Steve Madden History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Steve Madden, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
The filing calls Steve Madden 'easily one of America's most successful shoe designers' - a fashion footwear mogul whose vision was to give young, fashion-forward women a unique way to express their individuality through style. The numbers at the start were small: in 1990, with a mere $1,100 in his bank account, Madden started crafting shoe designs from his Queens-based factory, selling initially from the trunk of his car, and the Steve Madden brand was born. A year later he introduced a redefined version of the platform shoe, and the thick, chunky heel - inspired by his favorite 1970s rock and roll stars - became his signature and one of the most spectacular success stories in early-1990s footwear.
From Queens Factory to Nasdaq: SHOO
The company behind the brand, Steven Madden, Ltd., is public: it listed on Nasdaq in December 1993 under the symbol SHOO and is headquartered at 52-16 Barnett Avenue in Long Island City, New York, under chief executive Edward Rosenfeld. Its brand family now includes Dolce Vita, Betsey Johnson and Blondo alongside the Steve Madden lines. The three photographs on this profile's history page - two 2008 product shots and a 2020 brand image - mark the span: the platform-era upstart of the filing became one of the largest fashion footwear companies in the United States without losing the chunky silhouette that started it.
Photos
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