Cole Haan is an American

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

of men's and women's

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves ...

and accessories that serves markets worldwide. The company was founded in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1928. Cole Haan currently has its headquarters in both

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Greenland, New Hampshire,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

History

The company name comes from founders Trafton Cole and Eddie Haan, and was originally named “Cole, Rood & Haan” when the company was strictly a men's footwear label. Today it offers many products, including men's and women's dress and casual footwear, belts, hosiery, handbags, gloves, scarves, hats, outerwear, and sunglasses. Cole Haan was sold to a group of partners headed by George Denney in 1975. These executives built upon the foundation established by Cole and Haan over the following decade, transforming the label into one of the leading U.S. footwear brands. They launched a retail division in 1982, which comprised 40 plus stores worldwide and cumulative annual sales of nearly $70 million by 1996. Nike, Inc. purchased Cole Haan in 1988. Nike announced on May 31, 2012, that it was divesting of Cole Haan and Umbro to focus on the Nike brand and other complementary brands. Cole Haan was bought by private equity firm

Apax Partners Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...

Worldwide LLP for $570 million on November 16, 2012. Since then the brand has its headquarters in Greenland, New Hampshire, and its design center in

. Jack A. Boys is its current

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. The Cole Haan Maine headquarters relocated from Yarmouth to Scarborough in summer 2011. In October 2013 it was announced that the headquarters would relocate to Greenland, New Hampshire.

Retail stores

Cole Haan has over 300 stores with numerous locations in the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. Cole Haan has one store in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, and other than one location in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, does not have any other locations in Europe, nor any in Australia and New Zealand. Cole Haan sells its products worldwide through its own website and websites operated by international distribution partners. Cole Haan products are also sold at retailers such as

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

, Shoe Carnival, Zappos,

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus,

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

and other department stores and independent stores in the United States, as well as through its own outlet stores found in outlet malls throughout the country.

Sustainability

On February 25, 2008, the company announced it would discontinue using real animal fur in its products for business and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

reasons.Nike's Cole Haan to go fur-free

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

, February 25, 2008

Marketing

Cole Haan chose Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova to headline its Spring 2009 and Fall 2009

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

campaigns.

Collaborations

Cole Haan has done collaborations with designers, athletes, and tastemakers including a men's footwear capsule collection with CFDA-nominated menswear designer Todd Snyder and a collection of women's ballet flats designed in partnership with three dancers of

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company ...

, Sara Mearns,

Megan Fairchild Megan Fairchild (born October 23, 1984) is an American ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Early life Fairchild was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and began her dance training at the age of four, stu ...

, and Gretchen Smith.

References

External links

* {{Nike, state=collapsed Shoe companies of the United States Shoe brands Eyewear companies of the United States Eyewear brands of the United States Manufacturing companies based in New Hampshire Companies based in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Clothing companies established in 1928 Retail companies established in 1982 1928 establishments in Illinois 1988 mergers and acquisitions 2012 mergers and acquisitions Greenland, New Hampshire Apax Partners companies