Cole Haan Women's Fashion Brand

Trafton Cole and Eddie Haan began Cole Haan in 1928, resolving to make good goods and nothing but good goods. That founding resolution remains the shortest brand promise in this letter: today the company creates the shoes, bags, and finishing touches for people who are ingenuous, resourceful and want to make a difference. Shoes first, then bags, then the finishing touches - the order in that sentence is the order of the business.

The distribution the profile recorded tells a shopper where the brand sits: Cole Haan products are also sold at retailers such as Nordstrom, Shoe Carnival, Zappos, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Hudson's Bay Company and other department stores and independent stores nationwide. That list runs from shoe chains to luxury department stores, which is the Cole Haan position exactly - good goods, broadly sold, at the meeting point of quality and reach. The women's range the profile pointed to was shoes, handbags and outerwear, including sandals and wedges.

The Sale the Profile Recorded

In November 2012, Nike announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its Cole Haan unit to the private equity firm Apax Partners for $570 million. The sneaker-and-athletic wear giant had telegraphed a sale earlier that year when it said it was disposing of its Cole Haan and Umbro brands to focus on its core businesses. A footwear label passing from an athletic giant to a private equity owner is a business fact worth keeping on the page, because it shaped the brand that shoppers met afterwards.

Apparel Search also keeps a Cole Haan company profile in its names directory, linked from this page, for readers following the corporate side. The pattern is the brands rule of this directory: ownership changes are recorded, not smoothed over, and the profile stays useful as history as well as as a shopping guide - a 1928 resolution, a Nike chapter, and a $570 million sale all belong to the same brand story.

Buying Cole Haan Shoes and Bags

Judge Cole Haan the way its founders asked: as goods. In shoes, that means leather or fabric uppers finished cleanly inside as well as out, a sole unit bonded or stitched without gaps, and cushioning that still feels alive when you press it; in sandals and wedges, check strap anchoring and walk the pair on a hard floor, because a wedge forgives nothing in construction. Fit late in the day, in the socks or hosiery you will wear, and prefer the size that needs no breaking-in campaign.

Handbags and outerwear follow the same good-goods standard: hardware that works crisply, linings finished at the seams, coats whose buttons and closures are sewn to be used. Care extends the founders' bargain - rest leather shoes between wears, tree them, condition the leather, and store bags stuffed and dust-bagged. Bought on construction rather than on signage, Cole Haan delivers what Trafton Cole and Eddie Haan resolved on in 1928: good goods, and nothing but good goods, for ingenuous and resourceful people.

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