EOC Week 3 Exercise

Kenneth Cole began his career by selling women’s shoes. Today he manufactures internationally and now offers men’s and women’s footwear, accessories and stylish clothing. He also licenses his name to products like hosiery, luggage, watches and eyewear.

He began in 1982, and had just enough money to get by. He didn’t have enough to rent out space at the Hilton in New York and sell his shoes to dealers, or enough to have a big showroom. What he did instead was borrow a trailer from one of his friends and tried to park it in Manhattan. The only people who could get a parking permit to park on the streets were production companies who were shooting full length films. He then changed his company name from Kenneth Cole Inc. to Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. He had the trailer set up across the street from the Hilton and opened up his business. In just the first few days he sold out of 40,000 pairs of shoes and then got the notable reputation as a business maverick.

From the beginning of his career, Kenneth Cole knew he had a dream and wasn’t going to allow anything to get in his way. In a Los Angeles Times interview, Kenneth Cole was quoted saying, "The more I circumvent the rules, the more successful I become." With an attitude like this I believe that nothing will ever be able to stand in Kenneth Cole’s way. Not only is he known for his designs and business talents, but he has also been recognized for his philanthropic involvements. Kenneth Cole Productions continues to declare "What you stand for is more important than what you stand in" and "To be aware is more important than what you wear."

Over 4,500 department and specialty stores carry some sort of Kenneth Cole product, have it be the Kenneth Cole New York collection, or Unlisted, the man is everywhere. With the company being publicly traded, it’s easy to see that despite this current “recession” that our economy is in; Kenneth Cole Productions is not staggering under the weight. They have consolidated revenues with up to 15% growth in all segments and their earnings per share have increased to $0.23 versus last year’s loss of being down $0.18.

Despite the economic problems, the company hasn’t flourished and I think that the future for Kenneth Col e Productions is a bright one. With Kenneth Cole still currently being the CEO and owning 45% of the company, I think that they are going to continue being the respectable company that they are today. Kenneth Cole knows what it is he wants and how he’s going to get there, so there is no stopping him or his ideas. I think the only thing that could possibly bring the company down is if for someone else to take over Kenneth’s role as CEO, and the only way I could see that happen is if he died, or pulled a Steve Madden. I’m just sayin’.