Steve Madden is one of the most successful shoe designers of all time.
Despite his massive success, he told the New York Times that he receives no recognition from the industry.
Madden feels he's snubbed as a "creator of knockoffs," reports Laura M. Holson at the Times.
It also irks him that fashion’s elite snub him as a creator of knockoffs.
“We get no credit from the design community,” Madden told the Times. “Are we influenced by Christian Louboutin? Of course we are. He’s brilliant. But we are, for the most part, creating new shoes every day, and they don’t get it.”
Madden does not even belong to the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a mainstay among his peers.
“I’m not in the CFDA, but Puff Daddy is,” Madden said. “And it’s a joke.”
Madden is referring to rapper Sean Combs, who now goes by Diddy.
But Madden said he makes his customers happy and that's all that really matters.
“For our market,” he told the Times, “we are Christian Louboutin.”
The fashion industry has snubbed many other successful entrepreneurs, like Kim Kardashian.
Good product is ultimately what sells shoes. Madden has that covered.
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