts of getting rid of the uniform (Because so many directors were saying it was so expensive) and perhaps offering different scarfs for the different levels. No joke.
Shortly after this conversation, they made the Director suit jacket only…and went from every year to every other year.
I’m sure if they got rid of the suit, each National Area would put something into place to distinguish the different levels….why not wear a pin if you’re looking to save money? I must say that when you give people the opportunity to wear what they want, the outcome isn’t necessarily the most professional.
They can’t wear just a pin. It would get lost in the 12 bees, 6 unit “sales” levels, chunky national area pin and whatever other tacky costume crap they litter their ill-fitting jackets with.
The argument that it saves money on clothing cracks me up because those damn suits and jackets are so overpriced. 😂 You can find decent quality clothing and shoes secondhand if you look hard enough and are that dedicated to saving money. Plus I still maintain those Pepto Bismol bad Chanel cosplay jackets are ugly and nobody can make them look good no matter how much they try to gaslight us.
Off topic, but I just bought a mauve 2018 director’s suit off of ebay. It’s going to be my Delores Umbridge Halloween costume.
I love this SO MUCH. 😂😂😂😂😂
SCREAMING!!!!!
I wonder why the national jacket “wasn’t up to quality” and how it “needs to be redone.”
With the exception of denim jackets ($700), their lowest priced jacket of any type is $1100 and lowest cost tweed jacket is $1300.
Does Mary Kay get a discount for bulk orders? I think MK is too cash-strapped to shell out for the expensive jackets and has to scramble to look elsewhere.
Moving seminar from Dallas to NC (though it looks like it’s going back to Texas in 2026), no more paid lunches, fewer at each level recognized, getting rid of Ruby, combining seminars, no more year-specific sashes, NSD’s mass retiring, no more hard copy look books, not publishing earnings on In Touch…
Affiliate-only model in 4…3…2…
I don’t think they are using St John Knits now. They went to a knockoff company to save money.
Maybe MK is embarrassed at what is playing paired with their jackets…
The jacket only “uniform” was a flop in my opinion. The way in which some of the directors styled it was hideous. If they do away with uniforms all together Mary Kay will lose its professional image. Even though their dress code is outdated, it is one of the things that makes them stand out from other MLM’s.