The story of the business begins in 1982 when the Brooklyn born designer established a small shoe company. Unable to afford the cost of a showroom during New York Fashion Week Cole asked the City for permission to park a lorry trailer two streets away from the centre of the festival.

Kenneth Cole - A New York Staple

He was refused by the local authorities, so in a brilliant move transformed his shoe company in to a film company, who just happened to be making a documentary about the founding of a shoe business and the debut of that company at New York fashion week.

The quirky temporary showroom was a great success and managed to sell more than 40,000 pairs of shoes to retailers all over the world. Unusually for a fashion house the unorthodox route to the yearly fashion marketplace had also meant that the first critical moments of the company have been captured on film in a documentary called ‘The Birth of a Shoe Company’.

Social activism has also been a part of the company’s philosophy since its early days. One such example was his campaign for World AIDS Day in 2005. Designs for the T-Shirts included the messages “We All Have AIDS" or "I Have AIDS" printed prominently on the shirts. Cole created the shirts in hopes that those with or without AIDS would wear the shirts, to help diminish the stigma attached to the disease.

Moments like these have created the brand mythology that has grown to support sub-brands such as Kenneth Cole watches. By combining the elegant precision of genuine Swiss movements with designs that fall somewhere between traditional charm and modern edge, Kenneth Cole watches are the ultra-stylish solution to being unfashionably late.