Feb 6, 2017 · 39m · how-i-built-this
Kate Spade: Kate & Andy Spade
Kate Spade · 18m spoken Guy Raz · 8m spoken Andy Spade · 6m spoken Adam Masters · 1m spoken Linda Holmes · 19s spoken
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of NPR's 'How I Built This,' host Guy Raz interviews Kate and Andy Spade about the gritty bootstrapping, personal sacrifices, and breakthrough moments that propelled their minimalist handbag line into an iconic global fashion brand.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 25.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 4.4 Guest teaching 1.8 Guest disagreement 0.1 Guy pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 15:10 Kate pushing to shut down versus Andy persisting
Kate describes forcefully arguing to shut down the brand after the first trade show due to conservative financial instincts while Andy insisted they keep going.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 25:03 Guy questions organic discovery versus business tacticsGuy presses Kate on whether a deliberate strategic maneuver turned the business around or if it truly just snowballed organically.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 24:30 Cash flow realities of major retail ordersKate educates the listener and host on the hidden financial danger of massive retail orders requiring upfront production costs without immediate payment.
Guy holds their own ▶ 26:28 Guy probes Neiman Marcus acquisition detailsGuy demonstrates precise knowledge of the brand's timeline and valuation by citing the 56 percent stake purchase and multi-million-dollar figure.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting at Arizona State University | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks basic background questions about how Kate and Andy met and Kate's initial entry into Condé Nast. Kate and Andy share lighthearted personal anecdotes in a warm, collaborative dynamic. | |
| Andy Moves to New York and Secures an Ad Job | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Andy details his move to New York and the serendipitous encounter in Grand Central Station that led to his advertising job. Guy facilitates the narrative smoothly with minimal friction. | |
| Kate Rises at Mademoiselle Magazine | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Kate explains her rise at Mademoiselle and the dinner discussion where Andy suggested designing handbags. Andy and Kate describe spotting the market gap for simple, architectural bag shapes. | |
| Prototyping and Sourcing Burlap Materials | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Kate educates Guy on her scrappy prototyping process, from paper cutouts to sourcing burlap from a potato sack company. Guy asks practical questions about manufacturing minimums and design execution. | |
| Debuting at the Javits Center Trade Show | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Kate and Andy recount their debut at the Javits Center trade show and landing Barneys and Fred Segal orders despite low initial revenue. Kate explains the co-naming of Kate Spade as a creative partnership. | |
| Mid-Episode Break and Upcoming Teaser | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy recaps the transition from initial orders to running a grueling home-based packing operation. Kate and Andy recall moving boxes on the subway and taking midnight fax orders. | |
| Bringing on Partners and the Brink of Quitting | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Kate and Andy explain bringing on two equity partners and Andy taking a Saatchi job in LA to fund the company. They reflect on reaching the brink of exhaustion and deciding not to quit because of commitments to their partners. | |
| The Breakthrough: CFDA Award and Chain-Wide Orders | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | The guests explain the breakthrough moment of winning the CFDA award and getting chain-wide department store orders. Kate clarifies the cash-flow crunch of financing upfront production without taking loans. | |
| Majority Sale to Neiman Marcus and Category Growth | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Guy inquires about selling a majority stake to Neiman Marcus for over $30 million. Kate details expanding into categories like stationery and shoes under department store encouragement. | |
| Ubiquitous Popularity and Canal Street Counterfeits | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Andy and Kate recall counterfeits proliferating on Canal Street as a sign of ubiquity. Kate explains their deliberate, peaceful exit around 2007 following the birth of her daughter. | |
| Navigating Marriage, Differences, and Office Boundaries | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | The couple describes their interpersonal boundaries at work, launching Frances Valentine, and Kate adding Valentine to her legal name. Guy and Kate share a laugh about being unrecognized at a Kate Spade store register. | |
| Something You're Building: Adam Masters and the Beliac | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Segment features Adam Masters describing his invention of the Beliac prone-paddling watercraft. Guy introduces and narrates the segment with Adam providing product and market insights. |
Statements from this episode (20)
Kate Spade met husband Andy working opposite sides of a clothing store
“We worked together at a clothing store, and I was on the women's side. He was on the men's side, and one day his car broke down, and he asked me for a ride home.”
Andy Spade started college advertising agency by bartering design for food
“I did start an advertising agency my senior year in college, and so I started trading ads for bartering food, and so I'd go to a restaurant, for example, and I'd bring in the ad that they had running in the local paper, And I would show it to them and say, I t…”
Kate Spade's first New York magazine job paid $14,000 a year
“When she got her job offer for 14,000 dollars a year, everything changed.”
Kate Spade found early 1990s designer handbags too complicated and over-designed
“At the time, things were very, bags were too complicated, and I really loved very simple kind of architectural shapes, and I would wear these very simple shapes, none of which were famous designers.”
Kate Spade says keeping her magazine job would have prevented brand success
“The truth is, you would never have done it had you stayed, because I wouldn't have been as scrappy or as, I mean, it was kind of, you know, do or die, so I think if I'd still been working, I would have been like, ah, a little bit more lackadaisical about it, w…”
Kate Spade's first handbag collection used burlap sourced from potato sacks
“None of the fabric houses would sell us anything other than a hundred yards, for example, right?... 500 yards. We only needed to make six bags. We had six shapes, so we only needed probably... 40 yards. 30 yards? 20, 25. So I called, I looked in the yellow pag…”
Kate and Andy Spade hid their business from family expecting to fail
“We intentionally didn't really talk about it much to family, because I think secretly we both thought it would fail.”
Kate Spade landed initial wholesale orders from Barneys and Fred Segal
“We got Barney's, and he said, okay, and I said, Fred Siegel in Los Angeles, and he was like, right, and then it was, he goes, Katie, he said, you've got two of the best stores in America.”
Kate Spade says sourcing materials from Yellow Pages created unique product differentiation
“Mine came out of the Yellow Pages, so chances are I wasn't gonna run into any people that had the same materials. So we were doing something different, which was really to our advantage.”
Kate and Andy Spade waited four years to take a $15,000 salary
“Fourth year we paid ourselves 15,000, and we were still working out of our apartment.”
Kate Spade brought on two early business partners for sweat equity only
“We took on two partners and For sweat equity only, it was my friend Elise Ahrens, my best friend since I was 18, and then Pam LaBelle, someone that we'd just met through friends here in New York.”
Andy Spade took Saatchi advertising job to fund Kate Spade fabric costs
“I got a job offer to work for Saatchi and Saatchi in LA, and I almost tripled my salary. You know, we were still funding the company ourselves, and we needed money for fabric, and we needed money for the trade shows, and so we both agreed that I would go to L.…”
Andy and Kate Spade depleted all 401(k) accounts to bootstrap their brand
“We had run through our four or one K money. And, you know, all of our savings at that point, we still weren't seeing, you know, a progression that was going to pay us a salary in the next year, in the near future.”
Department store expansion to 50 locations quadrupled Kate Spade's business overnight
“Either Neiman's or Saks, they were buying for two or three stores, and they said, we're going to buy for all of our stores. And that was 50 stores, or more than 50 stores, and that quadrupled our business.”
Kate Spade says her namesake brand never borrowed money or took debt
“But we never borrowed a dime, ever.”
Kate Spade viewed street corner counterfeit knockoffs as a compliment of success
“Which Andy said, that's actually a compliment. He said, you know, you're doing something right when they're on every blanket on every street corner.”
Kate Spade chose clean exit to avoid ugly post-acquisition founder lawsuits
“You've heard so many horror stories about people who sell, and then they stay, and then they fight, and then they sue, and I just thought, oh, that's too ugly for me.”
Kate and Andy Spade worked on separate floors to protect their marriage
“We actually worked on separate floors for that very reason, because I had a tendency to go into his office, and he'd be on the phone, and I'd say, get off the phone, I have something to tell you, or ask you. And that, we had to really, I had to myself find bou…”