Kate Spade, co-founder of Kate Spade New York, reflects on why quitting her editorial job completely was necessary to build her company.
Insight
Sourcing materials from Yellow Pages prevented mainstream fashion clones
“There's a fabric show in Paris called Premier Vision that all the designers go to, so sometimes you could end up with the same materials. 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 we…”
Opinion
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.”
What-if
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…”
Insight
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.”
Insight
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.”
Assertion Supported
Kate Spade's debut collection was made from potato sack burlap
“I looked in the yellow pages, and I looked up burlap, and I found a potato sack company that was willing to sell to me. And they had three different, you know, weights, and I needed the heaviest weight so that it was, you know, substantial enough for a handbag…”