Kate Spade founders to exit company |
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| Wednesday, 01 August 2007 | |
 Kate Space is to see its founding team go, nine months after the company was bought by Liz Claiborne, the ailing American retail conglomerate. Husband-and-wife Kate and Andy Spade will step down from their respective roles as designer and chief executive at the close of spring
 market, cites Woman Wear Daily. The Spades stated personal reasons for leaving their day-to-day roles, including a desire to spend time traveling with their two-year-old daughter. They will stay on as members of the brand's board, which will also include Claiborne ceo William L. McComb, executive vice president of Claiborne's direct-to-consumer division Jill Granoff, the new ceo for Kate Spade.
"This is a hard decision, and I feel very emotional about it," said Kate Spade in an interview Thursday. "But the emotions would be more about melancholy if I thought we weren't doing the right thing. We are with the right partners — we wouldn't make this decision otherwise. This an opportunity for employees, the fabulous teams we have in place, to take the baton and run away with it." The Spades, along with partners Pamela Bell and Elyce Arons, founded the firm in 1993. Last November, Claiborne bought the New York-based accessories brand from Neiman Marcus Group (which had owned it since 1999) for $124 million. |
