Kate Spade and Andy Spade describe how minimum order constraints from standard textile suppliers forced them to source burlap from potato sack manufacturers for their first collection.
Insight
Kate Spade: Giving up a salary creates essential founder scrappiness
“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 had still been working, I would have been like, ah, a little bit more lackadaisical about it,…”
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.”