Kenneth Cole faked a movie production to secure a NYC trailer permit
Kenneth Cole · Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole · Nov 16, 2020 · at 23:40
Designer Kenneth Cole describes launching his shoe company in December 1982 using a borrowed 40-foot truck as a showroom on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 56th Street during Market Week.
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“That afternoon, we went to a stationery store, changed the companies, the letterhead, mechanical ink, the chemical productions ink, and then we filed for a permit, sent the letter to the mayor that afternoon, asking for permission to shoot a full-length motion picture called The Birth of a Shoe Company.”
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More from Kenneth Cole
Cole: Businesses must fill the social gaps left by modern governments
“A government today is, is neither willing or able to service so many of the social needs that it used to in the past, and I do believe it's incumbent upon us to do a lot of that.”
Public markets are completely undesirable unless necessary for business financing
“So being public is not, you know, a desirable place to be unless you need public markets to finance and or run your business.”
Cole: Companies cannot easily shrink and restructure while public
“We needed to get smaller to get bigger. We needed to shrink the business step back. And we couldn't do that as a public company, partially because of my personal visibility, but as a private company, you can do those things.”
Cole: Brands must deliver what customers want in unexpected ways
“And I also learned early on in my career that my goal is not to tell them what they should wear. It's to understand what they want and give it to them, but not how they expect it.”
Cole: Shoes uniquely and disproportionately affect how wearers feel
“I often say in the shoe business, everything you wear affects how you look, but shoes uniquely also affect disproportionately how you feel.”
Cole: The wholesale retail sector is shrinking rapidly with few growth avenues
“And the wholesale world is getting smaller right now. We're seeing a lot of, you saw what happened with Saks and Hudson Bay to your point. And I don't know if you're going to find a lot of growth opportunities in the short term”