- 8 minutes ago
Veteran fashion and accessories designer Kenneth Cole was honored with the Social Impact Fund's Excellence in Fashion Philanthropy Award by Michael Atmore, editor-in-chief of 'Women's Wear Daily,' in front of an audience full of VIPS, Fashion Institute of Technology students and fashion and beauty execs inside FIT's theater.
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00:02we're gonna we're gonna cycle back to the 80s for a second I alluded to my
00:08personal story and what a hero you were you and Elizabeth Taylor were the only
00:12two people standing up saying that we needed to do something it was a crazy
00:19time a controversial time can you talk just a little bit about how that all
00:24started for you so in the fashion business it's a very hard business and as
00:31everybody here knows and the goal is that how do you stay relevant how do you
00:36be relevant how do you stay relevant and as hard as it is today you invariably is
00:40probably just harder even harder tomorrow so and I came to realize that if
00:45I can talk to people about not just what's on their body but what's on their
00:48mind not just what they stood in but what they stood for then I can I can relate to
00:52them in such a more meaningful way and it's so much more sustainable and and
00:56now I committed to do that and at that time AIDS was on everybody's minds but
01:04nobody's lips because stigma was so pervasive and you couldn't talk about it
01:10because if you spoke about it you were presumed to be at risk and which meant
01:13you were amongst those communities which were not embraced and so
01:23I figured I would talk about what nobody wanted to talk about in the end we any
01:27any label it's got on board and then we brought in a bunch of models agreed to
01:33commit their celebrity and their presence and we basically started down a road
01:37which I have been on for 40 plus years and it's changed the man change the brand
01:42changed everything we do but you really created this idea of a brand with a
01:46conscious and and there there must have been some pushback there there were some
01:51risks involved in doing that so talk to talk to us about how you you fought
01:57through those challenges so I've come I've come to realize over the years that an
02:03issue almost by definition means there's people on two sides so if you speak
02:07about something that creates a little backlash that isn't a bad thing
02:13necessarily and because it and for every one person that would have a problem
02:17with some of our messages I believed in my heart although I couldn't really
02:20quantify it was that there were ten who were supported who embraced it who didn't
02:24take the time to write silly letters and and and faxes in those days and and and
02:34phone calls but so and so we just stayed the course and and there were it wasn't as
02:42much pushback oddly believe it or not as I thought there could be at the time do
02:47you think it was easier before they are of social media I don't think we could
02:51have done it today today would have been really hard because there's such a an
03:00effective minority and they're behind them there are all these bots and there's
03:03the ability to create so much noise and distraction and and the opposition point
03:10the view sometimes just has the ability to be so loud it's to be much harder
03:17today to do what I did and you always injected humor and wit into your
03:22messages what what was the choice there and and talk about how that evolved well
03:27I don't I never really I I don't take what I do with that seriously at the end of
03:32the day I don't believe anything we sell is going to change anybody's lives and I
03:37hopefully and and and and I I take why we I take what we do seriously but not how
03:45we do what we do so I take the world seriously not necessarily what we bring to
03:49market and so and I think if you can relate to people in in a way that's not so
03:56serious it's much easier to to connect in a meaningful way I mean my kids got
04:02their news from Jon Stewart for years I mean comedians often are the most
04:09effective communicators so if you can message things in a way that isn't that
04:15serious I think it's often very effective what so the documentary I don't
04:19know if if many of you have seen this documentary very very powerful statement
04:23about Kenneth's role from from the mid 80s to today and really talks about all of
04:31the challenges that you encountered along the way I really want to ask you
04:36though in that documentary and in that journey what is the proud what is your
04:41proudest moment first of all Michael's in the documentary he he didn't make the
04:47cut and well but Michael makes some very meaningful contributions to the story it
04:54was not told by myself was told by a great filmmaker and friend Dory
04:59Berenstein and I entrusted with her to do this and I saw the film for the first
05:04time with an audience and I was only under the seat in front of me half the
05:06time and because I didn't want to see the film as much as I was I wanted it to be
05:14I
05:14was so glad it was made and I'm so good and I didn't think it was the story that
05:18she was making I thought it was more of a fashion story but it's really very much
05:21about social impact so that I think that was great so your question was what again
05:29what was the moment you're most proud of when you look so I love that we are able
05:35to to create a business that affects people in meaningful ways and and form and
05:41substance causing commerce and one in the intersection is is blurred but I think
05:53they're mutually dependent you know I used to believe that and and I still do
05:58the business the community to that business depends upon the community that
06:03proverbial hand defeats each other and academia is a very important component to
06:07it as I was just saying and and I do think that every business realizes this
06:12at a certain point every business gets there and either their their their
06:16balance sheet or their hearts or their balance sheet get in there hopefully it's
06:19the former and but that is ultimately how this is all going to work you know we
06:25had a social safety net that went away in the Reagan Bush years and and it's
06:31even further dissipated obviously these these days so it's the only way the
06:36communities are going to survive and some of it we're going to be able to be
06:39there for each other and and I do believe everybody gets there bringing
06:46the story to current day I mean and it's 40 you know four decades later which I
06:51think is just an incredible legacy of social impact and I really want to applaud you
06:59I mean for you to say that social media wouldn't allow it to happen now that's
07:04quite troubling honestly to hear because your legacy is very unique and and
07:10obviously continues with this push on mental health can you talk about the
07:15shift from from the AIDS work to mental health and why that was so important to
07:21you and how that came about first Michael and I was speaking backstage I don't
07:27think people realize I'm sitting looking at Fern Malice who so beautifully made the
07:32case for this at when she was celebrated by different recently what happened AIDS
07:41was so was nowhere near as as pervasive as COVID but it's nowhere near as
07:48contagious as COVID but it's so much more lethal and so many more people died
07:53from AIDS then they then did from COVID and and one in 200 people to this day
08:00they still live with AIDS with HIV AIDS and one in four supposedly live with
08:04HIV with mental health disorders we say it's four out of four because if it
08:08isn't you it's somebody you love somebody in the community the workplace but
08:10everybody ultimately is struggling with it in some way and two out of three of
08:14them do so in the proverbial shadow so we said if if we can come up with a way to
08:18address this stigma and NAMI people at NAMI had come to us and said would you
08:22consider doing something similar with mental health as you did with HIV and and
08:27and they said but this is so much bigger than NAMI this is this is everyone
08:31everywhere and they says well just open the tent we're fine it's fine with us so
08:35we did and we reached out to the 50 of the largest mental health service
08:37providers and they all said we're in and we built this coalition it's very
08:44effective coalition and with the goal of changing the narrative changing the
08:49dialogue changing culture giving people the tools to be vulnerable and to be
08:55empathetic and to show them help to be the best versions of themselves and show
08:58up for each other in the best way and so that's a kind of a course that we're on
09:02and then we brought together all of tech which is a treacherous place to be right
09:07now but we built but we have meta tik tok snap and Google working with us and we
09:15just introduced the first what we call SOS safe online standards and they've
09:20agreed to be held accountable see how that plays out but but the first step it
09:26first step is a trip of a thousand miles just for the first step and everybody
09:30there everybody's committed we had a press conference in Washington with
09:33senator Warner and senator the head of the Democrat head of the intelligence
09:39committee and a and Bernie Marino Republican and we had representatives from
09:44tech companies and everybody basically declared their commitment to want to make it
09:48to change it want to make things better want to make difference and I do think
09:51by the way a lot of this is rooted in business and so and it's and sometimes
09:58it's as simple as the difference between making it's an expense versus an
10:01investment no company anywhere has the resources today to make incremental
10:06expenses because everybody's expended all their disposable income or their
10:12available income but everybody is able to make it a good investment and if you can
10:15show how a dollar spend can realize a 10 or times a 10x return and it does that
10:21because allocating resources towards mental health it unequivocally
10:28quantifiably improves this retention recruitment morale and and productivity
10:33which is every CEO's job so we're very excited we believe we're gonna make a
10:37meaningful impact and more people get their health care from the workplace and they
10:43do from Medicaid Medicare or Obamacare put together so and we think if we bring
10:48together the workplace we can make a difference so but that's what that's
10:51what mental health coalition is doing along with all the anti stigma stuff and
10:55it's been very fulfilling I think it's made us all better it's made everybody at
11:00the company better and hopefully at the end of the day makes the world better and
11:04and how do you measure the success thing how do you measure that success I mean how do you set
11:15goals around something like this well we do that though you know and everything needs to be
11:20quantifiable needs to be transparent and needs to be real and I know you know
11:24people often ask the question how do you do this and and if it's real it works because people are
11:31so much more
11:31sophisticated than they ever before and today will also with all the tools and
11:34with AI you can everything you can everything is transparent and you can
11:39see through everything but if what you do is rooted in in substance and it's a
11:46genuine commitment you can make a genuine impact and so we have clear
11:51quantifiable goals objectives and we have within our business offices we the mental
11:56health coalition is a five one c three and they operate independently but they're
11:59there they all have quantifiable goals objectives and the company everybody in the company has a
12:04relationship to the not-for-profit and and seeks opportunities to get involved and makes
12:09everybody feel better about what they do so Kenneth there is no lightning round in our session because
12:15Kenneth Kenneth would like that all to come from you so I'll give you a minute to think of
12:20your questions but we had an FIT student earlier ask a question and Leah if I butcher your name I'm
12:28so sorry
12:29Coelho she is majoring in advertising marketing and communications and she is an FIT Baker scholar
12:37is Leah with us yay so Leah you could probably ask your own question but I can ask it for
12:47you
12:47as a longtime advocate for social impact how can brands ensure their efforts around social issues
12:55feel true truly authentic rather than performative
13:00they have to be if they are real it'll feel real it's so often it's this is done social impact
13:06is
13:06done in a corner office and often and it's outsourced by a company that comes in and helps you do
13:11it and
13:12and if in those scenarios it's very hard in that case to make it real unless it's part of the
13:19embedded
13:20into the into the business and the impact has to be real and resources um finance human resources
13:27financial resources creative resources have to ultimately be funneled in a way that realize the
13:31best outcomes and there has to be you know clear deliverables and uh they have to be transparent
13:38and if they are it works I promise you and now it's your turn audience any questions for mr. Cole
13:48if not Michael will ask two more because he's I can't see oh I see a hand here do you
13:54want to just
13:54go yeah I was gonna ask how do you work with different communities and building in people
14:00from the Charlotte communities to try to make an impact that while it does matter to you does also
14:07have strong relevance with like their groups so with the mental health coalition for example we have
14:1550 um partners and we represent most I believe most reluctant to ever use the word all but
14:24I think we have most of the disproportionately impacted communities represented and we have
14:28organizations that that are expert that are focused on that and that is what they do that's it they're
14:34funded that's with the missions and and we look to find synergies across them you know within our our
14:41community and uh and we don't presume to know what they do um I make very clear that um I
14:50don't have any
14:51expertise in in health care in mental health public health I'm not a psychiatrist but I'm a good
14:58convener of people who are and um and that is uh and I do and regarding stigma stigma I think
15:04it's
15:04about perception and I think we're in the perception business that's what we all are in some ways so and
15:10I think in that regard I feel we have qualifications so that's what we bring to the table and and
15:16everybody
15:16else around the table is more than is way more knowledgeable about what we're usually talking
15:22about than I am I see you I see a question here sorry I was going to go here I'll
15:30go here next
15:30yeah go
15:31hi um hello again Kenneth um I'm Shion Horne and I actually interviewed you last summer for Forbes
15:38but I wanted to take this time and say everybody must see the film about you because what and this
15:44speaks to the question I promise I did have a question thank you which is that I um what I
15:51was
15:51so touched by with you is yes you're a punmeister yes you're incredibly late and you're the king of
15:56coffee but bigger than that you're the king of action and putting your mouth and your whole heart
16:03and your whole life and so my question to you is how do you when we're talking about performative
16:09how do we make sure lots of people speak well and very eloquently about these issues but don't think
16:14action is necessary what advice do you have for those that want to take action or how do we get
16:21people to get beyond the people forward into the action thank you I can't thank you enough for your
16:27kind words um you know I think this is a very different world than the one I started my business
16:33in to Michael's point before and um the internet changed everything social media changed it even more
16:39and now AI is changing it to a degree I don't think any of us can really imagine and um
16:44and I do
16:44and my concern years ago was that everybody now everywhere is a competitor how do I how am I
16:51going to compete I I'm not the lowest cost producer I'm not necessarily the best designer in the world
16:56and I'm not but how am I going to find a market how am I going to create a product
16:59as a reason to exist
17:01and um and just to the same degree as a competitor everybody everywhere is a consumer so I have the
17:06ability to reach people that I never could have before if I look at it that way and I approach
17:10it that
17:10way and I can find very niche specific audiences as long as I am I have credentials in and in
17:16this
17:17and I represent something and I stand for it and I and um uh and um so I think today
17:25you can find
17:27audiences today especially now and you can and they're everywhere and there's no limits and there's
17:33no boundaries and uh uh and then you can create audiences and they could be real or they could be
17:39bots but somehow you can I mean mental health care by the way the big new wave is is our
17:48non-human
17:49resources and uh young people don't feel they're being judged they don't feel they feel safer they feel
17:58that they it that it's uh um uh you know that it's them individually and it's accessible 24-7
18:08so um it's the it's a very different world and it's differences today it's a week from today a month
18:15it's going to be so different still I know there was a question right here yes I was just curious
18:21how
18:22do you measure your success at grant at work if that's true one of the days where you're
18:28kind of hearing awareness to things in HIV to take in about control you know it's hard you know one
18:35of the
18:35things we did a study with meta a couple years ago and um because people said well how do you
18:43change
18:43perception about mental health that's gonna it's generational you can't you just you have a
18:49a specific point of view and how you're going to get people to see things differently
18:53and um so we did a study with them and they gave us three hundred thousand dollars first they gave
18:58us we worked with a creative team and then they gave us three hundred thousand dollars for media
19:01and we were able to reach 19 million people which is 68 people for every dollar spent which is
19:06unprecedented and um and then of them 550 000 agreed for the first time their willingness to explore
19:13their own mental health struggles and those of others which is a huge situation and then we did
19:21it again with the bipac population had almost the exact statistical outcomes so it's very clear you can
19:27change people's predisposition uh especially in regards to their health and and and well-being
19:33and and that's and then so then I call up to people that met and I said well wait a
19:37second
19:38so that's still only like three percent why don't you why what's all these this outreach is anonymized
19:46um data so we're reaching but we're not um uh we're not if we could focus this and reach people
19:55who
19:56are who are struggling who are in debt we can we can save lives tomorrow and they said well we
20:01can't do
20:02that because the hipaa laws and I said well bullshit if I talked about green shoes you'd send me an
20:06ad for
20:07green shoes in 30 seconds so um ICS but we can do that that's the that's legal but we can
20:14send you
20:14health care we can send you life-saving resources but let's have that conversation let's see what we
20:19can do so but that's the conversation we're having now that's something we're looking at and um and I
20:24always believed that if you focus on the solution you can find a path there oh that's an awesome end
20:32point I'm a bad boy we went over time but congratulations kenneth cole and your award
20:39thank you
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