How Did I Get Here?

Kenneth Cole

Chief creative officer and chairman, Kenneth Cole Productions
  • Education
  • John L. Miller Great Neck North High School, Great Neck, N.Y., class of 1972
  • Emory University, Atlanta, class of 1976
  • Work Experience
  • 1970
    Peanut vendor, Shea Stadium
  • 1976–82
    Head of design and sales, El Greco
  • 1978–82
    Head designer, sales manager, Candie’s
  • 1982–2002
    Chairman, chief executive officer, president, Kenneth Cole Productions
  • 2002–06
    Chairman and CEO, Kenneth Cole Productions
  • 2010–Present
    Chief creative officer and chairman, Kenneth Cole Productions
  • Life Lessons
  • “The best solution is rarely the most expensive, but the most creative.”
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  • “You can’t define your brand the way you’d like unless it’s your own environment.”
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  • “It’s great to be known for your shoes, but better to be known for your soul.”
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  • Kenneth Cole cashmere coat $697
    Cole’s fall fashion advice: “Women should embrace layering. The right jacket looks just as good over a sleek suit as it does over jeans and a T-shirt.”
  • “My father had a shoe factory in a tough part of New York called Williamsburg. I was intrigued because shoes are not just designed—there’s engineering, architecture, and sculpture.”
  • For the Future of Our Children campaign
    “In 1986, I did an HIV/AIDS public service campaign with Annie Leibovitz. The stigma was devastating in those days. I did it to make what we were doing part of something bigger.”
  • “I couldn’t afford a fancy showroom, so a friend lent me a truck. The mayor’s office said only a production company shooting a movie could park. So I became a production company that afternoon and filed a permit to shoot The Birth of a Shoe Company.”
  • “One day I woke up and decided we needed to make the business more relevant. That’s difficult to do as a public company, and I realized that going private wasn’t going to be that hard. So we went private in 2012.”
  • Will be unveiling a new store concept this September in New York
  • With Nelson Mandela for an AIDS campaign, 2005
  • “I worked at women’s shoe stores.”
  • “I was really good. The better vendors got the sections they preferred, so I got to see the Mets from any part of the stadium I chose.”
  • “My father and I started going to Italy and importing inexpensive shoes out of there. Candie’s became a huge trend and a very big business very quickly.”
  • Accepting a Cutty Sark fashion award in 1985
  • “Our global sales have been quoted around $1.5 billion. The nice thing about being private is it’s not really important.”
  • Kenneth Cole pebbled-leather sneaker $145
    “For men, sportswear and tailoring are converging. Add a casual element to a tailored look, like sneakers with a suit.”
  • With Heidi Klum at the 2015 Amfar New York Gala in February