Kate Spade New York
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| Subsidiary | |
| ISIN | US4858651098 |
| Industry | Fashion |
| Founded | January 1993 |
| Founder | Kate Spade and Andy Spade |
| Headquarters | New York, New York |
| Parent | Kate Spade & Company |
| Website | www |
Kate Spade New York is an American fashion design house founded in January 1993 by Kate Spade and Andy Spade. Jack Spade is the brand's line for men. Kate Spade New York competes with Michael Kors and Coach Inc.
Katherine Noel Brosnahan (later known as Kate Spade) was born on December 4, 1962 in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up in Kansas City and went to an all-girls Catholic high school. She moved to Arizona, where she attended Arizona State University and graduated in 1985(Ophthalmology Times 3). It is there that she met her future husband, Andy Spade. Katherine majored in journalism, while Andy majored in architecture.
After they completed their education, the couple had moved to New York City by 1986 (Biography.com editors par.1). It was in New York that Katherine worked as a style editor for Mademoiselle, but she left in 1991 (with the title of senior editor/head of accessories) to start her own handbag line(Biography.com editors par.2). To get inspiration, Kate browsed local flea markets and secondhand stores. She also researched the styles, fabrics, and potential production costs of making her own handbags. The team slowly worked their way up the social ladder until they were able to create a company that would be noticed by the public.
Kate Spade New York was founded in 1993 by Katherine Noel Brosnahan and her husband/business partner Andrew (Andy) Spade. Kate Spade New York was started when Katherine Brosnahan walked around New York City and all she saw was lifeless purses (Winters 36). “The nothing black bag” was going to be brought down by Kate and Andy Spade. Originally the business started out with the Sam handbag and was only making color lively bags for consumers (Ophthalmology Times 3). Eventually, Andy withdrew $35,000 from his 401K account to fund the production of Kate’s handbags. Her debut line infused classic shapes, colors and fabrics into a now iconic square bag with a little black label sewn to the outside of the bag that said “Kate Spade New York.” Their main target market at this time was the upper middle class. In 1996, Spade's company opened its first shop in New York City's SoHo. Kate Spade rose in eight months after a journalist at Cleveland Research Co. recommended buying the shares because of the brand’s growth potential (Jacobs 29). Everywhere people went in New York from about 1997-2000, it would have been impossible to avoid seeing a few women carrying that simple nylon bag. The business was one of the first of its time to go digital, by using iPads, cell phones, and computers, as a part of the daily routine when working at one of its stores (Cohen 198). The company started from nothing, and after 1998 it started to expand, being worth $70 million (Sanders 41). Although she remained active, Kate Spade was sold in 1999 to the Neiman Marcus Group (Ophthalmology Times 3).
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