For today’s Fashion Friday I wanted to chat The State of Fashion moving into 2021, and share an inspiring story with major morals.

The State of Fashion 2021

We all know that 2020 saw many store closures – Barney’s, Opening Ceremony, Totokaelo and countless small brands.

It was announced this week that Bird, a NYC mainstay (one of the first to carry Mansur Gavriel bucket bags back in the heyday), is closing.

Sadly, this theme will continue in 2021.

If you are a creative, a brand, a retailer, a small business, now is the time to dig deep.  Reflect on your core values and share what’s unique about your brand with the world.

The greatest ideas do not come from times of prosperity, but times of peril.

e-commerce has finally tipped from “more important than ever” to do or die.  Fashion has always been slow to adopt it, so for any small fashion business out there that doesn’t have an online presence, now is the time.  Poll your resources to figure out who can help you get up and running.

The Story of Kenneth Cole

I love Kenneth Cole’s story because it’s not only inspiring, but it teaches some very important lessons.

Cole was a legacy shoe designer, but his vision differed from his father’s, so he set out on his own.  During Market Week in NYC in the early 80’s he had 6 shoe designs and no money.  He knew he had to show, so he hatched a crazy idea.  An idea that would put him on the map and grow his business into a multi-million dollar platform.

In those days you either had an impressive showroom (established designers) or rented a room at the Hilton where the tradeshow took place and made appointments.  Both options were incredibly costly.  Cole couldn’t do either.

Instead, he borrowed a semi-truck from a friend in the trucking business and thought if he could just park it outside of the tradeshow, people might stop by to see his shoes displayed inside.  A semi truck!

Since parking anything in NYC is nearly impossible, he changed the name of his company to “Kenneth Cole Productions” and applied for a filming permit.  It was granted, and that was his “in” for presenting at the trade show.

Their film crew was a guise, but they did capture some footage, which you can see here.

What I love about this story is that it exemplifies how getting creative and scrappy disrupts an industry.  He broke the mold and 40 years later it’s still totally relevant.

Also of note about Cole’s career is that he took his private company public, and then back to private.  The legal battles and cost alone to do this is staggering, but when asked WHY, he said the integrity of his brand was suffering.  He felt the only way to realign with his DNA and original mission was to scale down and take back the reigns.

Sometimes the best choice is the toughest choice.

Kenneth Cole.  Take note.