Kenneth Cole was born on March 23, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He is an American clothing designer. He founded a fashion house in 1982 and it is called Kenneth Cole productions, Inc.

Biography and Career :

He grew up in the fashion world because his father Charlie Cole was the owner of El Greco, a Brooklyn-based shoe manufacturer whose biggest achievement was creating the Candie's line of women's footwear.

At first he didn't want to become a fashion-man and he attended Emory University which the intention to become a lawyer. After he spent a summer in New York working for his father he discovered that fashion is not so bad and in the end he decided to renounce at law career and start a new o ne in the fashion world.

He learned all that he could learn from his father and in 1982 he founded his own fashion house. He had a big success at a trade show at Hilton hotel in Manhattan and he sold over 40,000 pairs of shoes.

In 1985 he was the first person in fashion industry who decided to promote AIDS awareness and research. He coupled supermodels with children of all ethnicities, his ads read, "For the future of our children," and featured everyone barefoot.

He had a lot of success and continued to make this sort of campaigns providing safe sex and encouraging donations for homeless people. From 1994 his company increased more and more and great magazines like Forbes and People wrote about it.

Nowadays the company means 80 stores and outlets, 4,500 shops carrying his line, a catalog, and an online boutique and this empire that topped $515 million in revenues in 2004.

Trivia :

- From October 1987 he is married with Maria Cuomo and they have two children.
- He is the son-in-law of Mario Cuomo an ex-governor of New York City.
- He has a younger brother Neil who also has a big company.

Quotes :

- "You know, I am very lucky because I am the customer. I haven't created a life for myself to jump-start a business. To be successful, you really have to put yourself in the customer's shoes -- what they're thinking, feeling, what motivates them, inspires them. And the customer has enabled me to create a product that's very much me."

- "Nobody needs what I sell. There is probably not a person in this country who needs another pair of black shoes. Nobody needs more ties, more white shirts. My job is to get people to feel good about buying [these products]... But at the end of the day, there are things that are more important."
_{Kenneth Cole Image : epextravaganza.com}

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Tags: 1954, brooklyn, new york, united states, designer	[edit tags]

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Category: Designers  - ( Designers Archive)

Date Added: 03 March '08

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