Kenneth Cole Productions has made some key leadership changes as the 42-year-old company positions itself for the next 40 years of growth. Among them is the promotion of president Jed Berger to chief executive officer of the company. He will serve in both roles.
The last person to hold the CEO and president position was Marc Schneider, who held the titles from 2015 to 2020.
Berger joined the company in September 2022 as president, having been global chief marketing officer for the Foot Locker family of brands, where he also led business areas such as licensing, digital and product development. Before that he was senior vice president of marketing for Modell’s Sporting Goods.
“I am proud to announce the evolution of our organization — one that is built to meet the changing forces the world continues to offer. Innovation, in both product and purpose, has never been more important,” said Kenneth Cole, who remains executive chairman and chief creative officer of both Kenneth Cole Productions and the Mental Health Coalition. “I am confident that this next chapter will honor our roots while empowering this new team to evolve the brand and the business in bold, meaningful ways.”
Among other key moves at Cole is the naming of Emily Cole as executive vice president, chief product officer, creative director. She had been executive vice president, women’s creative director and product strategy. In her new role, Emily Cole will oversee product strategy and creative direction across all Kenneth Cole labels, including Kenneth Cole New York, Reaction, Gentle Souls, and others.
She will work alongside Kenneth Cole on enterprise-wide strategic decisions and social impact initiatives and will serve as Kenneth Cole’s creative partner.
Emily Cole
Courtesy of Kenneth Cole
Lauren Montemaro Kahn has joined the company as senior vice president, chief commercial officer, responsible for business development, and domestic and international partnerships. Most recently she had been vice president of business development at WHP Global, where she led strategic partnerships across the brand portfolio that included Vera Wang, Express, Anne Klein and Bonobos. Since 2022, she has personally originated and closed over $85 million in cumulative guaranteed minimum royalties. Earlier she worked at Beanstalk, part of Omnicom Group.
Rounding out the leadership team are Samantha Cohen, who continues as senior vice president, chief marketing and social impact officer; Renada Williams, who remains senior vice president, general counsel and chief people officer, and David Edelman, who continues as executive vice president, chief financial officer.
Philips McCarty has joined the company as president of the Mental Health Coalition and a member of the Kenneth Cole advisory board. Previously he was vice president for advancement at Fashion Institute of Technology and executive director of the FIT Foundation. Earlier, he was executive managing director of the Elizabeth Taylor Trust.
Sharon Seelig, who has been president, licensing, is retiring after more than 30 years. “Sharon has been a pillar of this organization and a trusted force behind so much of what we’ve accomplished,” said Cole.
In a telephone interview this week, Berger said that since joining Cole’s business in 2022, his mission has been “to reset the prioritization and formalize a growth plan to go and attack it and really get on the offensive.” He feels the company has done a great job doing that. The company has prioritized and understood where the growth was going to come from, from both partner and category perspectives.
“We’re reestablishing our positioning in the retailer place and the consumer. A lot of it was already in place, it just needed a little bit of formalization structure and prioritization,” he said.
A fall look from Kenneth Cole.
Courtesy of Kenneth Cole
Going forward, Berger said, “We’re still in growth mode. We’ve had a terrific three years. Honestly, we’ve had significant growth year-over-year for three consecutive years, And even in this tariff mania, we’re still growing.”
He said the core of the business is men’s and women’s apparel and footwear. It has mostly been domestic.
According to Berger, men’s footwear (with Marc Fisher) has been a priority for the company, along with the women’s category in general. Two years ago they signed a deal with Kasper for a contemporary women’s line, “and they’ve developed an incredible line that has wildly exceeded everybody’s expectations and it’s a contemporary line that’s beautiful, incredibly well constructed and has done amazingly well, and is continuing to grow,” he said. It launched last October. The company will introduce at retail a women’s handbag line next year (with Concept One).
He also noted that its Gentle Souls women’s footwear business has been growing “exceptionally well” at Nordstrom and Dillard’s. “And now we’re launching men’s Gentle Souls exclusively at Nordstrom,” he said.
Berger said their labels are Gentle Souls, Kenneth Cole, Reaction and they have a relationship with Men’s Wearhouse “where we have a very significant business with them under a label called Kenneth Cole Awearness.”
Ninety-nine percent of Kenneth Cole’s business is licensed.
Berger said another opportunity for the brand is international expansion, and they will be launching e-commerce in Europe later this year. They are also opening a showroom in Dusseldorf, Germany, next month and will start opening stores and wholesaling in 2026.
Cole said his men’s apparel business is very mature and big, especially with the Men’s Wearhouse piece, which is “many hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“Our women’s apparel was just relaunched last October. Our women’s footwear business is a significant size business, so really right now, our men’s business in the U.S. far outweighs our women’s which is part of the reason that our women’s opportunity is so significant,” said Berger.
