Kenneth Cole, the shoe company, created their own road to success by thinking 3-dimensionally.
At the onset, Kenneth knew he was competing with hundreds of start-ups and many established and well-funded fashion brands. So, he needed to get a bang for his buck. He kicked around some ideas and decided he wanted to display his shoes outside of a shoe trade show in midtown Manhattan, so buyers could see his products, without ever going into the convention hall.
So, he invested in a flatbed truck rental and hired some models to wear his shoes and requested a permit to park outside the shoe convention hall to host a mobile fashion runway. Great idea, right?
Thing is, the city had strict parking regulations in Midtown West, and Kenneth was rebuffed by every city bureaucrat he could find. But, after poking around, he learned the city had adopted a new law to attract the film industry to shoot in NYC. Kenneth put on his 3D thinking cap and simply changed the name of his company from Kenneth Cole Shoes to Kenneth Cole Productions.
The next day he asked for a parking permit and was granted one in minutes. His flatbed truck idea combined with his problem solving moxie launched a brand that is now a “power brand.” He solved a problem by looking at it differently. By going outside of it and looking in. He kept his new name- Kenneth Cole Productions, by the way.
