Steve Madden - The Cobbler: How I Disrupted an Industry, Fell From Grace, and Came Back Stronger Than Ever

WHETHER ITS A SHOE OR A LIFE, WITHOUT EACH PIECE CAREFULLY STITCHED TOGETHER, THE FINALPRODUCT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

E veryone knows Steve Maddens name and his shoes, but few are familiar with his story. Over the past thirty years, Steve Madden has taken his eponymous shoe company from the fledgling startup he founded with $1,100 to a global, multibillion-dollar brand. In the 1990s, Maddens iconic designs, such as the Marilyn, the Mary Lou, and the Slinky, established him as the preeminent designer of shoes for young women. Along the way, he revolutionized the industry, merging his entrepreneurial, maverick approach to business with innovative, trend-focused designs. Today, Steve Madden is a true lifestyle and destination for footwear, having acquired and successfully stewarded brands such as Betsey Johnson, Dolce Vita, Big Buddha, Blondo, BB Dakota, Greats, and many more.

But Maddens personal mistakes, from his battle with addiction to the financial shortcuts that landed him in prison, are as integral to his story as his most iconic shoes. In this raw, intimate, and ultimately inspiring book, Madden holds nothing back as he shares what it took to get here and the lessons hes learned along the way. From his unconventional hiring strategies to his unyielding devotion to product, Madden offers a business philosophy that is as unique as his styles. In The Cobbler, readers are treated to the wild ride though his rise, fall, and comeback. But they will also walk away uplifted by a man who has owned up to his mistakes and come back determined to give back and use his hard-won platform to create positive change.

is an entrepreneur, an award-winning designer, and a business titan whose eponymous company is currently worth more than $3 billion. He is also a recovering addict and devoted family man. The provocative shoe designer built a booming brand and nearly lost it all to The Wolf of Wall Street only to rebound by giving back and creating a global empire. Through it all, he hasnt forgotten his humble beginnings or his core consumers,resulting in millions of adoring fans worldwide. Madden is also an active philanthropist and mentor who supports a number of organizations that help those in need of a second chance.

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Copyright 2020 by Steve Madden

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval, without the written permission of the author.

This memoir is a truthful recollection of the formative events in the authors life. The events, places, and conversations in this memoir have been re-created from memory. The dialogue does not represent a word-for-word transcript of what was discussed, but in all instances the essence of conversations is accurate. In order to maintain the anonymity of certain people involved, some names and identifying details have been changed.

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First edition: May 2020

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-63576-695-0

eBook ISBN: 978-1-63576-691-2

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Cover design by Matthew Ellenberger

Interior design by Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

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For my brother Luke, who inspired and
influenced me in so many ways.
I love you.

If youre going through hell, keep going.

attributed to Winston Churchill

I fidgeted in my tux, restless as ever, as the supermodel Winnie Harlow stood onstage talking about my career, my brand, and me. These events always felt surreal. I never got used to them, and it was hard to focus on what she was saying as thoughts flooded through my brain. Is my jacket straight? Do I have all the notes for my speech? Its nice that Winnie is wearing a pair of my shoes.

Steve Madden has been called many things, Winnie said from the podium. Thats for sure , I thought.

Mogul, she said, pausing for effect. Icon.

I could have added to that list. As a kid, I was called things like stupid and lazy, a pain in the ass who couldnt shut up and sit still. Nobody knew then that I had an attention disorder that kept me from focusing, or that such a thing even existed. In my teens and twenties, I was called other things: a partier, a wild man. But at the height of my addiction, when I was either out crashing cars or hiding in my apartment, isolating myself from the world, my life was anything but a party.

It wasnt until I turned thirty and got clean that people started calling me things that were positive: creative, charismatic, someone who was on the pulse of trends and knew how to create a cool product for a good price. When I look back, those years were the besthustling and fighting, clawing my way to the top of an industry that was loathe to accept an outsider like me. But they were also the years when I made my biggest mistakes fueled by impatience and a replacement addiction: money. After my downfall, the names I was called were the most hurtful, even though they were true: a criminal, a convict, a mere number as far as anyone running the facility I was locked up in cared to know.

And now, years later, here I was in a fancy ballroom wearing a tuxedo and receiving an award for creating a multi-billion-dollar global brand. Looking back at both the past thirty years and that last sentence, it seems like nothing more than an illusion, a random twist of fate that landed me here. But can life possibly be that cruel?

And tonight, Winnie said with a big smile, turning to the spot where I stood offstage, we add visionary to that list. I walked onto the stage, and she presented me with a small figurine of a clutch covered in Swarovski crystalsthe Accessories Councils Visionary Award.

The rest of the night was a blur of mingling and congratulations. A few hours later, it was a relief to be home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

On a clear day, I can see from my apartment over the bridge to Queens, New York, where I was born. My family soon moved a stones throw away to the Five Towns of Long Island, a place that is still very much a part of me, from my accent to my style (or lack thereof) to my lingering sense of being just slightly left of center.

The Five Towns is where I found my two great loves: shoes and golf. Im not a very good athlete, but I have always loved sports. In high school, I didnt make the schools basketball team, so I played on an intramural team just for fun. I was probably the worst player on the team, but I enjoyed it, and it gave me an outlet for my restless energy.

When I was growing up, the Five Towns was a prototypical Jewish suburb. But one of those five towns, Inwood, was home to mostly black, Italian, and Irish Catholic families. The neighborhoods were essentially segregated, as much of the country was back then, but our high school was mixed. Before basketball season started, I heard that a group of black guys had been kicked off of the varsity team for smoking weed or some other bullshit reason. Id been friends with those guys since we were kids. They were unbelievably talented athletes who worked hard. Watching them play basketball was like seeing Mikhail Baryshnikov dance. Beautiful. It was a no-brainer to ask them to join the intramural team.