«Breaking News» Kate Spade's best friend and business partner speaks out

Kate Spade's best friend and business partner has spoken out for the first time since the designer's shocking suicide in June. 

Elyce Arons appeared on Good Morning America on Thursday to share her grief, three months after Spade's death. 

She was a founding partner in the designer's eponymous handbag label in 1994 and, along with Spade and her husband Andy, sold her shares in the company in 2007 before they soared in value.

At the time of Spade's death, the trio were working on a new label, Frances Valentine and, according to Arons, it was going well. 

She was aware of the 55-year-old's ongoing battle with depression but said she did not predict she would take her own life and still had no idea why she did. 

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Elyce Arons (left) spoke out on Thursday about Kate Spade's death which she said still baffled her. They had been best friends and business partners for more than 20 years when Spade took her own life on June 5

'It was tough because she didn't always say it. She'd be sad and then one minute later, she'd make a joke. 

'We talked every day and most of the time she was very happy but I don't know if anyone can understand the depths of depression of another person.

'I have thought and thought and thought about [why she did it]... but I think it was probably one moment of despair and of deep sadness that she felt when she was alone,' Arons said. 

Vowing to carry on with Frances Valentine, the label they launched in 2016, Arons said she had been given a push in encouragement by the outpouring of love Spade's family received after her death. 

'We miss her every day. Her spirit's here. We've had a lot of people, a lot of people, write in and talk about how she changed their lives and [saying] "please keep going and keep her designs alive." 

'That's what we're going to do,' she said. 

At the time of her death, Spade and her husband of 23 years were living separately. 

Arons did not speak of their estrangement on Thursday but reflected on meeting them both in college. 

Arons is pictured (far left) with Spade, her husband Andy and their other partner, Pamela Bell, in their first Kate Spade showroom in New York in 1994

Spade and Arons met in college (where they are pictured). They were friends for years before they went into business together 

In 1994, they launched Kate Spade the brand and opened their first store. Despite the company name, Arons said he had a 'hard time' referring to her friend as anything other than 'Katy with a "y"'. 

'That came about through the business but I had known her for so much longer than that.' 

Spade and her husband Andy were in the middle of separating when she took her own life 

She said the designer would be 'thrilled' to see Frances Valentine succeed, adding: 'She would be really happy to make other women happy.' 

Arons predicted that if Spade had anything personal to tell her, it would be: 'I'm OK. Don't worry about me.'   

Kate, her husband and Arons sold 56% of their shares to Neiman Marcus for $34million in 1999.

They retained 44% for the next seven years until they finally cashed out in 2007 to raise their daughter. They sold their remaining shares for $59million.

Barely a month later, Neiman Marcus offloaded the company as a whole, with its debt, to Liz Claiborne Inc for the sum of $124million.

Liz Claiborne held on to it until last year and put all its energy into building it into a blockbuster brand for the aspirational shopper on a budget.

As the brand's handbags became increasingly ubiquitous, it piqued the interest of Tapestry, the parent company of Coach and Stuart Weitzman.

Last year, Tapestry bought Kate Spade & Co, the name Liz Claiborne gave it, for an astonishing $2.4billion - 20 times the value the company held when its founders sold their shares.

Linkhienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/06/kate-spades-best-friend-and-business-partner-speaks-out/
Main photo article Kate Spade’s best friend and business partner has spoken out for the first time since the designer’s shocking suicide in June. 
Elyce Arons appeared on Good Morning America on Thursday to share her grief, three months after Spade’s death. 
She was a founding partner in the d...

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