Vince Camuto was an American footwear designer and businessman who died with a net worth of $700 million. Vince, the son of a humble New York City seamstress, made his initial fortune by co-founding the women’s fashion label Nine West. Jones Apparel Group paid $900 million for Nine West in 1999.
Vince went on to make a fortune as the founder of the Camuto Group, a shoe licensee. This meant that it created items for licensed names and trademarks. Jessica Simpson, for example, hired the Camuto Group to create her custom shoe line in the mid-2000s.
How did Vince Camuto die?
Vince Camuto died of prostate cancer on January 21, 2015, at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. At the time of his death, he was 78 years old.
Camuto donated to organizations such as Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the Leukemia Society of America, and the Domestic Abuse Awareness Foundation. He also sat on the board of Wish-And-A-Smile, an organization that supports a variety of children’s organizations.
Camuto’s firms won several important industry accolades, including Fisher Camuto being named Company of the Year by Footwear News in 1991. In 1994, the same publication honored Nine West’s retail business Retailer of the Year. Camuto was inducted into the Footwear News Hall of Fame in 2001.
Dilliard’s Inc. president Alex Dillard eulogized his friend as “an icon” of the fashion industry whose “passion for the footwear business and… vision for style meeting function were unmatched.”
Meanwhile, Vince worked for the Sudbury Shoe Company in the 1960s. It was here that he learned the business of mass-producing shoes. During his stint with Sudbury, Vince was put in command of the company’s failing factory in Maine. He was able to turn around that factory in a few years.
Vince was hit by fate while flying on an airplane in 1968. He sat next to Jerome “Jack” Fisher on this flight. They struck it off and decided to start a business together on that aircraft flight.Jack and Vince signed an agreement with the Japanese trade giant Sumitomo Corporation to build and manage a shoe plant in Brazil.
Jack and Vince left Sumitomo in 1977 to create their own brand, initially called “Fisher Camuto” but later renamed “Nine West.”One of Nine West’s early breakthroughs was importing shoes and other footwear of the same size in cases. Other importers at the time would import all sizes at once, creating an inventory and warehousing nightmare. The company was able to dramatically reduce its storage and inventory planning costs by importing all of the same sizes in single shipments, allowing them to be exactly matched for supply and demand.
The company quickly expanded into a chain of locations across the United States. In 1993, Nine West went public.
Jones Apparel Group paid $900 million for Nine West in 1999. After inflation, that equates to about $1.5 billion in today’s money.
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
Categories: News
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
