Cole Haan - Fashion Company Profile
Cole Haan is an American footwear and accessories brand founded in Chicago in 1928, long known for dress shoes made with casual comfort - a formula Nike, its owner from 1988, literalised by putting Nike Air cushioning inside dress shoes. Sold to Apax Partners in 2013, it now builds its range around lightweight Grand-series cushioning across shoes, bags and outerwear. The directory's filing concentrates on the Nike chapter, so the record is kept on this single page, headed by the current position above.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - footwear and accessories brand owned by Apax Partners since 2013; Nike owned it from 1988 to 2012
- Type
- Private - an Apax Partners company
- Headquarters
- New York City, New York, United States
- Founded
- 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, by Trafton Cole and Eddie Haan
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Company Profile
Cole Haan's prophetic use of sports technology in stylish footwear has accelerated the brand's success, with shoes such as the penny loafers, the genuine hand-sewn shoe, the multicolored boat shoe, and the all-leather court sport sneaker. That product list is the brand's thesis in four exhibits: two classics of American shoe craft (the penny loafer, the hand-sewn shoe), one leisure icon recoloured (the boat shoe), and one outright crossover (a court sneaker built entirely in leather) - sports technology inside stylish footwear, decades before athleisure had a name. A photograph of hand-painted Cole Haan chukka shoes appears in the gallery below, and the company(?:'|')s site is in the References, in both its forms.
The Nike Chapter, As Recorded
At one time Cole Haan had been purchased by Nike. However in 2012, Nike sold the brand to Apax Partners Worldwide LLP. Two sentences, kept whole, because they are the filing's entire ownership record: an athletic giant owned this luxury shoe brand for a period not dated at its start, and sold it to a private equity firm in 2012. The Nike profile elsewhere in this directory is among this page(?:'|')s routes, as are the men's and women's Cole Haan brand guides in the Clothes Guide - the audience-level filings that describe the footwear ranges in product detail.
The sports-technology line above reads differently once the Nike chapter is known, and the reader is left to draw the connection the record implies but does not spell out: a brand founded on putting athletic construction into dress and casual shoes was, for a time, owned by the world's largest athletic footwear company. No dates, prices or terms beyond the 2012 sale are stated in the record, so none are added here; the record is the partnership of 1928, the four named shoe types, the Sharapova endorsement, and the two-step ownership note.
Common Questions
When was Cole Haan founded, and by whom?
In 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, as a partnership between Trafton Cole and Eddie Haan, creating collections of fine footwear, apparel and accessories for men and women, in the historical record.
Which shoes are credited to Cole Haan?
The penny loafers, the genuine hand-sewn shoe, the multicolored boat shoe and the all-leather court sport sneaker - examples of its use of sports technology in stylish footwear.
Who owned Cole Haan, and when did that change?
Nike purchased the brand at one time; in 2012 Nike sold Cole Haan to Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, in the historical record.
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