Kate Spade Study
Rev. May 23, 2001
If I listened to all the seasoned opinions that I have heard over the years, we wouldn’t be where we are today. —Katy Brosnahan, founder of kate spade
It was March 1998, and Katy Brosnahan dashed into the meticulously arranged buyer’s showroom of her company’s recently renovated Manhattan headquarters. Despite running late for a meeting with her partners, Brosnahan walked across the shiny hardwood floors to rearrange a display shelf lined with the black nylon “vertical shopper” handbags that made up the core of the kate spade product line. The rest of the kate spade team, Brosnahan’s husband Andy Spade, and friends Elyce Cox and Pamela Bell, were already seated and had begun eating their traditional takeout …show more content…
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This document is authorized for use only in The Entrepreneurial Manager, by Professor Stuart during HBS MBA Winter Term 2009.
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spade’s founders had plans to open 10 stores by 2001 and to branch out into stationery, apparel, eyewear and fragrances.
The Handbag Industry
In 1997, handbags were a small category in the