Shoe blog

Happy Birthday Kenneth Cole

Kenneth Cole will have 56 candles on his birthday cake today.   I am fairly impressed with Kenneth Cole Productions.  It was founded in 1982 by Kenneth Cole. Wanting to preview his line of shoes at Market Week at New York’s Hilton Hotel, but couldn’t afford the purchase of a hotel room to display his items, Kenneth asked about parking a trailer two blocks from the Hilton Hotel. When told 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, then 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.  Since then he hasn’t looked back.

He and his wife Maria Cuomo are very supportive of several charities and organizations and has been very public in his support of AIDS awareness and research since 1985.   He is known for his socially concious and provocative ad campaigns from his “We all have AIDS” campaign to the current “We all walk in different shoes.” campaign.

Kenneth Cole shoes are mid priced and for their price, they are a fairly good buy.  Here are some Kenneth Cole shoes for today.

Gentle Souls - Sole Lace $210 at Kennethcole.com

Gem nastics $70 at Zappos

Fish n Chips  $70 at Piperlime

And my favorite.  Is this the best color in the world?

Rocky Canyon $107 at Endless

To celebrate I am going to put the above shoe in my Zappos shopping cart.  I may even buy them.  Does anyone else do that?  Put a shoe in the cart and let them sit a while?