Nine West is a fashion wholesale and retail company best known for quickly translating runway trends into styles attainable by mass consumers. Initially founded as a fashion footwear brand, Nine West has since expanded into handbags, sunglasses, legwear, outerwear, jewelry, belts, watches, cold weather accessories, hats, scarves and wraps, and eyewear. Fred Allard has served as Creative Director

Creative Director

A creative director is a position often found within the graphic design, film, music, fashion, advertising, media or entertainment industries, but may be useful in other creative organizations such as web development and software development firms as well....

 since 2006.

Named for its founding location in the Solow Building

Solow Building

The Solow Building, located at 9 West 57th Street, is a Manhattan skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill's Gordon Bunshaft and built in 1974. It is located just west of Fifth Avenue, sandwiched between the 57th and 58th Street, next to such prominent buildings as the Bergdorf Goodman...

 at 9 West 57th St in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Nine West opened its first specialty retail store in 1983 in Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

. Nine West has since become an internationally-recognized brand located in over 800 global locations in 57 countries. The Head quarter located in White Plain with estimated employee size 390 & overall employee size over 10,000.

In 1999, Nine West was acquired by Jones Apparel Group

Jones Apparel Group

The Jones Group, Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is an American designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded clothing, shoes and accessories. Its headquarters are in New York City. The company also markets directly to consumers through their chain of specialty retail and value-based stores...

.

Brand History

Nine West was founded in 1978 by Jerome Fisher and Vince Camuto, after their wholesale shoe business Fisher Camuto Corporation was incorporated. Nine West was one of the first companies to utilize the expertise in leather and shoemaking in Brazil. By 1979, Camuto and Fisher had already sold over 1 million pairs of shoes.

In 1983, the first Nine West branded retail store was opened in Stamford, CT while international expansion began with the opening of the Hong Kong location in 1994. In 1986, Nine West launched its first national ad campaign.

After the launch of handbags in 1995, Nine West has since expanded to dresses, suits and kids footwear. Through licensing agreements, Nine West also offers eyewear, sunglasses, legwear, outerwear, belts, hats, cold weather accessories, scarves and wraps.

In 2006, Nine West began collaborating with Vivienne Westwood, Thakoon and Sophia Kokosalaki on limited edition capsule collections. In 2009, Nine West and New Balance collaborate to develop a collection of footwear inspired by performance and fashion.