When the rules prevented Kenneth Cole from launching, he broke the rules

http://dlewis.net/nik-archives/the-birth-of-a-shoe-company/

by DanLivesHere • 15 years ago

191 41 15 years ago

dlewis.net

DanLivesHere3• 15 years ago

... and he embraces it. I learned this from one of his trucks (see http://i.imgur.com/UClZP.jpg) which told the story.

nickpinkston• 15 years ago

True hustlers make it happen - great story.

americandesi3332• 15 years ago

He did break the rules, but these rules were irrational and he didn't hurt anyone in the process. Thats the ethical and moral dilemma that hustlers have to deal with every day.

This is an inspiring story, but when I hear about founders cheating, backstabbing and hurting others in the process, that is not inspiring... and there is a fine line between the two.

cbs3• 15 years ago

>but these rules were irrational

Yeah, lets just let anyone who wants to set up shop in the middle of NYC roads. Won't impact traffic in the city at all.

americandesi3332• 15 years ago

I am not propagating that anyone should be allowed to have a truck on the NYC road, but why is it restricted only for movie studios and utility companies? Why not look at other industries that might value from such a permit. Even the author seems to agree with that evaluation.

jpadvo2• 15 years ago

What is so impressive about the story is that he didn't break the rules, he found a clever way to work within them. He was confronted with a brick wall most people would have seen as non-negotiable, and he found a way around it. This required subtlety and cleverness.

Outright breaking the rules is a shortcut that will often be morally wrong and will also carry practical ramifications that you probably don't want to deal with. I.e. you'll be a jerk and get nailed for it.

It takes nothing but shallow bravado and sociopathy to "break the rules." It takes a lot of smarts to work with / around them, and will work out a lot better for you.

ilamont• 15 years ago

Agreed. The established order didn't work for him, so he was able to leverage an alternative (but legal) way of achieving his ultimate goal.

There have been some other interesting marketing hacks/stunts over the years. I remember from about 20 years ago one involving the late Eazy E of N.W.A., a rap group which helped take gangsta rap mainstream in the late 80s/early 90s. Eazy E was invited to and showed up for a White House luncheon with then-President George H.W. Bush. How'd he get the invitation? Apparently by donating $2,500 to the Republican Party or the elder Bush's re-election campaign. The press was all over it. Eazy E later said the publicity was worth a million dollars.

DannoHung• 15 years ago

Actually, given the specific circumstances, I'm not sure that your analysis is correct, IANAL, but obtaining a permit and using it under false pretenses despite performing the activity required by the permit might be illegal.

jpadvo2• 15 years ago

You have a good point. If the movie making was just a charade, you are probably right -- it might have been some kind of fraud.

If he actually was producing a film, even if it was just a short one or an advertisement, he probably was okay. But only through a loophole. :)

ctdonath• 15 years ago

One who knows the laws well can find fascinating opportunities therein.

Few have ever read any laws, much less understand them well enough to find opportunities therein.

matdwyer• 15 years ago

Great point - and very true - He didn't break the rules, but found a way to make the rules work for him. If he just showed up with the truck it would have been a few hours before he was ticketed and forced out, but this way he made it look even more important and translate to even more sales. Perfect!

0x123• 15 years ago

It's shallow bravado and sociopathy if you think the rules don't apply to you.

The fine line is right at the point where if everybody did what you just did, would it work or would we all fail?

The rules are there for a reason, your ability to cheat your way to the top notwithstanding and there is nothing impressive at all about a lack of respect for a common resource.

jamesbritt• 15 years ago

It's shallow bravado and sociopathy if you think the rules don't apply to you.

That's total bullshit. Sociopathy? Really? Think maybe there's some hyperbole here?

Lots of rules were created simply to make life easier for some at the expense of others. Other rules are place long after they make any sense.

The fine line is right at the point where if everybody did what you just did, would it work or would we all fail?

That's only true in a broad view. Also "everybody did what you just did" may point out just why a rule is foolish. Or not, but blind obedience is no virtue.

* ... and there is nothing impressive at all about a lack of respect for a common resource.*

So it's OK for one business (film) to tie up traffic and inconvenience the locals, but not another (apparel)? And this is based on some objective assessment of the common good and not back-room deals, tax breaks, and cronyism?

I'm skeptical.

powertower• 15 years ago

"Rules" are human mental constructs that the universe cares nothing for.

If you want to live your life chained up because somehow that proves or validates your ego, it will only impress similar minded individuals. You're still playing this game, yet win nothing at the end.

Realize that the only way you're going to get ahead is via advantages. And they are not going to come to you, you create them.

You can work hard or you can work smart...

biturd• 15 years ago

It depends on the rule and the severity of the rule-breaking. Every day some kid is risking a fine for selling lemonade by breaking any number of permit and health code laws. They do it anyway.

I suppose a lesson could be learned, start a movie studio that shows how to build a lemonade company. Most kids would not get off the ground.

Most would simply complain to their parents who would in turn email The Consumerist causing the media to get the kids their lemonade stand.

I probably would have broken the rules and got the truck without the permit. Maybe it would have blown it for me, and I would have been forcibly removed and never sold a single shoe. Though I think there is another important side to this.

That side is the nepotistic behavior of the city issuing permits to only movie studios and construction companies to build ball parks.

I would rather prove the point that there is nefarious permit issuing going on within the city than be a part of their corrupt system of permit issuance.

I suppose the best thing to do would be to work as did the shoe guy, make your 40K units sold, and then make some noise about the permit issue with your profits.

Sometimes breaking rules is a good thing, and helps to enact change for the better, or make awareness of the absurdity of the rule itself.

bbq• 15 years ago

What about the civil rights movement? Break the rules; they're bullshit anyhow.

wnight2• 15 years ago

What's funny is that you see lying and filing a misleading application to be playing by the rules. Clearly the intent was to sell shoes.

What was really helped by the fake paperwork? They were willing to pay for a sales permit anyways so it's not money...

> you'll be a jerk and get nailed for it.

Actually, the term for someone who doesn't follow the rules is 'a criminal'. A jerk therefore is someone who follows the rules and hurts people regardless.

But usually the laws that a thoughtful person would choose to disregard are ones where you wouldn't even be jerkish to do so. If I smoked a joint it wouldn't hurt you at all. When I jaywalked on my old street where I had a 100m view in each direction I was less of a risk to myself and others than if I'd walked to the busy corner to cross the street.

No, clearly the jerk is the rule-follower who needlessly makes everyone else's life miserable by insisting everyone should blindly follow the rules.

> It takes nothing but shallow bravado and sociopathy to "break the rules."

Pft. That's what following rules is. The shallow (easily observed) lie that those who wrote the laws knew enough to do so (more than we do now), and the sociopathy to ignore the circumstances and damn people based on cold unreasoning laws.

It takes a caring and empathic human to evaluate a situation and say the rules are for shit. Sometimes that's self-serving, sometimes that's Schindler. I'd risk the former for the latter.

aneth• 15 years ago

The lesson to be learned here is to make things happen - to find a way from A to B - to not take no for an answer.

It is not that breaking the rules is a good thing, only that sometimes it is acceptable.

cbs3• 15 years ago

Yeah, great for him. This law is in place prevent the tragedy of the commons from killing NYC traffic because "well, its ok for ME to block traffic selling my shit".

rada• 15 years ago

This is nothing more than a bricks-and-mortar version of spam. Misleading subject? Check. Message scrambled so it can pass through the spam filter? Check. Exacerbating traffic congestion at pipe owner's expense? Check. Millions of people's time wasted? Check.

Ok, spam is not genocide, and ok, it moves product. But to make it into an inspiring Young-Entrepreneur-Breaking-The-Rules story? Give me a break.

georgieporgie2• 15 years ago

What is it spam for? The newsletter link at the bottom?

DanLivesHere3• 15 years ago

No, he's saying that Kenneth Cole was a spammer. Just a brick-and-mortar one.

joezydeco• 15 years ago

Millions of people work around stifling bureaucracies daily.

Anyone working for a large corporation probably has a dozen or more arrows in their quiver when it comes to working around stupid rules, inefficient procedures, or stupid/inefficient coworkers.

jonathanmoore2• 15 years ago

Fun fact... Their legal name to date is still Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. as a reminder to resourcefulness and innovative problem solving.

Source: http://www.kennethcole.com/content/index.jsp?page=our_story&...

DanLivesHere3• 15 years ago

This is also noted in the submitted link

jonathanmoore2• 15 years ago

My mistake. I must have missed that.

The version of the story that is told on Kenneth Cole's website is still worth checking out.

parfe• 15 years ago

If he never closed shop he was selling over 11 pairs of shoes a minute for 2.5 days straight. I assume he was actually doing bulk sales to distributors.

The article doesn't make it clear. Was Market Week a retail event or a business to business event?

dabent• 15 years ago

I'm pretty sure this is the kind of event where purchasers make deals with manufacturers. You're right, it would be logistically impossible for that many shoes to be sold one at a time...

http://nycfashioninfo.com/wholesale/market-weeks/Calendar.as...

mathattack• 15 years ago

He would have a great answer for The YC application question of "how did you hack the system?"

yason• 15 years ago

It's easy to break the rules if you just see them as rules, like kids do: they interpret rules literally.

If, instead, you have learned to see some sort of an authority or greater justification issued behind the rules, rules become bearly impossible to bend because you'd be not only mucking with the rules but challenging something much greater.

For an example, if you bump into a locked door of an abandoned old house, most people shy away because they assume the whole premises are off limits. While that is a safe assumption, a hacker mind would just consider the locked door as one particular blocked entry to the house and hop in through the basement window that was left slightly open. It might not be too relevant for him whether the premises themselves are, or are not, off limits: the hacker mind would realize that him looking around the house doesn't cause any tangential damage to anything, but at least he would satisfy his endless curiosity about what's inside.

Similarly this shoe guy realized it does no harm to anyone and nobody would actually care if he posed as a film crew even if they weren't filming anything. Well, it seems nobody did care!

wisty• 15 years ago

I find the whole "rules are made to be broken" thing a little creepy.

But you seem to have a more interesting take - unjust rules are meant to be sidestepped.

When the rules prevented Kenneth Cole from launching, he broke the rules

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