Kate Spade - Fashion Company Profile
Kate Spade New York is the American lifestyle brand founded in January 1993 by Kate and Andy Spade - launched with six handbag silhouettes in crisp colour and graphic prints - and since 2017 a brand of Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE: TPR), the parent that also owns Coach and Stuart Weitzman.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - a global lifestyle brand of handbags, clothing, jewelry, shoes and accessories, owned by Tapestry, Inc. since 2017
- Type
- Brand of Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE: TPR), which acquired Kate Spade & Company in 2017 for $2.4 billion when the parent was still named Coach, Inc.
- Headquarters
- New York City, New York, United States
- Founded
- January 1993, by Kate Spade and Andy Spade with Elyce Arons and Pamela Bell
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Company Profile
Current collections are on the Kate Spade website, linked above; the shop box covers Kate Spade products sold through Amazon and eBay. The brand began as a standalone company, passed to Liz Claiborne, Inc. in the 2000s and traded on its own as Kate Spade & Company (NYSE: KATE) before Coach, Inc. acquired it in 2017 for $2.4 billion and renamed the parent Tapestry that October. The earlier record - the 1993 debut, the first New York shop in 1996, the broadening under Deborah Lloyd and the 2015 summary of more than 140 U.S. shops and 175 international shops - is kept in full on the history page.
As the company grew, the filing continues, its graphic approach and clever wit created a visual shorthand for a brand recognisable the world over. The hallmarks are named plainly: crisp colour, graphic prints and playful sophistication. The brand's own phrase for the result is living colourfully - an exuberant approach to the everyday that encourages personal style with a dash of incandescent charm. Read as a design brief rather than a slogan, the profile's Kate Spade is a discipline: take an everyday object, give it a clean functional shape, and finish it with colour and wit.
Kate Spade History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Kate Spade History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
Who owns Kate Spade now?
Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE: TPR). Coach, Inc. acquired Kate Spade & Company in 2017 for $2.4 billion and renamed itself Tapestry, effective October 31, 2017.
When was Kate Spade founded?
In January 1993, by Kate Spade (Kate Brosnahan Spade, a former Mademoiselle accessories editor) and Andy Spade, with Elyce Arons and Pamela Bell; the first handbag line debuted with six silhouettes.
What is Kate Spade known for?
Crisp colour, graphic prints and playful sophistication across handbags, clothing, jewelry, shoes, fragrance, eyewear and home goods - an approach the brand calls living colourfully.
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