‘Cause and Commerce’: Fashion designer and activist Kenneth Cole discusses stigma, mental health, and what business leaders can do to promote public health

Fashion designer Kenneth Cole speaks with Dean Sandro Galea about blending social causes and business. (Jonah Glass | Staff Photographer) 

Acclaimed designer Kenneth Cole visited WashU for the showing of “A Man with Sole,” a documentary directed by award-winning director Dori Berinstein,  at the St. Louis International Film Festival. Before the showing, Cole spoke to students and staff alike about the increasing prevalence of mental health issues and how to confront the stigma surrounding them through commerce and cause — the combination of business with activism. 

Cole, the designer behind the Kenneth Cole label and activist for AIDS awareness, social justice, and mental health advocacy, was joined by Dr. Sandro Galea, Dean of WashU’s new School of Public Health. The event, which took place on Nov. 6 at Hillman Hall, was open to students, staff, and all who wished to attend. 

Cole later attended the 34th annual St. Louis International Film Festival, where the documentary about his life, “A Man with Sole,” was the opening night film. WashU students have an opportunity to see the documentary on Nov. 17 when it will be screened on campus. 

Galea, in an interview with Student Life, said that mental health is a significant focus for the school of public health.  

 “Mental health is at the core of public health,” Galea said. ”We have a concentration in mental health at the School of Public Health, and as we build the School of Public Health, I see mental health playing an even bigger role.” 

In an interview with Student Life, Cole reflected on how the subject of mental health has affected him. He recognized that as a society, we have developed many resources to help others; the only issue is convincing others to understand that vulnerability is okay. 

“The biggest part of stigma is rooted in your ability to talk about your struggles,” Cole said. “One of the things I didn’t get to talk about today [is the] ways that people can help people talk about their struggles and feel better.”

Cole asserted that the main way we have grown to understand mental health is through empathy and working with others. 

“The more aware you are of it, the more you encounter it, and the more of a need you realize exists, then it just becomes more and more personal, and you realize you can really help people.”

Cole outlined how he shifted from being solely a fashion designer to also being an outspoken activist for a multitude of causes. 

“It started initially,” Cole said. “It was a thoughtful business decision, and then it became a very personal one afterwards, and it’s one, and it’s a course that I have been relentless on, and I do feel it makes everything I do bigger than it is, and more meaningful and more relevant.”

From 1985 until present, Cole has run multiple social programs through advertisements in clothing,starting with the “For the Future of Our Children” AIDS awareness ads in 1985, “We All Have AIDS…If One Of Us Does” advertisement in 2005 for World AIDS Day, gun safety/anti-gun messaging from 2013-2015, and most recently the “Always on Purpose” campaign for the aforementioned Mental Health Coalition. 

Cole expressed that he had grown to realize through his entrepreneurial journey that if you connect community to your business, you can have an even greater impact. 

 “If you make your services community a part of what you do in the ordinary course, you can still be as successful, and it’s so much more rewarding and fulfilling. So if you make it part of the journey, rather than make it solely the destination.”

Cole went on to say that the combination of “cause and commerce” can help solve societal problems, and he encouraged other brands to commit to causes they believe in.    

Galea went on to praise Cole’s courage to actively involve himself and his brand in public health issues. Cole disagreed with Galea, claiming it was more so that the opportunity presented itself.  

“You say it’s courage, I don’t know it’s courage as much as it is viability and opportunity,” Cole said. “And you realize, if you can do it a certain way and make an impact that you can uniquely, then you do it, and you do with all you’ve got.” 

Cole outlined the need for businesses to align their practices with programs and meaning. He sees this as especially important in an uncertain time with the current administration and ongoing government shutdown. 

“I think all businesses [need to] figure this out,” Cole said. “We’re all watching what happened with the SNAP grants this week, and how often it dried up and all these people that were so dependent upon government funding. And we’ve come to realize unless business figures out how to support the community … [how to] support the hand that feeds it, the proverbial hand that feeds it, it’s not sustainable.”

Cole explained he is the head of a research organization focusing on mental health, and when he took on the position, many didn’t think he had the qualifications. Cole argued that the organization needed to work on perception and that perception was his expertise.

“I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not a public health expert,” Cole said. “I’m not a doctor. I have no medical qualifications. But I do feel that stigma is about perception, and I do, and I am in the perception business, and I do think that I can tell that story uniquely within point of view.” 

His organization went on to form a coalition among the “50 largest mental health service providers” to pool resources and create a truly meaningful impact.

Cole discussed the difficulty of his positions, highlighting that with our current climate, everything is polarized. He contributes this polarization to algorithms which cater to interests, making everyone’s news unique.

“We have a nation today that’s totally polarized,” Cole said. “Everybody’s source of news is unique to them alone, and they form their own opinions, and it’s very hard to change their course.” 

Cole went on to credit the ever-increasing polarization for making public health issues polarized. 

“These are public health issues which have been politicized, but they’re not political issues,” Cole said. “There’s a whole kind of new challenge on DEI and all these other issues that we’ve made so much progress on, and but we’re staying on course…We may change some of the words we use, but we’re not going to change what we stand for.”