Kenneth Cole (designer)
| Kenneth Cole | |
|---|---|
Kenneth Cole on the red carpet at the Life Ball, Vienna, 2010
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| Born |
March 23, 1954 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Residence | New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Emory University (1976) |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Cuomo (1987–present) |
| Website | kennethcole |
| Labels | Kenneth Cole Productions |
Kenneth D. Cole (born March 23, 1954) is an American clothing designer.
Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, his father, Charles Cole, owned the El Greco shoe manufacturing company. Cole graduated from John L. Miller Great Neck North High School in 1972. Before learning the family business and starting his own company in 1982, Cole graduated from Emory College of Arts and Sciences of Emory University in 1976.
Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. is an American fashion house founded in 1982 by Kenneth Cole. Wanting to preview his line of shoes at Market Week at the New York Hilton, but unable to afford the purchase of a hotel room or showroom to display his items, Kenneth Cole inquired about parking a trailer two blocks from the Hilton Hotel. Upon discovering that permits for trailers were only granted to utility and production companies, Cole changed the name of his company from Kenneth Cole Incorporated to Kenneth Cole Productions, and applied for a permit to film the full-length film, "The Birth of a Shoe Company". In two and a half days, Kenneth Cole Productions sold forty thousand pairs of shoes, while chronicling the beginning of the company on film.
In 1994, Kenneth Cole went public, and has been included on Forbes annual list of 200 Best Small Companies four times.
Kenneth Cole designs men's and women's footwear, men's and women's clothing, and also accessories under the Kenneth Cole Reaction Line. Overall, Kenneth Cole Productions sells clothing and accessories under the following lines: Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, and Unlisted. The company now operates over 90 retail and outlet stores worldwide, and sells in catalogs and websites. Cole himself controls almost all of the voting rights and owns 45% of the company.
Since 1985, Kenneth Cole has been openly involved in publicly supporting AIDS awareness and research. He is considered the first in the fashion industry to do so. He uses fashion as a medium to promote socially conscious ads to help fight various causes from AIDS to homelessness. He has donated proceeds to such organizations as Mentoring USA, amfAR and Rock the Vote.
In 2001, The Kenneth Cole Foundation, in association with Cole's alma mater, Emory University, created The Kenneth Cole Fellows in Community Building and Social Change Program at Emory University.
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