Culture Hire
July 30, 2026
As everyone's rolling back in from their vacations, Jonathan Saunders will take the creative helm of Kate Spade. He's the brand's first single creative lead in nearly five years. With enormous legacy to build on and an audience starved for delight, this get is both strategic and overdue.
Saunders is a color-and-print designer for a color-and-print brand. He cut his chops on printed textiles, trained at McQueen, ran an acclaimed eponymous label known for bold color and graphic print. Then did stints at Pollini, Diane von Furstenberg, and most recently & Other Stories.
Before I tell you what I would do in his shoes, let's revisit Kate's glory days. I worked there during an era when you would research how to sketch the body of a grand prix race car for a pattern by visiting the postcard archive of the New York Library.
In the office on the banana phone during a champagne lunch, 2013
Kate Spade was built on a perfect practical-but-joyful bag when the market was all serious minimalist luxury. Andy Spade brought the point of view, the wit, the vibe-building, the copywriting-and-culture voice that made it a lifestyle—a witty, optimistic, aspirational worldview—not a handbag company.
Then that customer grew up, the market fragmented, the internal powerhouse talent driving the brand conversation left, and Kate Spade drifted to the crowded middle. It began to skew young. Whimsy in a discount way, not whimsy in a Jacquemus way.
Tim Walker for KSNY
I could wax on about the degradation of creative intelligence and the subsequent importance of having a clear, experienced, brilliant visionary driving the brand. But instead I'll tell you five things I would do if I were in Saunders' seat come September:
01 OWN COLOR AND PRINT
Rewind to the Kate Spade DNA, and infuse it with that on-the-ground, informed fashion grit. Historical reference, archival nostalgia, the new and the next. Get rid of all brand prints aside from the block stripe. Redraw the spade icon so it can sit next to the print, not compete with it. Keep the green, remix it for digital. Re-pick the rest of the palette based on tension, system-thinking and use in the digital age.
02 BRING BACK THE VOICE
Two words: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. Make the girls gassed up about fashion again. What is the brand saying, what does it stand for? Is it smart and does anyone care? No matter how big AI gets, nothing can replace a copywriter with AP Style and a bone to pick.
03 WHO IS SHE
Literally, who is the customer. Right now Kate Spade is marketing to everyone by making everything. No matter your age, vibe, job or situationship, there's a bag for that. First cull down the line, and then take it day-to-night. Get granular on the ICP. I want to know when this baddie wakes up, her Wednesday lunch order and if she carries a wallet. What does their world look like now and where is the white space to make it better—5 years, 10 years, 20 years. How does the Kate Spade brand show up there?
Tierney Gearnon for KSNY
04 TAKE A RISK
A huge through-line right now in brand is a cautionary approach to content hinged on reactivity. Looking at what everyone else is doing > sending it to a junior team, or worse, Claude Design > getting it approved by the people who have their heads in the spreadsheets. Kate Spade's current social dabbles in trend-based ideas, but doesn't push it. This is forgettable. It gets lost, feels pedestrian, and certainly doesn't make me want an invite. I attended a talk on cultural capital by Ana Anjelic recently where she poignantly described this approach as “empty calories.”
05 INVEST IN CREATIVE
Which leads me to my next and final point. Today brands need to operate like media companies, transcend their categories. Putting muscle behind following a narrative is what sets pace. This only works when system-based design has been strategically and expertly established (see 01). A strong, clear, consistent base gives breathing room, runway to think differently. Content doesn't feel hollow because it is rooted in brand. Anti-slop. Saunders is an encouraging start.
Long Live Kate Spade.
Further Reading:
Remembering the Magic of Kate Spade, The Cut
Andy and Kate Spade's home for The Selby
Deuce of Spade, Vanity Fair, 2018
