page_title: Kate Spade
section_title: Kate Spade New York
hierarchical_section_title: Kate Spade / Career / Kate Spade New York
caption_attribution_description: English: Kate Spade New York Logo
context_page_description: Katherine Noel Valentine Brosnahan Spade was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. She was the founder and former co-owner of the designer brand Kate Spade New York.
context_section_description: Kate and Andy founded Kate Spade New York in January 1993. Spade was initially undecided on the brand's name, because she and Andy had not yet married, and "Kate Brosnahan" seemed a cumbersome name for a fashion label. She considered a number of names, but agreed when Andy suggested "Kate Spade", as she would take the name Spade after their marriage.
  Spade made six prototypes with Scotch Tape and paper, and found a manufacturer in East New York willing to work with a startup to produce the bags. To finance the company, Andy, who had worked as a copywriter, withdrew his 401(k) pension plan and sometimes paid employees with personal checks. The couple spent their shipping season living at friends' apartments since their own was filled with boxed handbags.
  After an early show at the Javits Center at which the department-store chain Barneys ordered a few bags, Spade decided to put the bag's labels on the outside, a change that took her all night to alter but established the brand. 
  The bags, priced in the $150 to $450 (USD) range, quickly became popular, particularly in New York. That was "a real shift" in fashion, said Fern Mallis, director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) during the 1990s. "Everybody had Kate Spade bags. You could afford them, and happily buy more than one."
  Young American women at the time also liked the bags' sophisticated look. One woman recalled that the Kate Spade bags looked 'mature, without being too adult for a teenager,' unlike higher-priced brands such as Burberry or Louis Vuitton. "At the turn of the last century, her bag came to encapsulate a decidedly Manhattan moment in time," a moment when Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour recalled that it was impossible to walk a block in the city without seeing one.
  The company exclusively sold handbags at first, but soon expanded to clothing, jewelry, shoes, stationery, eyewear, baby items, fragrances, and gifts. In 1996, the Kate Spade brand opened its first boutique, a 400-square-foot (37 m²) shop in Manhattan's trendy SoHo district, and moved its headquarters into a 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) space in West 25th Street.
  In 1999, Spade sold a 56% stake in her business to Neiman Marcus Group, helping to expand the brand worldwide.
  In 2004, "Kate Spade at home" was launched as a home collection brand. It featured bedding, bath items, china, wallpaper, table decor, flatware, and various decoration items.  A Kate Spade store was opened in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan.
  Spade also published three books on the respective subjects of etiquette, entertainment, and fashion: Manners, Occasions, and Style.
  By 2006, Spade had sold her remaining 44% shares to Neiman Marcus Group. The Group sold the label in 2006 to Liz Claiborne Inc., for $124 million; it was later renamed Fifth & Pacific. The company was later purchased by Coach, Inc. in May 2017; both Coach and Kate Spade are now part of Tapestry, Inc.
  Kate Spade's designs are now created by Nicola Glass and has continued her new designs for the company since 2017. The designs are being honored by late Kate Spade, but has a whole new twist on the company, much different than the traditional Kate Spade that everyone knows.
caption: Kate Spade logo
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