FN publishes dozens of stories daily, yet some quotes stop us in our tracks. The words mark moments of time, identify the importance of events and highlight the thought processes that make footwear industry leaders impactful.
Here are seven of the year’s most memorable quotes, as told to FN.
“I’ll always remember when something would happen, there would be a surprise of a beautifully written letter from Blake. He took such great care not to let things pass without noting them.”
— Jeffrey New York founder and president Jeffrey Kalinsky on the late Blake Nordstrom (January)
“We did all the same s**t that every other footwear company does. That f**cked us. That’s not what built us in the first place or why people buy our shoes.”
— Toms founder Blake Mycoskie on the challenges in growing the irreverent brand (March)
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“I want to change the whole perception of Latinos; I want to show the world how we are fresh, too.”
— Reggaeton star J Balvin on shining the light on fashionable Latinos (December)
“Our cultural fat phobia runs so deep that we find excuses to excuse it.”
— Micki Krimmel on the plus- size market (September)
“I used to think, ‘When I succeed, that’s enough. I don’t have to do any more.’ I realized that was an immature position. If you want to work with women, you have to be the one who makes the change.”
— Mindy Kaling on inclusivity in entertainment (June)
“I’m always critical of myself. Everything keeps me up at night. This conversation will keep me up tonight. I’ll think about all the answers I gave you and all the answers I didn’t give you. Everything is always in motion in my brain; it’s like open applications the way you would have in a phone.”
— Kith founder Ronnie Fieg on not being comfortable despite his success (October)
“He was just so excited that all of these things were starting to fall into place, and yet he was very humble about his role about it. He kept bringing more and more people into the room to introduce them to me, saying this person did that and that person did this. It was never about Jon; it was always about the team.”
— The NPD Group’s Matt Powell on Fila’s recent success under the late Jon Epstein (April)
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