"I'm not a gambler."Īndy asked her if any orders and been placed, and she told him that both Barneys and Fred Segal department stores had placed an order. "That's it for me," Kate recalls telling Andy. "I have no interest in losing money."Īt an early trade show, Kate came home in tears because she hadn’t sold enough of her prototypes to cover the cost of the booth. Kate Spade was not an instant success-at least according to Kate. If someone were to say, ‘whose is that?’ I'd say, ‘I don't know, I bought it at a vintage store or it's a straw bag I got in Mexico.’” The Balance of Kate and Andy “I would wear these very simple shapes, none of which were famous designers. She collected bags and Andy knew she got a lot of compliments on the ones she carried. And I really loved very simple kind of architectural shapes,” said Kate. What Kate and Andy did have was a really good idea. The business was incorporated in 1993 by Kate, Andy, and a third partner-and funded by Andy’s salary, his savings, and a dwindling retirement account. At Andy’s suggestion, she had decided to try her hand at designing bags. Kate Spade is LaunchedĪfter a few years, Kate quit her job at Mademoiselle. “They never really said much, but my mother was not pleased with it,” said Kate. Brosnahan’s Roman Catholic parents weren’t crazy about the arrangement. And suddenly it just-I loved it.”Īndy eventually joined Kate in New York, where they lived in a tiny walk up apartment and Spade worked in advertising. I loved, you know, the fast pace of New York. “And then finally I said, ‘I have to be honest, I kind of like my job. I will only stay here for six months,” Kate said on How I Built This.
She got a job at Conde Nast, in the fashion closet of Mademoiselle, and contemplated moving back to Arizona to be with Andy. And we really started off as really great friends,” Kate told Guy Raz for an episode of NPR’s How I Built This.Īfter Kate graduated in 1985, she backpacked through Europe before moving to New York City. And one day, his car broke down, and he asked me for a ride home. It was there that she met her future husband.
A native of Kansas City, Brosnahan was a journalism major who had worked in a motorcycle bar and a clothing store. Kate met Andy when they were students at Arizona State University. Name another brand that has so successfully managed to be both cheerfully approachable and fashionably aspirational? How Kate Spade Met Andy Spade Kate Spade achieved the near-impossible feat of blending it-girl New York cool and down-to-earth Midwestern fun.
Though Kate, who died June 5 by apparent suicide at the age of 55, was the face of her collection, especially at the beginning, it was the Spades’ combined talents as a designer and a branding whiz that launched a small-scale fashion revolution. Together Kate and Andy created more than just a line of now-iconic handbags, they created an aesthetic. It was the brainchild of a former Mademoiselle accessories editor named Katie Brosnahan-and her partner in business and life, Andy Spade. Kate Spade the brand existed before Kate Spade the person.
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