The Stuff of Legend: The Birth of Kenneth Cole

June 17, 2008 · Print This Article

Kenneth Cole Productions was born in 1982, curiously enough, at a time when the man himself was broke. Committed to his craft, the emerging designer spent all his money perfecting his first line in Europe. When he returned to his native New York, he had no capital left to open a store.

Ever the king of headline-grabbing stunts, Cole enlisted the help of a friend with a moving truck and nabbed permission to park it in midtown by applying for a film permit; the fictitious film had the audacious title “The Birth of a Shoe Company.” The stunt sold 40,000 shoes - literally out of the back of a truck - in two days, and created both a company and a entrepreneurial legend.