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Kate Spade New York

Part of Tapestry

Engaged Employer

Company is great. Upper management needs to be coached on how to communicate with their employees. - Anonymous employee Kate Spade New York Employee Review

2.0
Nov 5, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits- salary, health benefits, 401k, associate discounts, clothing allowance all very competitive.

Cons

When I use "upper management" I'm referring to Area Managers & District managers I worked directly with for 4 of the 6yrs employed at KS. Upper mgmnt have: Poor communication skills, lack of quality coaching skills. I've learned so much more in my new job than I learned in the the 6yrs employed at KS. Upper management are unprofessional and talk about other managers, making the work environment uncomfortable. Touchbase appointments were most often cancelled or constantly interrupted by them having to take another call. There were very few (maybe 2-3) people I knew that were promoted within. My staff was tenured & I had very little turnover with my store managers, but other stores did. Company hired new managers from outside. This would mean to me store managers were not prepping their staff to move up, because their was a lack of direction from District Managers. I asked for assistance on a new roll - out of a program. It was new, I wasn't sure how to use it with my staff. I asked for assistance. Each time their was a visit this was never addressed. It was never scheduled into the visit to work on this. Instead the DM/AM were in office on conference call or making a visual floor move. It's sink or swim with this upper management team. At one point it was actually said to me "we can't take a special drive to your store to show you" UM lack of experience was also seen in not being able to make quick decisions & not being able to confront a problem head-on. There is a lot of circling back and no straightforward answers. UM did not understand the importance of helping their staff. Understand there was the expectation to do 40%-75% (some stores needed to double) over LY numbers. In order to do this there needs to be a lot of quality support. Stressing the word Quality.

Explore other reviews about Kate Spade New York

5.0
Jun 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I love that company offers wellness days and other benefits to focus on your mental health. I also like how there’s more training outlets for leadership and stylist.

Cons

The only con I would say is having an extra layer up for mental health insurance for stylist

3.0
Jul 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Majority of cross-functional team members are great to work with, toxic behavior is rarely tolerated.

Cons

Back to back deadlines No time for vacations (deadlines also consistently shift, making it difficult to pre-plan vacations that aren't a 3 day weekend) No growth/promotions (even when you've been handling tasks that were your boss's job for 4 years) Underpaid and overworked

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