The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 25 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
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,…”
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…”
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 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 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…”
Kate Spade secured Barneys and Fred Segal at first trade show
“We hadn't even sold enough to cover the cost of the booth, and I started crying, and Andy said, well, who did you get? And I said, well, we got Barney's, and he said, okay, and I said, Fred Siegel in Los Angeles”
Andy Spade invented the brand name reflecting a 50-50 partnership
“Well, that was Andy. Because we were, I was not Kate Spade. I was Kate Brosnahan, and I kept coming up with these names, and Andy kept saying Kate Spade, because we were fifty-fifty partners, and finally I just said, okay, and everyone said, I love it, Kate Sp…”
Kate Spade never borrowed money to fund operations or inventory
“But we never borrowed a dime, ever.”
Kate and Andy Spade self-financed their new venture, Frances Valentine
“And we're self-financing again. So I'm not crazy about, as I mentioned earlier, losing any money. So, you know, this thing better work.”
Kate Spade has no regrets about leaving her namesake brand
“People said, oh, do you have any regrets? And I remember thinking, oh, I hope I don't, and I never have, and I think they've done such a good job that luckily I don't have to have.”
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 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 Spade says her namesake brand never borrowed money or took debt
“But we never borrowed a dime, ever.”
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…”
Kate Spade: Condé Nast hired me despite poor typing skills
“Condé Nast called, and they have a job in the fashion department. So they ended up hiring me. They didn't want to because I couldn't type, and my boss said, listen, she's great, and I don't need her to type a lot, because we were doing fashion shoots and styli…”
Kate Spade: Early 1990s handbags were overly complicated
“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 and Andy Spade maintained boundaries by working on separate floors
“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…”
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.”