Disclosure certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Cole expanded product categories to avoid diluting brand equity with lower prices

Kenneth Cole · Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole · Nov 16, 2020 · at 33:43

Kenneth Cole describes his mid-1980s expansion strategy when choosing between selling lower-priced shoes at higher volume like Nine West or creating new product lines for his core demographic.

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“Instead I chose to keep the essence of the brand the way it was, and create more products for the same person, and then not that much later, including the male complement to the women's shoes, which is myself.”

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