Episode 475 - A Man With Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole

·39 min·3 clips

When his employee David Rignoli showed welts, Kenneth Cole pushed him to get tested for HIV.

Kenneth Cole thought he knew the movie he was about to see. Then he sat with an audience for the finished documentary and, by his own admission, spent part of it wanting to hide. Dori Berenstein had made something different. Her way in was social impact, shaped by earlier collaboration and by talks about art, purpose, and responsibility. Fashion is still in the room, of course. But the film she describes is more interested in cause and commerce than in clothes by themselves. Alana listens for the human start of the story. She gently pulls things backward, asking who mentored Kenneth Cole and who first helped him find a voice. The mood is warm and curious. Even when business comes up, the conversation keeps circling back to what a public platform can do. Dori sees the company as a source of reach, and that reach makes room for work meant to change lives. Kenneth sounds a little startled, but grateful. He says the film was not what he expected, and he is glad it became this. What could have stayed inside fashion turns into something more reflective: a talk about visibility, discomfort, intention, and responsibility. Alana gives the memories space. Career history feels like an origin story here, not a resume.

As heard by us

A fashion documentary opens into a thoughtful conversation about voice, purpose, and social impact.

The episode follows Kenneth Cole and Dori Berenstein, producer and director of A Man with Soul: The Impact of Kenneth Cole, as they look at how a fashion business became a vehicle for social impact.

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Want to hear how Kenneth Cole's fashion world became a platform for social impact?

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