SMITHFIELD, R.I. - "Tomorrow I'll donate clothes to the homeless, my sister won't miss them," reads an advertisement from fashion designer Kenneth Cole's spring 2005 campaign.
As the keynote speaker for the Brown University and Bryant University Entrepreneurial Extravaganza, Kenneth Cole spoke Friday night at Bryant about his experiences both as a fashion designer and as an advocate for social programs. The question and answer session covered the company's tongue-in-cheek and socially aware advertising campaigns, Cole's involvement with social programs and the actual business itself.
"I love what I do. The business is a reflection of who I am," Cole began.
Cole started his career in 1984 selling shoes out of a 40-foot-long truck in New York City. Realizing that it was neither economical nor logical to be one of 1,100 shoe sellers, Cole decided to take a different approach. After changing the name of his company from Kenneth Cole Inc. to Kenneth Cole Productions Inc., he obtained a license from the New York mayor, under the pretense that he was shooting a full-length feature film titled "The Birth of a Shoe Company." The license allowed him to park the truck in front of the New York Hilton Hotel, where department store buyers would be selecting shoes to sell in their stores. By catching buyers as they went from one building to another, Cole wound up selling over 40,000 pairs of shoes over the course of two and a half days. Twenty years later in 2004, Kenneth Cole Productions made over $515 million in revenue.
Without "creative problem solving," Cole said he would not have made that first sale.
"The key is always to stay focused," he said.
Cole discussed the importance of connecting his work in social programs to his business. Because of a "pervasive consciousness" that seemed to be sweeping America in the 1980s, Cole said he wanted to work especially with AIDS in his early advocacy.
"In 1985, you couldn't speak about AIDS," he said.
Cole said he "started this public service campaign to talk about it."
One of the advertisements from the campaign advocates safe sex, featuring a portrait of a woman with the words "Shoes are not the only thing we encourage you to wear" written at the bottom.
Cole serves as the chairman of the board of trustees for the American Foundation for AIDS Research and on the national board of HELP USA, an organization that provides housing and assistance for the homeless. During the month of February, Kenneth Cole stores offer a discount on shoes for shoppers who bring in a pair of their own shoes to donate to HELP USA.
When one student asked Cole why he found it necessary to associate his political and social views with those of his company, he said he considers it his responsibility.
"I've always done this because I've always thought that this is the right thing to do," Cole said.
Cole did find time to add some humor when a student asked, "If you could have done anything different in the last 20 years, what would it have been?"
"More jokes," Cole responded.
The evening concluded with Cole signing copies of his book, "Footnotes: What You Stand For is More Important than What You Stand In," and a reception.
Past EPE speakers have included media mogul Ted Turner '60 and JetBlue founder David Neeleman.
Ken Tsuji '05, one of the organizers of the event, said that the decision to select Cole as the keynote speaker was made because EPE is "looking for variety" and that Cole's popularity would "draw a different type of person" to the event.
Cole's representatives first approached the Student Activities Office to set up an event at Brown, rather than the other way around, Tsuji said.
Tsuji commented on Cole's work with social programs and organizations as appealing to students.
"Some of the most successful plans are social initiatives, social non-profits," Tsuji said.
EPE events continued Saturday on campus. Brown teams swept the top three spots at the Elevator Pitch competition, in which presenters pitch a business model in two minutes, and took the top two spots in the case study competitions, which featured 20 teams from area colleges, including Harvard, one of whose teams took third.
Kevin Volk '08, said he hoped the EPE would "foster excitement about entrepreneurship."
