How Bob Goldman has navigated the many highs and lows in his long journey in the shoe business.
Bob Goldman has had a storied career in the footwear industry, with too many chapters to count, he said — and not all ended well. But for the founder of Cels Enterprises, the constant state of change is part of what drives him.
He’s been an entrepreneur since he started slinging banners and pennants at Yankee Stadium when he was just 13. While he jokes that it was only one day of work, Goldman earned $1,000. That fast money was short-lived, however.
“It was life or death with my mother, so on my 16th birthday, she said, ‘You cannot be a peddler and do those kinds of things illegally. You have to get a job.’ So I got a job for $1 an hour,” he said.
Goldman worked as a stockboy at Alexander’s department store in New York, officially beginning his career in the shoe business. “I was dealing with women’s emotions, how they like to shop and what makes them tick,” he said.
Those first learnings stuck with Goldman and have enabled him to understand the consumer on a higher level and, in turn, create blockbuster-level product for them. One big success was the legendary Macramé oxford that sold 13 million pairs in 1975. “That was with three people in the company. They call my house in Beverly Hills the ‘Macramé house,’” he said with a laugh.
But not every business move — or job, for that matter — has been a success. Goldman said he’s faced challenge after challenge throughout his career. For instance, as a young man, he worked at department store Gimbels and resigned after he was turned down for the women’s shoe buyer job. “They said, ‘We don’t give 23-year-olds buying positions in this company,’” Goldman recalled.
He then made his way to wholesale, working at the Blue Star kids’ shoe company, which later became Stride Rite. After being asked to switch territories from New York to Washington, D.C., the exec again left his position — another bump in the road.
A third mistake, he recalled, was going into the men’s shoe business. “After a year of selling [men’s shoes], I realized no customer was going to reorder because they last for a lifetime,” he said.
Finally, Goldman began selling women’s shoes at International Shoe Company, but soon became engaged in another venture with wife Carol, who was an interior designer at the time. Together, they developed a self-service shoe display system called Modumode, which was poised for astronomical success.
“Nobody had ever seen space savers for footwear,” Goldman recalled. “We delivered 2,000 units to Bloomingdale’s. It sold out in two hours and a full page on the Modumode ran in The New York Times Sunday paper. I decided to get out of the shoe business because I was making $5 a unit profit. This was going to be big,” Goldman remembered.
Two years in, he received an order of 1 million units from Sears Roebuck & Co. “I thought, ‘I am now a multi-millionaire,’” said Goldman.
His elation lasted all of three days.
The Arab-Israeli War broke out and as a result the price of plastic increased four times the original price, making it impossible for Goldman to deliver even one unit. So he closed the business.
True to form, the veteran pivoted once again and returned to shoes in 1973, importing products from Argentina, Italy and Taiwan for private-label clients such as Esprit.
One memorable product moment he recalled from this period was the soft moccasins called Fuddpuckers, a heritage shoe that has since made its way into the current assortment for his company’s 42 Gold brand. “They were the first leather shoes made in Taiwan. We delivered a million pair of this leather shoe and stopped baseball gloves from being produced because we bought all the leather,” he said.
Goldman’s next bold move came in 1981, when he launched his own Chinese Laundry brand, later bolstered by the addition of the Dirty Laundry, CL by Laundry and 42 Gold labels. With those businesses he has been a mainstay in the fashion and footwear worlds for decades.
Goldman’s face lights up when he reminisces about the past, but the secret to his success comes from a relentless commitment to knowing what’s next. “We have to look at the future. Always look ahead, don’t look back,” he said. “I’ve [always taken] calculated risks and I’ve been very fortunate.”
To this day, Goldman counts on the customer to inform his decisions.
“Price is not the answer. It’s trend. It’s understanding their lifestyle. It’s the littlest brands in the world that I like the most [now]. They are the most creative and they teach us because the consumers who follow them are the fashion leaders.”
