Transcript: I think there’s a big issue in Hollywood and celebrity right now.  I think that the examples that are given to young women and young men are . . . are negative and non-inspiring.  I think everyone’s aware of this issue, but I think the kind of stars or idols of today that the magazines are actually putting out there as inspiration, or as examples for people are completely the wrong examples.  I don’t think that these other people are models for our young people or our future.  And it’s no personal judgment toward them.  I just don’t like them being held up as being the ones who are perceived as important in our . . . in our culture.  But they are right now.  We’re living in a tabloid culture, and there’s a lot of that going around.  And I think that there’s not respect for privacy.  I think that the people who are really interesting are being washed over and looked over for people who are photographic and photogenic.  I think that people who are photogenic are taking priority to people who are interesting and who are doing interesting things.  And I think that’s unbalanced right now.  I think that has to get into balance the same way that the environment is starting to get into balance.  We need people out there speaking to, you know, what these people are doing.  And those are the real heroes of today.  And I wish that US magazine would cover those people equally.  And I think that that will come.  And I think people will move, as we always have through time, onto something else and “the next thing”.  But of late, I think that that’s the problem.  It’s about materialism, and it’s about things that aren’t important really.  And it’s about things that aren’t helping the environment.  And it’s about things that aren’t helping the world move in the right direction.  And it’s always been the case; but I feel like today – and maybe it’s because I’m in it and I'm in fashion – it’s putting more priority than they have on it in the past.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: I think fashion can go green.  I think it should go green.  I think it will take some time for everyone to change how they produce their goods, and research and resource kind of fabrics in countries where these things are done in an appropriate way for the environment, and for the people who are making these products.  But I . . . it is going green, and the companies that have either launched as a green company or are doing products that are green have been successful.  So obviously that’s a sign that it’s working and people are moving in that direction.  It obviously is healthy for business too, which I think has been in a lot of cases over . . . throughout history, if that’s something that people desire it actually helps move in that direction.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: The measure of a good life is to feel like you’ve been fair to everyone, been good to everyone around you.  That you haven’t left any “T”s uncrossed and “I”s that haven’t been dotted.  I think that you inspire people to give them back.  I mean for . . . for myself – not for others, for myself – I give what I have to give.  And that’s . . . it’s my ideas and my thoughts.  I share with everyone I know, whether it be an idea or whether it be, you know, a home on . . . I have ________ coming to stay, and these are things that I’m fortunate enough to have.  Love your family.  Love the people who are close to you.  Help the people who are close to you.  I think it’s just giving.  I think it’s giving without any expectations back.  I mean I don’t think you do it to get something back.  You do it because it’s right to do.  And I’ve always said this to people . . . “He did that to you, so why should you do this to him?”  I said, “I don’t know what he’s gonna . . . if he’s gonna do something for me after this.  I have no idea.  I don’t know if it’ll ever come back to me; but I believe if you put it out there, it comes back to you in a spiritual way.  I mean in a way that makes you feel better.  It makes me feel like I did something.”  And it has nothing to do with whether or not these things equal out in your lifetime now.  It’s not about . . . there’s no balance sheet for these things.  You do what you think is right.  I’d rather give more, put more out there that really is great and be taken advantage of like over and over again.  Like people say, “Don’t you feel like an idiot?”  I said, “No!  I feel like they’re idiots.”  I don’t feel like an idiot.  I feel like they’re an idiot because they’re never gonna get it again, and it’s gonna happen in their lives.  So it’s . . . it’s a philosophy to live by which probably wouldn’t work for some people, but it’s how I get along.  It’s how I kind of interact with people in my life.

Recorded on:  7/12/07

Transcript: Oh yeah.  I believe in the rule that, you know, you can be anything you wanna be.  And that if you follow . . .  I’ve always believed that everyone has a talent--everyone I know.  And I was not very good in school.  I was . . . I realized later that I had a focus problem which a lot of people have, which they don’t know at the time.  But I remember thinking to myslef, "but I have this other side to me." And my younger brother’s the same way – that if I really go after that, then I don’t have to worry about being good at all the other things.  And it was something I realized when my brother went into comedy.  He couldn’t organize his checkbook.  I mean, and a lot of people will get stumped by that and keep trying to make themselves better at the things that they’re not naturally inclined to do.  And we said, “I’m not going to be able to do this.”  So I moved to New York.  “I won’t be able to manage my checkbook.  I’m not making enough money to do it.  I’ll live on pizza and beer.  But I’m gonna go for doing the best with the talent that I have, which is solving ideas in advertising.”  And everything else was a mess.  But as I built that, the other things took care of themselves.  And if I tried to spend all of my mind – or a percentage of my mind – and put it into, “Oh let me see if I can figure out this math problem.  Figure out if I can solve the way that, you know, I can break down my budget and do X and Y,” it just would be a waste of an opportunity.  The cost would be too high.  I had to just do what I did.  My younger brother did that with comedy.  He said, “Look.  I’m not gonna be an accountant.  And I’m not gonna be, you know, a C-rated real estate guy.  I’m not gonna be a bad . . .”  I mean we all could have been “mediocre” at a lot of things.  But I think we said, “But I’m really inclined to do this.  If I could find a way to do this, I could be very good at this.”  And I think a lot of people get . . . I don’t think they get to do what they want to do because they don’t . . . they can’t figure out a way to follow it.  Maybe they’re not encouraged.  My mother encouraged us to do that, to go with what we really felt . . . we felt passionate about and what we could do naturally.  And that’s easy.  Your life is . . . you don’t even feel like it’s work.  You’re just doing what you do naturally rather than trying to, like, go to law school.  Which is fine.  It’s just I couldn’t spend the time in the books.  But that’s it.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: I think you can define it different ways.  I mean one way to define it is if it works.  Like a great pair of jeans, it works and it functions.  It has a functional part to it depending on what it’s designed for.  And this is designed . . . I mean these were designed for that purpose, and I think that has succeeded.  If it’s for, I guess, show . . . you know, to have people talk about it, then I think it’s successful if it generates that, you know?  I mean for me, I mean I like equally the dime store flip flop that costs $2.00 as good as any one designed by a European designer.  I think a flip flop should just be that.  And I think that a jean should be that.  I don’t think it needs ornamentation.  I think its original purpose was to last a long time, and to get better with age, and to do that.  It doesn’t need any more.  Some people think it looks better when you add things to it and play with it, which is fine.  But I think they should be left alone.  But I also love when someone changes how clothing functions.  For example, people in NASA would say, “I wanna make sure I can breathe in this shirt when I’m in 140 degre&e weather.”  Those kinds of things really excite me.  Or just like simple shirts that you can play tennis in.  Or simple things that really work.  I am . . . I’ve never been inspired by the flamboyance of fashion, although I think it’s really interesting.  I appreciate it.  I love seeing David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust.  I love all those moments, you know?  The costumes that Mick Jagger wears are amazing.  I mean if you go back and look at these costumers, they’re incredible.  And I have to say I really appreciate them.  And they . . . and they do look great on a lot of people.  And I think that’s all fashion.  I think all of it is fashion.  And that’s what I see.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: My favorite fashion icon would be either Ray Pekubo or Junior Watenabe.  I usually look to the Japanese for inspiration in design; how they mix traditional with the avant grade.  And I don’t usually wear it, but conceptually and from a design standpoint, IsiMiaki I think is incredibly talented.  And there are others.  There are smaller designers, and there are a lot in America as well as Europe. But those are the people who I always get excited about when I read their ideas.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: I think they’re . . .  I think they’re very closely tied together.  An art dealer named Jeffrey Deitch told me recently that – this is 10 years ago – that fashion had taken a lead on art.  It’s what’s going on culturally and what’s more relevant.  Now the art market, I believe, has come back.  And I  think the art market is in the forefront of what’s going on culturally.  But if you go back 10 years and you look at what was going on in the art world and fashion, really fashion was leading.  That’s why Jeffrey started representing people like ________ and other designers, and the Citizens Band, and bringing people in.  His idea was to find what’s going on in culture that’s really changing culture right now.  What’s in . . . what’s . . . where are people looking to find out where the newness is and what’s really moving culture?  And it can come from art, obviously from fashion.  Because this is . . . these communities are where the ideas are coming from.  And he was also looking at music.  And I think if you look at this . . . and architecture as well.  Architecture more so than ever, you know, has a role in the changing of who we are.  It always has.  But sometimes they’re the stars of the decade.  And all these things intertwine.  And there are different people.  But you go up to the clubs downtown and you’ll see there will be writers and artists.  If you go back to the ‘60s, the writers . . . I mean they were really influential at the time – I think as much or more so than the artists.  I mean there are things going on then that maybe aren’t going on now; but they all relate.  And I think it’s all people just trying to be more expressive, and trying to be expressive in a way that they feel the times are . . . are giving them.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: I have a creative process, but it’s, I think, unique to myself.  I will find . . .  I started in advertising, so I would really sit down with art directors usually.  And we would think about different ways to solve a problem.  Advertising is problem solving in a creative way.  And we would throw everything out.  I mean we were never embarrassed to throw out an idea.  It could come from anywhere.  I mean it could come from another . . . you know, I never stole from advertisers.  But you’d look at art and you’d walk around, and sometimes there are relationships between things.  If you’re doing something, for example, for a car, you’d kind of think visually about that.  And then you’d try to completely do the opposite.  So how do you do something where you don’t shoot on the road?   How do you sell this product without showing a car?  Well my process is usually how to do something really new, but to solve the problem and communicate it.  And I think that’s by just going in different directions starting with something completely obscure.  And say in the office, while there’s a straw, what can we do with the straw and solve this problem that the car gets better gas mileage?  And it starts that way, and then someone will say something else, and someone will say something else, and then we’ll come up with a visual idea that may say, “That would be really interesting.  I’ve never seen that in a car commercial.  How can we make that relate to the problem we’re trying to solve?”  So a lot of it comes from that and connects back to things we do.  But I don’t know where it comes from.  But the smartest people and the most creative people I know, you know, they have it built in.  They’re just . . . their nature is just to come up with it and their brains work that way.  I think that mine works that way connecting things from different angles all the time.  I don’t know why it does, but it comes very naturally to me to do these things.  It doesn’t come naturally to me to do a lot of obvious things that most people can do naturally.  But one thing that is natural for me is to kind of creatively solve problems and work on ideas.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: I think . . . I think generally we’re . . . we’re sheep and I think that’s fine.  I mean I think we all dress in a similar way, I mean, in this country.  Globally it depends on other factors, obviously.  You know, religion, temperature.  I mean there are a lot of reasons why they dress the way they dress.  But I think clothing is always gonna say something about people.  I think there is a real truth in that.  And you know, you can judge people by the way they dress.  It’s not always . . . it won’t always be accurate; but generally you can tell whether someone is conservative or not conservative, creative or not creative.  I love it when they surprise me though.  My father told me a story about going to see a famous creative director in advertising in the ‘60s.  And my father and all of his friends dressed like beat poets because they wanted to be like the Beats.  So they wore black desert boots, and turtlenecks and black jeans.  Well the audience, when someone walked on the stage dressed like a banker, they booed him.  And it turned out that he was the one who was doing all this great work.  And the audience loved that.  You can be very straight and have a really . . . a really interesting mind.  And I . . . I’ve always loved that when people didn’t have to show who they were by their clothing, but they did by their actions.  So I think that I love it when people are really creative with their fashion.  I think that it’s inspiring.  I think it can be an art form.  I think that you can see kids dressing in ways that you’re just like, “Wow.”  It’s like they put a painting together.  I think it’s another form of expression.  I think clothing is just a way to get out what you are and show people you are unique, and that you have something they don’t have.  In Japan, for example, because they don’t drive cars, they need to show who they are by the objects that they carry physically.  So handbags are your Ferrari or your Volkswagen.  You know, or your Prius.  So you’ve got this whole dynamic of what you are, and this perception of, you know, where you stand in society based on kind of the objects you have.  Where in L.A., you’ve got your Ferrari and they know who you are.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript: I don’t think you think about building a company.  I think you think about building a product.  A lot of people asked, “It must be daunting how to start a company.”  I always respond, “We never started a company.  A company is a byproduct of making a good product.”  We made six bags for Kate, and made two for Jack.  And we made them really well, and slowly but surely found an audience for those bags.  Sold them to the right stores who had the customers who we believed would appreciate those.  So we limited the distribution, let it go where it would go naturally, and really focused on the product.  I mean if you focus on the product, and you watch the market, and you understand where there are voids, and you find something that’s new, that satisfies a need – it’s so old school it’s simple – and be consistent about it, watch quality, hire great people, and really stay true to your original vision and just expand on it,  then you have a company and a brand.  Brands take a long time.  You can’t build history into something.  We can’t compete with the Europeans who’ve been around a hundred years.  So we have to be innovative, and a little bit more clever and intelligent.  Because no one believe something is well made when it’s two years old.  You know, if you’re a hundred year old company and you’re still going, you obviously know what you’re doing.  Does that make sense?

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Question:  What excites you about men’s fashion today?

Transcript: I think that men’s fashion isn’t exciting today.  I don’t find newness in men’s fashion necessarily.  I still believe for men that, you know, style is about, you know, putting on what you like to wear.  I find that most men’s fashion is ridiculous.  And it’s . . . it’s inappropriate, and it’s not what, you know . . . what men who I try to sell to can consider style.  So I think in terms of the business, maybe what’s going on technologically with fabrics is interesting.  I think what’s going on with, like, Nike and some of the outdoor companies is exciting.  I think that to me is exciting.  It’s the evolution, and the innovation, and the fabrications of things.   But in terms of the fashion world, I don’t see that as fashion.  To me performance and function are key,  and the byproduct of that is fashion.  I mean Patagonia is one of the most interesting companies, you know, going right now.  And I wouldn’t call them fashion, although I think that people sometimes would.

Question: Who are today’s best designers?

Transcript: Well I think that, you know, that the designers . . .  And this is somewhat off subject, but I think Apple has figured out that technology is fashion.  And I think the designer at Apple whose name I can’t recall right now, which you probably know, is doing a fantastic job with design.  I think that that’s become fashion.  I think that the designer who’s French, Agnes B, has done exciting things with fashion really supporting young filmmakers and typing fashion and film together.  I think that Paul Smith has always done something interesting with fashion because he’s always looking to do new things with tradition without basically making the traditional seem absurd, unless it’s purposeful, which he has a great sense of humor about being an Englishman.  And I think that, you know, APC, which is a French-based company – does some neat things.  You can look around the world Ray Kocubo of Comme des Garcons is always innovating and doing fantastic things with their guerilla stores where they’re opening stores that have clothes, not changing the store whatsoever, and just opening and putting their . . . their clothing in there and running as if it were a former bookstore.  There are a lot of companies like that.  And then Colette’s in Paris, Corso Como in Italy . . . there are some other smaller stores.  But generally Stone Island is doing a great job.  C.P. Company.  And then traditionalists, you know, who are on the Rhone in England and all around are making beautiful, beautiful things.  So I’m sure there are more, but that’s about it.

Question: What is the biggest challenge men’s fashion faces?

SPADE:  I think the biggest challenge with men’s fashion right now is how do you make something that will stand the test of time, and at the same time is intelligent?  I mean there are basics that exist that exist as basics for a reason.  If I think about the clothing that I like and that I wear, they are usually . . .  No one thinks about this today, but you think about items like the Oxford cloth shirt that I’m wearing by Brooks Brothers.  I mean it was made this way because it had to be heavier.  You had to move around in it.  You know, if you notice the buttons on the ones that were made pre-80s, pre-90s, they're sewn on....  But there’s a reason for the clothing’s being.  The lacrosse shirt came from a tennis player who wanted a long back so his shirt would stay in.  You know, he wanted the sleeves a certain length.  He wanted the open collar.  He wanted this all.  These classics today, most of those classics come from – whether they’re Carhaart working pants, or whether they’re Levi 501s that were made for miners – that’s why the rivets are there – they were designed for a purpose.  And the purpose became fashion.  The product became fashion; but those items, if you make something, make it for a reason.  Know why it’s there.  When Kate made her bag it was because it didn’t exist.  We wanted a lightweight bag that was stylish, that wasn’t cheap, that was good looking.  When I made Jack, I wanted something that wasn’t a sports bag, because I didn’t want to carry a Nike bag around or a Patagonia bag because I wasn’t a mountain climber.  I didn’t want to be a poseur when I went to work.  But I also wasn’t going to wear Prada, or Louis Vuitton or any of those bags because I’m not that person.  I wanted something that was utilitarian that had a bit of style to it, but wasn’t “fashion” in the way that a lot of fashion companies are, and it was first sold in a hardware store.  I put the first bags in a hardware store so that contractors and people in the industry would use them, and wear-test them.  And I’d get feedback on them and make sure they could carry them.  I looked at the Klein tool bag.  I looked at the Globe messenger bag which is no longer up.  Globe made the best messenger bag back when I was in New York.  And I went and studied the factories and how they made it, and made this purposeful tote bag and messenger bag.  And that was it.  And it came from somewhere that I thought filled a void from the style, practical, and utilitarian standpoint.  And I was inspired by the cost of 501, by New Balance, by Nike, by all of those . . . by NASA.  I mean all these places and what they do.  So I think that’s where we’ll always go.  And there’ll be temporary changes where someone will do it just for decoration, which is fine.  But I think men should look always like a man in a way that I think I’m addressing.  It’s not new, and it’s not, you know, exciting.  But it’s definitely, I think, there for a long time.  And I think that it’s . . . it holds up.  I want people to look back in 50 years and say, “Gosh.  Kate Spade is still here.”  It’s because it wasn’t a fad.  It wasn’t there because of colors or purple this season.  It was there because there was a need for this product.

Recorded on: 7/12/07

Transcript:  I think it’s from having a difficult childhood.  I think that a lot of your comedians – my brother specifically – I think a lot of things happened when we were kids.  I mean nothing depressing, but obviously things that happen to a lot of kids.  I think it was divorce.  My father was a writer and my mother was a writer.  And then the changes we made from moving to Michigan to Arizona, to a step father who had some problems who we used to make fun of a lot.  And although it wasn’t. . . it shouldn’t have been funny, but it was very funny.  And my mother is very kind of open and liberal and never took things too seriously . . . very dear, nurturing.  But we obviously have had time to kind of laugh.  And she loved to write and sing.  And I think a lot of those influences, some are genetic obviously.  And I think some just came from my brother was very funny.  My older brother wasn’t very funny.  So I fit somewhere in the middle.  That’s, I think, where it came from.

Recorded on: 7/12/07