Nine&Nbsp, The Founder Of Nine Shoe Brand, The History Of The Founder Of West: Starting With Salesmen

Jiu Xi (Nine West) founder Vince Camuto (Vince Camuto)

Vince Camuto (Vince Camuto) tells about how he pformed from leather shoe salesman to fashion shoe industry.

My father was a craftsman. When he died, I was only two years old. So I have always been self reliant and helped my mother.

I grew up in Manhattan, and became a service manager of fashion shop I. Miller after graduating from high school. This is a store that runs all kinds of women's shoes and accessories in the 60s of last century.

Later, when I started selling in the store, all the women I met in the service area wanted to buy things from me.

Among them are small stars, professional models and rich women.

I started drawing shoes from 22 or 2 years old, and met with Ted Poland, founder of Sudbury Shoe, who later became my mentor in.

I did fashion shopping in National Shoe of Miami, and later I ran a poorly managed factory for Sudbury.

I am responsible for designing, producing and selling this series of products.

Later, I became president of the import department of Beck Industries, a shoe retailer.

In 1969, Bank of Sumitomo in New York asked me to set up a company in Brazil to design and import private brand shoes. I have received several invitations.

The bank wants to diversify its investments, and Brazil has a very good factory base.

I like the idea of starting something new, so I accepted the invitation.

In 70s, I met Jerome Fisher (Jerome Fisher), who was also a contractor of Sumitomo Bank.

We set up our own company. When we sell ourselves, we say our investors are Japanese companies. The designer is from Italy and the factory is in Brazil.

In 1979, we moved to 9 West 57 Street (9 West 57th Street). We are going to give our brand a name.

I looked out of the window and saw the number 9, so I said, "let's call Jiu Xi (Nine West)."

We hope to provide both for women.

We are one of the first companies to provide opportunities for department stores and introduce brand concept stores into shopping malls.

We bought some companies and opened 125 Jiu Xi, Easy Spirit stores and some distribution stores in a year.

In 1999, when we decided to sell Jiu Xi to Jones Apparel Group, its brand value had reached US $2 billion.

It's not easy to be a CEO, creative director, and deal with Wall Street.

However, the sale of nine hee was the most difficult decision I made in my career because I paid too much for everything we built.

I spent two years without a competitive career in Jones Apparel, and after a week of finishing my life, my friend Alex Dillard, President of Alex Dillard (Dillard) s, asked me to help manage their brand, so we developed 7 brands for Dillard's department store.

Now, we are Camuto Group.

The first authorization of our acquisition

Nowadays, we need to build Vince Camuto as a lifestyle brand, and its purpose is to manage expensive luxury goods that can be bought.

From footwear to jewelry, we already have 9 categories and will continue to expand in the future.

In 2010, the retail sales of all our brand and product categories amounted to US $2 billion 500 million.

We also provide design and production services for 5400 department stores and retail stores around the world.

We attract young designers and set up suitable teams to design product lines.

For me, this company is my favorite.

I love shoes, fashion and love everyone.

My advice:

Spend some time in the sales hall listening to customers' opinions.

I go to the store every week to talk with female customers and salesmen.

What do people want? How does their lifestyle change? It's not designers, but customers who create trends.