Stuart Weitzman, shoe designer and founder of the footwear company Stuart Weitzman, visited Emory University as the keynote speaker for Goizueta Business School’s 2023 Entrepreneurship Summit on March 30. About 200 students and community members attended the event, according to Goizueta’s Director of Student Life and Leadership Paula Zwillich (08Ox, 10C).
Weitzman started his speech by emphasizing that entrepreneurs should gain experience in the workforce before launching a business, regardless of their field.
“I suggest you work somewhere else first before you really either start your own business or try to get a head position in an area,” Weitzman said. “You will learn so much from that. You haven’t learned it [at school].”
Before starting his own brand, Weitzman worked for a different shoe company for five years. He stated that his experience at the company exposed him to suppliers, factories and networking opportunities that accelerated his success.
“It will take you five to 10 years to do what I was able to do right off the bat,” Weitzman said. “I took three super people with me to help me start the company. And then you will hire and fire and hire and look around until you get the team that I got immediately because of that experience elsewhere.”
Weitzman further pointed out the importance of selectively choosing business partners. Because conflict resolution is more difficult when building entrepreneurship with “people you are personally involved with,” Weitzman advised the audience to “be careful of who you go into business with.”
When searching for a person to work with, Weitzman said he looks for someone who is “nice, smart and communicative,” qualities which he said are more important than experience.
According to Weitzman, risk-taking is essential for innovation. Weitzman’s risk was making shoes as a young, unknown designer.
“I took a risk immediately when I started the business because I needed a niche — I’m this young guy, started something new, nobody knows who the heck I am, and all the big brains of the world, they’re out there for 50 years before me,” Weitzman said. “I looked for that niche. The niche I saw was the red carpet.”
Weitzman approached his niche by “taking a third of [his] capital” to create “one-of-a-kind shoes,” a decision he thought his instructor back in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania would not have supported.
What set Weitzman apart, however, was his imagination, particularly when it came to advertisements. Instead of shoes and models, Weitzman and his team placed a picture of a pumpkin and the slogan “a little obsessed with shoes” on the ads, an effort to show the “fun and clever” side of his brand. Within three weeks, the ads became the center of attention among fashion magazines and shoppers. The ad won a Clio Award, which recognizes “excellence in advertising,” making it the first time a shoe company had won a Clio.
Creating unique advertisements, which involved collaborating with other creatives such as fashion photographer Mario Testino, taught Weitzman that “you can’t do it alone.”
“When you need to do things you can’t do yourself, build a great team,” Weitzman said. “Look hard, know what to look for and then you’ll get lucky like I was.”
Overcoming obstacles, expanding entrepreneurship
As Weitzman’s brand continued to grow, A-list customers like Jennifer Aniston, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle wore his shoes, allowing his brand to receive vast attention from the press and achieve huge commercial success. Such accomplishments, however, did not prevent Weitzman from facing new obstacles.
During a conversation with an acquaintance, Weitzman learned that his brand did not connect with younger generations, which prompted him to pursue supermodel Kate Moss as the star of his new ads.
While Moss’ agents initially declined the offer, Weitzman convinced Testino, who was also Moss’ photographer, to create a campaign. Testino suggested a video campaign starring Moss and directed by actor James Franco, which eventually became the famous “Made for Walking” campaign.
“It cost us more than I planned, but it ended up costing nothing,” Weitzman said. “When you hire the best, you get more than the best.”
Another issue Weitzman had to solve was getting his shoes in the spotlight at red carpet events. Although he had numerous celebrities wearing his designs on the red carpet, the press mostly focused on dresses and jewelry, not the shoes.
However, two of Weitzman’s shoe designs, the “Nudist” and the “million dollar shoes,” erased these concerns and became the brand’s “tipping points.” The “million dollar shoes,” worn by actress Laura Harring at the 2002 Academy Awards, became one of the highlights of the night. At this year’s Academy Awards, 16 stars wore the “Nudist.”
“Two hundred newspapers put [the million dollar shoes] on the front page of their fashion story of the Academy Awards,” Weitzman said. “I think 180 million people watched [the Awards] worldwide. … If you do something that’s really fabulous and really works, it has more legs than you think.”
Weitzman also led numerous philanthropic endeavors, including a social issue related shoe design scholarship contest for New York students. The two winners were from Iraq and Angola, and their designs embodied education and slavery, respectively. At the scholarship awards, Weitzman surprised them with more than just scholarships — he transformed their designs into real shoes and gifted them to the students, an experience he recalled as “phenomenal.”
Weitzman closed his speech by advising the audience to pursue their passions with enjoyment.
“If you can live your life with as much fun as you could run your business, with similar passion, with the road less traveled … you’ll do a better job both in life and in your career,” Weitzman said. “They won’t conflict.”
In an interview with the Wheel, Weitzman said that he hopes he inspired the audience to believe in their true passions, regardless of their career aspirations.
“I think that the lessons that I learned, the experiences we had, translate to anything,” Weitzman said. “I hope they get that message that you really have to be your own advocate, believe in what you're doing. Pick the field that makes your heart sing.”
Continuous engagement with university students
Prior to his speech, Weitzman met with eight sophomore, junior and senior Emory students for a lunch gathering at which students asked him questions and shared their own professional achievements. Weitzman said that the students “really knew what they want to do in life” and “impressed” him.
“You guys are doing so much more than what [my generation] did,” Weitzman stated. “And I love seeing that.”
Weitzman also told the Wheel that his experience as an undergraduate student at Wharton taught him how to “think like an entrepreneur,” as he previously pursued the roles of both CEO and creative director of his company.
“I think [we were] the only luxury-type company in accessory that had the same person as the CEO and the creative director — that was me,” Weitzman said. “If a shoe was gorgeous but didn’t fit well, we wouldn’t make it even if we thought we could sell 100,000.”
Weitzman, who frequently engages with universities and plans to visit 19 universities this year, said he ensures that he meets with six to eight students for a lunch event at each school.
“I love it, and the students are so bright,” Weitzman said. “It’s very, very rewarding, and it makes me optimistic about the future leaders of a country like this.”
Dina Sofair (23B), who is studying strategy and management consulting, attended Weitzman’s speech in the hopes of hearing his stories “first-hand.”
“My biggest takeaway was to assemble the best team possible if you want to be successful in the entrepreneurship world,” Sofair said. “[Weitzman] shows amazing success from his amazing team.”
Rhea Mishra (24B), who is interested in fashion entrepreneurship, said that Weitzman’s advice about getting into the industry and gathering resources was helpful, as she is “thinking about what the timeline of [her] career would be.”
Similarly, Rachel Zipin (23C) also found inspiration in Weitzman’s speech considering she has “always loved” and wants a career in fashion.
“The saying ‘find another way’ really resonated with me,” Zipin said. “As a senior who’s graduating, I’m really trying to find another way to do what I love, so that was really inspirational.”
