Vince Camuto, legendary shoe designer, died Wednesday at the age of 78 when he lost his battle with cancer.
Well-known and admired in the fashion industry, Camuto began selling shoes at age 18, and then founded Nine West footwear along with
Jerome Fisher, Women's Wear Daily reported. The pair sold Nine West in 1999 for about $900 million.
Since then, Camuto’s unique design style found an outlet in numerous footwear lines — he founded Camuto Group in 2001 and marketed labels under his own name.
"I really listened and learned, especially from the women. They told you what they liked, what they didn’t like," Camuto once told WWD of his retail days selling shoes. In speaking of his successful businesses, he told the magazine that he kept his customers at the forefront of his plans.
"We don’t think that we can fool her. We give her the best value," he said.
Ariel Chaus, chief executive officer of Chaus Inc., which produces one of Camuto’s lines, told WWD previously of Camuto: "He has a great feel for product and is a merchant. He knows how to market and build a business. He’s always in the stores and pays attention to the customers. All of our brands have been growing substantially since we’ve partnered. The Vince Camuto brand has been growing extremely fast, and we’ve done it in a healthy way."
Camuto was also pivotal in working with Jessica Simpson to launch her brand, and the star took to Instagram to mourn her mentor and friend this week.
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