Kenneth Cole Embarks on Major European Expansion

Kenneth Cole is accelerating its international expansion with the launch of the brand across 30 countries, positioning Europe as a strategic growth engine for the business.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland represent the first countries in the rollout across Europe and elsewhere.

On Thursday, the company will open a 5,700-square-foot centralized showroom in Dusseldorf, alongside the launch of kennethcole.eu and kennethcole.co.uk e-commerce.

“Europe has always been an important part of our brand’s story, and this marks an exciting new chapter,” said Kenneth Cole, executive chairman and chief creative officer. “We’re coming back in a big way — with the right infrastructure, and a modern, global vision for how the brand shows up in the ever-shrinking world.”

Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Cole has formed a new business entity, which is a hybrid model that gives the company flexibility with a strategic operating partner alongside wholesale and franchise relationships.

Retail expansion starts in March with the first elevated concept store in Prague, followed by Austria in May, and subsequent openings across Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic region. Stores will range in size from 2,500 to 4,000 square feet. The brand plans to open 100 stores by 2030, with a franchise-operated focus. The retail plan will roll out alongside a double-digit number of shops-in-shop within leading department stores.

Supported by a centralized warehouse in Venlo, the Netherlands, Kenneth Cole Europe will serve wholesale, retail and franchise partners through a newly developed business-to-business Enterprise Resource Planning platform, enabling localized assortment spanning across menswear, womenswear, activewear, footwear, accessories, luggage, home, childrenswear and eventually bath and body. This platform allows partners around the world to access the best of Kenneth Cole.

“We have a strategic growth plan rooted in strong product and impactful marketing,” said Jed Berger, chief executive officer and president of Kenneth Cole. “This expansion allows the world to experience the very best of Kenneth Cole in a more focused and meaningful way. The most exciting part is that this is only the beginning.”

The European expansion is projected to generate about $400 million to $500 million in sales by 2030, reinforcing Kenneth Cole’s long-term commitment to international growth across wholesale, retail and e-commerce channels.

Reached in Amsterdam, Berger told WWD, “We’ve been targeting European expansion for a long time. When we transitioned business models, everywhere internationally became a lot trickier because we didn’t have a single source of product.” (Kenneth Cole Productions doesn’t produce any merchandise itself and licenses out its categories, including apparel and footwear.) Right now, the percentage of international business is relatively low, but Berger said the company sees big growth potential everywhere internationally.

“So solving the product problem was sort of the number-one thing that we had to do,” he said. Through a B2B platform, they have a way for franchises, wholesalers or distributors to buy from a single source product solution and make it relevant for their local stores.

Several groups are making all the categories of their product, which includes some of their products from America. Berger said they also have multiple distributor deals.

“Our product team is there setting up the showroom, and they approve every single price of product all throughout the process,” said Berger.

In Europe, they are opening lifestyle stores, some of which are through franchise partners, that carry all the categories. Berger said they’re building a product line for all over the world, with local and regional variations through franchises.

The Dusseldorf showroom will open Thursday for market week. It will be the first time that the brand will show product to wholesalers and potential franchise partners. Wholesaling will begin in the fall.

Turning to U.S. business, Berger said the brand has performed well. “We had another year of strong growth, considering the world and all the disruption involved in it. We have strong momentum. Our women’s apparel line [through Kasper] had its first full year, and exceeded expectations. Men’s sportswear and tailored exceeded expectations,” he said.

Berger thinks the timing is right to tackle Europe. “A lot of international businesses like ours are global. Their percentage of business outside the U.S. is significantly higher than ours. There is a big runway there. It was just making sure we had the right product and the right way of providing it, the right partners in place and the right infrastructure in place. You can’t do it wrong. We feel really confident we’re doing it right with the right product and the right team.”

Berger believes the Kenneth Cole aesthetic and product assortment will do well in Europe. He said focusing on the modern professional working man and woman has been very successful for them.

Internationally, Cole’s business skews 60 percent toward men’s and 40 percent to women. In the U.S., it’s been higher in men’s. “That’s changing drastically with Kasper. But still, Kasper is one year in, but [the overall business] is still more predominant in men’s in America,” he said.