While the first date is always alluring, long term partners know it is the second date that counts. Kate Spade founders and power couple Kate Valentine and Andy Spade have been on that second date for over 30 years now. As part of The Impression/CFDA, the duo sat down with Kenneth Richard to talk about their new venture, Frances Valentine, how they heart their business family and daughter, changing her surname from Spade to Valentine, broken down cars, and how lightening can strike twice. Here are highlights from their conversation. For the full interview, please visit The Impression.
K.R.: I would love to hear the definitive story about the coupling of you two and how you met.
Andy Spade: “We met in college at Arizona State University. We worked at a clothing store – I think in 1983/84. I was working in the men’s side and she was working in the women’s side, and we used to cross paths. We’d flirt with one another – I had an old car that kept breaking down and she would give me a ride home in her Opel.
Kate Valentine: “No, it wasn’t an Opel. It was close, a Mazda something.”
Andy Spade: “It had a big logo on the side. If you buy the dealership model, it’s like buying a model home. Her brother bought her the model car, the one no one wanted because it had the big logo. It was so bad, which was super.”
Kate Valentine: “It said LeSport on the side, and I was like, ‘I don’t care, it’s a car.’”
K.R.: You got to be more than friends.
Kate Valentine: “By accident.”
K.R.: By accident?
Andy Spade: “No, I just mean that we just suddenly fell in love with each other.”
K.R.: How does a creative couple — one a brander, one a designer – resolve conflict about the look, about not putting in the best seller?
Andy Spade: “I try to channel Kate’s vision every day. It’s very hard because she’s very — I’ve never used this word ever in my life… but in my mind, you’re mesmerizing and you teach me every day. When I try to do something…. I think of her in the back of my mind and it’s very hard to do. When I take a shot, like holding a shoe — I’m always thinking about Kate in everything that I do, but she would say, “Why isn’t there a bracelet there or a ring there?” For me, it’s a very difficult task, but what I love is that I’m trying every day to make sure she loves what I try to do every day.”
Kate Valentine: “That is so not true.”
Andy Spade: “No, I’m trying to be honest. I think it’s very hard to translate Kate’s ideas into what I try to do, in my work.”
K.R.: You’ve seen marketing change; the landscape has changed completely. How do you feel about marketing today?
Andy Spade: “I think we have to be very special. Make it something personal. Marketing, to me… I hate the word; I don’t even use the word anymore.”
K.R.: What do you use?
Andy Spade: “I use ‘personality’ as a way to talk about what we do. It really goes back to the people who are making it. Brands are made up by marketing people. But this is really a group of people. Paola, Elyce and I, we’re creating a special thing. Branding has been really overused, I’m really concerned about making it more personal. So it’s a very challenging thing to make sure that this whole company is about people and building something. For me, it’s about everyone’s personality involved in this whole company.”
K.R.: What are you two looking forward to?
Kate Valentine: “A great company. I hope — I believe it would be fun if lightning strikes twice. I’m not sure if that happens, but I would be happy. I would also tell my daughter, you can try and fail, but it’s better to have tried, even though you really don’t want to fail. You have to recognize it.”
Andy Spade: “I look forward to Elyce, Paola, Kate and I being a family company, rather than a designer company. It’s a family of people who want to do something well and treat people well and grow together. At this point in our lives, we want to grow together. Elyce has been one of our dearest friends in the world. For me, it’s about making great things for people who love me and being around my friends.”
Kate Valentine: “It’s really fun, that’s the only reason that made me go back in. When you asked that earlier — I thought it would be interesting to get back with Elyce, Andy, Paola, that seemed fun. It’s about growing up together.”