Jed Berger on Kenneth Cole's next chapter: Europe, women's and staying 'comfortably uncomfortable'

Almost a year after adding chief executive to his title, Jed Berger is pointing Kenneth Cole outward. The brand is scaling into the DACH region first, with a store opening in Austria and roughly 10 planned for Germany in the next six to 12 months, while the UK is scheduled for 2027.

"Europe gives us an opportunity for a fresh start, not to become a different brand, but to introduce who we are in a way that's right for that market," Berger told FashionUnited.

Europe is not new territory for the company, but the current phase marks a step up in scale. Germany is deliberately the proving ground. "Doing Germany in a big, scaled way is a test market to make sure we're built operationally to really scale a different market," he explained.

In the US, Berger said, the business is "very driven by a wholesale marketplace today, with, honestly, a relatively small number of retailers driving a pretty significant amount of the business" — alongside an increasing consumer emphasis on value. "It's very clear just from earnings and sales which companies are really driving retail growth in America right now, and that's certainly benefited us. We were born as an accessible fashion company with social impact at our core, and that remains heavily relevant."

Europe demands a different translation of the same idea. "We are a commercial contemporary brand for the modern professional, grounded in mental health and social impact. That's who we are in Europe, that's who we are in Latin America, that's who we are in America," Berger said. "The identity will remain consistent, but how that's interpreted and communicated and brought to market is going to be different depending on where we do it. There are real distinctions in consumer expectations, distribution, and the way brands speak about themselves in Europe."

A marketer running a founder's brand

Berger was promoted to chief executive of Kenneth Cole Productions in October 2025, having joined as president in September 2022 from Foot Locker Inc., where he was global chief marketing officer. In the three years since he arrived, the company says retail sales have grown from approximately 850 million to more than 1.3 billion dollars. Founder Kenneth Cole remains executive chairman and chief creative officer of both the company and the Mental Health Coalition.

Berger is candid that the title changed the decision architecture more than the day job. "The biggest change was less about the role itself and more about the levels of decision-making," he said. "There's always a level of decisions where, even today, I want Kenneth's perspective. It's not a company named Jed Berger — it's his name and his vision."

Berger said Cole is always going to be the one closest to the product, creative vision, and long-term vision of the company. "And I'm always going to stay extremely close to the day-to-day of the business, which of course includes the product. But I am not, nor would I ever claim to be, a designer. I have never designed a pair of women's heels, believe it or not," he added.

Before Kenneth Cole, Berger led Foot Locker's "Approved" campaign and "Week of Greatness," its loyalty programme launch and the Greenhouse incubator. Earlier in his career he co-founded Dime Magazine and the agency 94x50, and served as senior vice president of marketing at Modell's Sporting Goods.

"I have long believed that the best marketers use both sides of the brain," he said. "One of my strengths through my entire career has been taking a large amount of unstructured thinking, applying filters and context, and then turning it into clear priorities and bringing the organisation along."

Women's first, then international

The European push runs in parallel with the brand's other strategic pillar. In August, Kenneth Cole launched its fall 2026 handbag collection — 15 styles across six design families, priced from 178 to 498 dollars — developed under Emily Cole and sold through kennethcole.com, Macy's, Belk, Amazon and Zappo, as previously reported by FashionUnited.

"The first priority was relaunching our contemporary women's apparel business, defining its identity, defining it as contemporary — which was a really important decision for us — and then putting together the right team and the right partner behind it," Berger said. "Once the apparel foundation was in place, we always knew handbags was going to be the next major women's category."

Berger described the momentum in women's apparel as incredible, adding that the numbers are exponentially higher than the company expected. Activewear, jewellery and intimates are under consideration, with the latter two likely to land "sometime in late 2027".

Sitting between father and daughter

Berger's office physically sits between the two Coles. "Kenneth is literally on my right right now, and Emily is literally on my left right now. So in many ways, I'm literally in the family," he said.

Emily Cole, who became creative director of the brand in July 2024, is praised by Berger for her "serious credentials that are distinctly her own," he said. "She grew up not just around the brand, but around the fashion industry. She's also a trained litigator. She's exceptionally intelligent and just a talented executive, and she brings a level of professionalism to the organisation from that background." Since October 2025, Emily's role has expanded from overseeing women's creative to shaping product and creative across the entire brand.

"I actually think I've helped them both continue to evolve how they work with one another — not just as father and daughter, but as two people collaboratively working on our product strategy," Berger said, adding that "Kenneth and Emily are family, there's no denying that, but they've really managed the dynamic in a very healthy and productive way. I think I've been an asset there. Not just because I literally sit in between them, but also because of that."

Four decades of advocacy

Purpose at Kenneth Cole predates the current leadership, and Berger draws a line between advocacy and philanthropy. "Social impact and advocacy is one of the pillars of our organization, and I think those are different from just a straight cheque," he said. "Kenneth is an advocate. He has a voice, and he uses his voice and the brand's voice together to amplify it."

Where that voice goes has always been personal. "His name is on the door, so a significant part of this brand is Kenneth himself," Berger said. "Our advocacy has always come from issues that touch him personally or affect the people and communities around him. In the '80s and '90s, HIV and AIDS were devastating the fashion community and people close to Kenneth and so many other designers at that time. So that became a major focus of his voice and his action." Cole launched what is widely described as the first AIDS public service campaign in 1985, joined amfAR's board in 1987 and chaired it from 2004 until 2018, was named a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador in 2016 and received the CFDA Award for Positive Change in 2017.

"As the world changed and other issues became urgent, and he was exposed to additional issues so closely, our advocacy evolved as well," Berger said. "Today, mental health is our central focus."

Cole announced the formation of the Mental Health Coalition on World Mental Health Day in October 2019 with eight nonprofit partners, and launched it publicly in May 2020 alongside howareyoureally.org, a storytelling platform co-founded by his daughter Catie Cole. Berger returns often to a statistic Cole has reframed: "The World Health Organization says mental health challenges affect one in every four people, and Kenneth always says he prefers to say it affects four out of four — because if it isn't you, it's someone that you know and someone that you love."

Planning in three-year chunks

Asked where he wants the company in a decade, Berger declined the horizon. "Ten years is such a long horizon in an industry changing as quickly as ours," he said. "Retail is moving incredibly rapidly. There are fewer major retailers, which actually now have more leverage, and there are more brands competing for attention and relevance. I think it's hard to even look at 10 years. It's hard to look at five years." The alternative he describes is a shorter, rolling planning cycle. "We look at things in three-year chunks. Deciding where and how we invest over the next 18 months to three years has to remain fluid and has to remain an ongoing conversation." That cycle is set against a long product runway: as Berger noted earlier in the conversation, "there's so much that you're planning 18 months before it ever gets executed against."

The growth areas he named are the ones already in motion — women's, international, and parts of the men's business — alongside Gentle Souls, the brand Berger described as "absolutely on fire." International, he said, "is going to be a clear area of investment." The framing he gives it comes from Cole, he said. "Kenneth talks frequently about agility. That's one of the things he built the foundation of the organisation on, and it needs to evolve with the times."

"Success means building a company that is comfortable being uncomfortable. I say the same about partnerships — you have a good partnership when everybody is comfortably uncomfortable. I think we're very happy in that place, and I think that's a good place to be, because you never want to be satisfied. You have to keep making sure you're built to evolve," Berger said. "My job, and our job, is to make sure Kenneth Cole is structured for agility, continued growth and lasting relevance — whatever the market looks like in three years, five years or 10 years."