All language subtitles for Maddman.The.Steve.Madden.Story.2017.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]ENG

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[interviewer] So tell me what
you know about Steve Madden,
the actual guy.

I didn't even think
Steve Madden was
a real guy. [laughs]

I just thought
it was like a brand.

[reporter] Shoe salesman
to fashion mogul,

Steve Madden is
one of the biggest names
seriously in the game.

[reporter] Without a doubt.

[reporter] With 310 stores in
76 countries,

his his public company
is a significant player
in the fashion business.

I know probably--
nothing actually.

We take a look at a thriving
publicly traded company,

and the guy behind it all
one of the bluntest,

least likely CEO's
you're ever gonna meet.

Maybe it's like two guys
last names put together.
I don't know.

Is he from Europe possibly?

[reporter]
Shoemaker Steve Madden
was arrested on charges of

money laundering
and securities fraud.

[reporter] Steve Madden been
running for the last--

almost 50 months
out of a prison cell.

Is he a "he"?
Maybe he's a "she".

He could be gay,
but that's all right.

Little bit awkward.

Definitely has some sass.

Maybe like white hair,
but a cool white.

Mustache. Dark hair.
I don't know.

Maybe close to 40.

[reporter] The shoe is on the
other foot for Steve Madden

which just released their
third quarter earnings
that blew away estimates,

and they say,
"You know what?
We'll do it again."

I know he was in that movie
with Leonardo DiCaprio
and Jonah Hill.

Wolf of Wall Street".

Steve Madden.

[off screen laughs]
Steve Madden.

Steve.

-Steve.
-Um.

No, I don't know.

I don't really know. [laughs]

We don't know
anything about him.

Right. Who the fuck
is Steve Madden?

I ask myself
that question everyday.

How did my brother do this?

You know,
they call me a shoe mogul,
so it's funny.

It's kind of an illusion,
the whole thing,

and it's just like-
this is what I have.

I didn't set out to do this.

And to this day,
I struggle with that, you know?

I think, "What am I?

Am I just a great
hustler and entrepreneur?

I mean, am I
a great businessman?

Am I a designer?
Am I an artist?"

I still don't know.

[music plays]

Let's start. Nancy!

Get me Karla on the intercom.

Yes. Hey, is Karla with you?

Working at Steve
is like a 24/7 job.

But I think if you're really
in the shoe business,

then you never
turn off anyway.

[Steve Madden] Can we just sell
this fucking shoe already?

Get it done!

It starts a lot of times
with spotting something,
a concept that he sees.

[Karla Frieders]
If he's like I love that shoe.

I love it, I love it, I love it
if he's never seen it.

You know, I've actually
seen him say, like,

"Let me buy you
a new pair of shoes,

and let me take
the one off of your foot."

Always on the job, huh?

Always.
Always on the grind.

He'll come in
and he'll be excited about
something like that

and start talking about it,
and suggest a last
or a material or a shape.

We love this, right?

We need lots of shoes
like this.

Let's switch it to two colors.

A black and a gold?

And then we try
to take that idea
and make it a reality.

You know,
it's speed and product.

It's how quickly we can get
something made profitably

and get out to our stores
as quickly as possible.

That's where
you feel the energy.

Is that--?
I don't think that--

I'm making the two tones
no matter what you say,

so, tough shit.

It's a remarkable thing
to be able to build
right in your own office.

I really don't like
the two tone there.

I just don't know
how she wears it.

It's too much shoe.

If we see something
not working,

we're capable of
changing it around quickly.

Within three or four hours,
the shoe is done.

Somebody's taking it
right to a store
and putting it on a shelf

We want to see
the finished product
in the stores,

who's buying it?
"Oh, look, that girl's
trying it on.

Who is that?
How old is she?

What do you think?"
And you want to listen
to what she's saying.

We like sit there
and analyze, analyze, analyze.

If we can sell this 8 of 12
on a Saturday in downtown Soho,
we know we have a winner.

When we get something out there
that doesn't hit the mark,

it costs us a lot of money.

Does that make
any sense to anybody?

I don't understand that!

Right! Wait!
No one move a muscle.

Tell Rob
to get his ass in here.

[phone dialing]

So what happened?

We had one bad shoe.

What shoe is that?

Jesus.

That is so bad
that it makes me
physically ill.

Did you ever see anything
worse in your life?

What the fuck is that?

Fuck the camera,
listen to me.

It's just like you went
into the shoe business
six months ago,

I swear to god.

I'm like watching you,

did you just like enter
into an internship program?

I'm trying to learn.

What are you learning?
They're fucking six dollars
a foot leather.

-How did I know that?
-What is there to fucking lea

Jesus.

How would I know that?
You had them in the store $149.
I didn't know--

I mean, it's unbelievable,
I mean, it's-- we--
you know it's--

What are you
looking at me for?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Rob Schmertz]
What? Say it, John.

I mean you blame me
that I don't confirm
anything--

face for? I mean you blame me
that I don't confirm anything--

Did that happen
or it didn't happen?

John, you also know--

We're just behind
the eight ball everywhere.

Because I do think that
that is the shoe of the year.

What? I think
we're getting confused here.

The colors outside
of the gold are dogshit.

So if you want to do
something about it,
do something about it.

-Rob?
-I hear you.

You can do it.

[Rachelle Watts]
It's really tough,

and then eventually
you get over it
and you realize

it's because he still
gives a shit so much,
you know?

And so do we.

Fuck it, it is what it is

Gotta go back to work
the next day.

[music plays]

[Indistinct chatter]

Am I still mic'd?

[interviewer]
Yeah, you're good to go.

Yeah, this is the kids.
So cute.

They're so fucking cute.

Here it is.
That's the house I grew up in.

We were in the neighborhood
and I said,

do you want to see where
Daddy was born?

They're always
asking questions
about that stuff.

Can you get that?
Isn't that awesome?

[slide turning noise]

Steve as a kid
was kind of bratty.

Oh, I had that
lovely hair.

And obnoxious.

Flowing locks
of blondish red hair.

It didn't look
like it does now.
That's for sure.

I grew up in Cedarhurst,
Long Island.

You know,
in my neighborhood
it was mostly Jewish folks.

I was really
the only half-Jewish guy
that I knew.

Steve was one of
the first kids I met when I
moved to the neighborhood.

And then the same
group of kids that we met, we--

it was the same group of kids
we were friends with

all the way
through middle school,
high school, and after.

[school bell ringing]

I was a bit of
a pain in the ass.

You know, I was
an annoying kid.

He antagonized.

I'd come into town,
he'd be in high school.

We'd go out and play golf.

The guys in front of us
were too slow,

he'd just hit the ball at them.

And they start
screaming at him,

and he'd scream back at them.

You know, I was told
I was a fuck up
and I was acting that out.

But I knew that
I had a sort of a-
an artistic spirit, for sure.

But you know,
I didn't really understand it.

With two parents
from the depression,

they talked about it
all the time.

I was brought up with
the fear of being broke,

you know, we could lose
all our money--

it was very prevalent
in our house.

My father beat it
into me, you know,

"It's all about being
successful in business,

and you know,
the winners are
the entrepreneurs."

To my family,
being creative was being able
to fix a television set.

The sort of
bias against creativity,

especially in my house.

Just wasn't nurtured,
you know, or anything?

It was always like,
you shouldn't even
go down that road.

They thought
it was all about
hard work, you know?

So in an effort
to straighten me out,

my dad said
I had to go to work.

So I got a job
at a shoe store called Toulouse
and worked in the basement.

It was such a
creative time in the shoe
business when I started.

Fashion explosion
were platform shoes.

[music plays]

It was the early 70s,

there was this whole
kind of androgynous,

bisexual sort of thing
that was happening.

It was from England.
They called it Glam rock.

Actually it was men that
inspired the platform movement,

more than the women.

I love them,
they were great.

They were like theatrical.

And I would try them on
in the basement,

and I wanted to see
what it was like.

It was like, "Whoa!
Ya know, Shoes!
Holy smokes."

I worked for a shoe store,
but that it was
in that kind of thing,

that's where I come from.

I wanted to get up on the floor
and sell shoes.

I just made my way up there.
I didn't ask

And they were forced
to keep me up there,

I was a good seller.

A girl would come
and you would help
pick the shoes

shoes that this girl
would wear everyday.

You were part of
designing their lifestyle
and their wardrobe.

Totally got a rush out of it.

And I got obsessed with shoes.

Trying to figure out
why something became big--

like why
something became popular.

I realized you could bring
some creativity to the
business side of things.

You know,
so I found something
I was really good at,

and then I had to let it go
because I had to go to college.

As he got into college
and he got into,

let's say
his-- 19/20 years old,
and I was 30 years old.

We started hanging out
a little together

because he went
to University of Miami.

And I was living
in Coconut Grove.

[Steve] Where I was from
you had to go to college.

Everybody went to college,

but I was a disaster there.

While in--
if you were in Florida,

it was the craziest of crazy.

You know, it was--
it was amazing.

We started hanging out together
went to clubs together.

I used to visit
him on Christmas vacations for
college.

[interviewer] What was
Steve like at that time?

Stoned.

[interviewer] All the time?

A lot.

I was having
the time of something.

It was pre-AIDS.

Drugs everywhere.

Jewelry was a
cocaine spoon.

[John Madden] I had a few
kind of wild girls.

Being a married guy,
I would still
go out every night.

Meet a girl and...

[interviewer] You would
meet a girl and do what?

I don't think we should
get into that-- that story.

But you've seen porn, right?

You've seen DPs.

We had some good times.

My father said
I was fucking around.

I was fucking around.
He wouldn't tolerate it

He yanked my ass
right out of school.

It occurred to me
with my attention
deficit disorder,

no one knew about that stuff.

[interviewer] Instead of ADD
you would just say--

Well, you were lazy
or cognitively indolent.

I mean, sloppy.

You know, they didn't know
it had to do with some sort
of learning disorder.

[interviewer] Right.

And I was very smart
in some ways

and very spaced out
in some ways, you know?

It's hard to square it.

It really hit me
when I went to college.

What happens is
you ultimately self-medicate
and that's much more dangerous.

I think a lot of people
with ADD are prone to,

you know, substance abuse.

So I went back home,

shoe horn
sticking out of my pocket,

back on the floor.

This was it, this is where
I learned the shoe business,

Jildor.

It's the store
that was founded by this guy
Jack Bienenfeld,

and he was one
of the greatest men
I ever knew.

Just the way
he ran his business,

the principles that he had.

They were so unbelievable.

[interviewer] Do you remember
your way around here?

[Steve] I do, of course.

[interviewer] Lead the way.
[laughs]

Yes.

My fundamentals today
were from those two years

working on a stool

dealing with these
hysterical Jewish women
from Long Island.

Oi yoi yoi.

We used to have a term at 34.

Style 34 was a bad--

like a customer
that was like impossible,
you know?

So you'd say,
"Show us--", you'd say,

"Show us style 34".

That means you knew
that she was bad,
don't waste your time.

There were a lot of tricks
that we used though,

you could put
a tongue pad in a shoe.

Here they're stretching
the foot of the boot.

[laughs]

They're stretching it.

Shoe stores don't have
this stuff anymore.

I only made it
to this office
when I was in trouble.

So there was a woman,
I sold her a pair of shoes,

and I put like four pads
in it to make it fit.

Like, you're really only
supposed to put one pad in it.

If you have to put
four or five pads,
it's not her size.

She returned the shoe
like two weeks later,

so Jack calls me up
to his office, he goes--

he holds me up the shoes,
pads hanging from it.

"We don't sell
shoes like this here."

It's just combat pay, man.

I mean, you really learn
how to sell.

I see people
working hard at retail today,

and I know
it's the hardest work.

It's so fucking hard.
I really tip my hat to them.

So you know
what's really cool?
The velvet ones.

Do you have the velvet too?

I like the velvet.
I'm really into that.

[customer] Do you
want to do the velvet?

Well, I just
want you to see it.

I like the velvet one.

That's my favorite shoe.

He's a good salesman.

I am. I used to work here.

-Oh, really?
-Long time ago, yeah.

Get them the shoes, will ya?
Before they walk out.

I dig it.
I like that a lot.

And also
this is cute too for her.

She may not be
ready for that.

All the guys my age

were going into the city
and, you know,

working in the
garment center

or working stock brokers
or whatever, and you know...

getting on the railroad.

It was like a-- you know,

and here I was
in the town like--
you know--

stuck in the town.

But anyway, it was time
to get into the city.

I was ready.

[music plays]

I got this great job,
a great opportunity
at L.J. Simone.

It was a tiny little company.

I got to do every job
in the shoe business,

from shipping shoes
to designing shoes

to selling shoes, obviously.

It was a great experience.

So I moved to the city,

and you know, it was everything
I thought it would be,
blew my mind.

Just blown away
by this wave of energy,

and the Village was where
I belonged my whole life.

You know,
everybody's a bit demented,

everybody's a bit demented, you

These are my friends.

That's Alan Smith.
That's Brian Frank
and that's Danny Porush.

Look at that hair.

Strawberry blonde hair.

Go to the clubs, get high.

Go try and find girls.

get high.
Go try and find girls.

[Steve]
Club scene was going

and I think it was
post Studio 54.

It was an amazing time,
it was the early 80's.

I would work like crazy,
and then get blasted.

Lot of cocaine.
Cocaine was a terrible drug.

Ooh...

All this stuff
and you just grind
your teeth and sweat

and keep taking more,

and you know,
it lead me to
other things too.

I think our crew
was more Quaaluded
than cocaine.

Let's talk about a Quaalude
for a second.

When you first took it,
you got this tingle
all over your body

and you instantly

loved everybody.

It was really nothing
I've ever experienced--
anything like it in my life.

And some of us
got in trouble with it,

and I got in trouble with it.

I was a doorman
at his building,

I used to do the night shift
from 12pm to 8am
in the morning,

and one morning I met him.

But he was naked.

[Tommy Kane]
He used to be like wild druggy

doing like
Quaaludes and coke and stuff.

And he told me one time

he was so high on Quaaludes
that went he went to sleep,

he had woken up--

but he wasn't in his bed,

he had woken up
and he was nude
in the hallway.

For some reason
he got locked out.

[Tommy]
And he didn't know what
to do, so he just-- he went,

he pushed the elevator,
went down to the lobby.

Just held his little thing,
walked up and said,

"I need the key to the room."

[laughs]

So I had to go get
the master key and open it.

Yeah.

And I was always like,
that's the guy
I want to hang out with.

Hello! This is Howard Cosell
talking about Brian Frank.

Can't see a goddamn thing
that thing is in my eyes.

I've known Brian
20 years,

he was louse then,
he's a louse now.

[Brian Frank]
He was uncontrollably high.

He'd fall on his face.
He'd facing down
a lot of places.

Magnanimous friends.
Smoke in my face.

[Eddie Lama]
His zeal for things
has been his success,

but also his downfall.

Because he went
with that same zeal

to drugs and alcohol.

So he was-- he wasn't like
a weekend warrior, you know?

That wasn't it.

He was full-time barbarian.

[Brian] And then Steve just
kind of slipped and couldn't
get his legs under him.

[David Cristobal]
He used to be out really late.

Nice girls, nice girls
used to go up to his room.

One day I think he was so high,

he passed out
and then the girl came down.

"He's dead! He's dead!"

[siren wailing]

Crazy, those days.

[Steve]
I had like five DWI's.

And I lost my license.

We can help him.
This is bigger than us.

[interviewer] Was there
a specific point
that you realized

that you were an addict?

Well, I didn't--

I sort of knew after a while.

People used the word '"party".

You know,
"your partying days."

I didn't really
have much of a party.

You know,
I was alone getting blasted,

that was my party.

That's where it took me,
you know?

You get this substance
in your body

and you can't stop doing it.

And that's what it is.

And there are other people
that have a drink or two or not

or they don't think about it,

and life goes on and--

you know, but--
that's not the case for the
alcoholic/addict.

Which is why
I had to get sober.

You know
when you're miserable enough,

you know
perhaps you can change.

I used to go and hang out
with a lot of people

with the same
kind of problem

or disease or whatever,
you know--

substance abuse--
whatever they call it.

I think the drugs
and the alcohol
just diminished him

as a person, you know?

As a thinker,
as a personality,

and his sobriety
suited him well.

He really just took off,

you know, as himself.

Yeah, it was fresh.

It was like being reborn.

Your whole life changes,
you know?

[Steve] I was ready
to do my own thing, you know?

I worked for L.J. Simone
for eight years.

I just, you know,
I quit one day

and went to work
in my own business

And I was like,
"What did I just do?"

[laughs]

"Am I crazy?"

One morning
he saw me, you know,
getting in my car.

He saw the red car
and he asked me,

"Do you want
to work for me as a driver
during the day?"

Um... "What the hell.
Let me go with Steve Madden."

[Steve]
Put $1,100 dollars in the bank
and we started.

I made the shoes,
and believe it or not,
it was in a little garage

garage in the building
I'm at now.

I would design and sell it.

Nothing matters
until you sell it.

And then I made
a little shoe
called the Marilyn.

It was just a little slide

and if you wore it under jeans
it looked like a boot,
but it really was backless.

It was what they call a 'mule',

closed toe open back shoe.

Marilyn we used to sell
everywhere, everywhere.

He liked country music.

He used to sing in the car.

When he was crazy
about one shoe

he would put it
on the dashboard.

Feel the shoe,
feel the leather,

smell it, and he said,

"This is going to be
a home run."

I'm looking for inspiration.

It's not so much
'the' pair of shoes,

it's how they're wearing it.

I can tell
if it's a hit or not.

I can almost tell
by the way they walk

how good it is.

I sold to anybody I could.

Shoe stores. Department stores.

Clothing stores.

I was really doing
everything out of
this little red car.

Basically yeah,
that was our office.

Cash flow is so important
in a business,

I mean, even when
you're starting out.

You know, you can't have
like 25 cents less
than what you need,

and you have to manage that.

I got this call from Danny.

You know, he was
my childhood pal.

Danny said we're looking for
companies to raise money for,

like "Dude, we'll raise
the money you need
to build a business."

I didn't really believe him.

It was so far fetched.

He said he's got this
genius behind this company
named Jordan.

He's the mastermind.

[reporter] Jordan Belfort.

The wolf of Wall Street

was a product
of the bull market
of the 90s.

The times were ripe
for guys like Belfort
and Porsch.

Early 90s,

it was ra-ra Wall Street.

Young people opening up
brokerage houses.

What's come to be known
as this 'boiler room era'

of stock brokerage houses.

There's a lot of guys
with the phone calling
right now

in a few months,
you could be making
a lot of money.

[Steve] And Jordan
created this aura about it.

His guys were just i
n awe of him.

[reporter] He was able
to take industry outsiders,
high school dropouts

and mere overnight,
turn them into million dollar
sales machines.

[Alan Novich]
They were drinkers
and druggies,

they really had this great
Long Island party lifestyle.

And what these guys
presented to the entrepreneur

was so intoxicating.

See the Stratton guys
were like on yachts

fucking whacked.

And it was
the cult of Jordan.

They certainly captured that
on the film,
"The Wolf of Wall Street."

Nobody's ever done
what they did.

The girls and the drugs.

Sodom and Gomorrah.

And all this money.

Gym bags full of cash.

Millions of dollars
getting passed
back and forth.

[Steve] I mean
it was crazy lifestyle.

And I was sober when
that was happening, watching.

I never know
what was going on inside.

If I knew I would go in, too.

[laughs]

[Steve]
I did what I had to do.

We needed that liftoff.

So we took the money
and we really did use it,

and we built
a business with it.

[music playing]

[announcer] Steve Madden.

Steve Madden.

Hey, we're over here.

This was my first store,
and those signs.

It's one of my Village guys'.

He painted them,
we put them on the
outside of the store.

That shoe was the first shoe
I sold in this store.

No one was down here, and--

What did you guys
get at Topshop?

Did you guys-- no shoes?

-Clothes?
-Clothes.

-We can here for shoes.
-Yeah.

Oh, okay. Good.

So I had the store in the front
and the office in the back,

and I was trying to like,
get every nickel out of it.

And I had it in my mind
that I wanted a store,

I thought it would be
good for the brand,

but I had no idea
what I was doing.

When I started
it was just Steve and I.

We sat across the desk
from each other.

We had an office
the size of this room.

I answered phones,
I did customer service.

I was the only one
that did anything.

You know,
with the billing
and the shipping,

so if I wasn't there,

it wasn't getting done.

She would do anything
and people liked her.

And she understood what
I was doing.

We started with
a total of four employees.

Steve, Wendy,

David Cristobal, and myself.

I was so lucky
to find this man.

He organized the financials
and I paid attention
to the shoes,

and we are so not alike.

This is called Mahalakshmi.

The goddess of money.

When I opened this building,

and I brought
the religious things here,

and that's why I put
the statue of the goddess.

Which brings the success
of the company.

[Steve]
I wasn't frivolous with
the money at all.

You know, as soon as I got it,
it was like, sell more shoes.

Hire more people.

A real firm was taking shape.

In the beginning,
we really weren't
structured at all.

There was a lot of
juggling as always,
which is normal here.

[Tommy]
Because it was so
small and growing

and unprofessional,
that was the craziness.

We would have like
rat droppings
all over the computers.

Remember that?

And then
he would try to get me
to bring my kittens

to get rid of the rats.

You know, I was
an outsider when
I started, right?

So there's like,
in every business,

there's like the establishment
and then there's
the newcomers.

I sort of relish that,
I really like that.

[Mickey Boardman]
You know in the 90s,

it was a time when there were
great American designers,

but it was very elitist.

Steve to the more
high fashion people

might be a little bit,
you know like--

the hillbilly cousin.

The fashion and I think
just the media industry,
at the time,

did not take
teenagers seriously.

[Andrea Linett] It was Vogue
tells you what to wear,
what not to wear.

Harper's Bazaar tells you
what to wear
and what not to wear.

Sassy Magazine was kind of

an anomaly
in the magazine world.

Seriously, we were not
a fashion magazine

The only people
that took us seriously

were like, the cool
indie people, thank god.

The 90s were kind of
a coming together time
of fashion and music.

[Daianara] It's almost
the way like grunge was big

back in the 90s
when we first started.

Shoes had a more
masculine look to them,

they were a little bit
rougher and tougher.

And it's because of that
whole grunge phase
that music went through--

So our inspiration
really starts from there

and Steve really is
very music focused.

Like the music business,

it's not enough to just
make a record that is great

that no one buys.

I knew that I had
to come up with a hit
in order to make it.

And then
I made a little Mary Jane,
we called it the 'Mary Lou'.

We made a shoe that was
for a market
that wasn't being served

It was truly young fashion,
the field was sort of empty.

This was a big look.

It was a very babydoll,
little girl kind of
a sexy thing.

Historically, you would
have had the luxury
high-end designers

Historically, you would
have had the luxury
high-end designers

and then
the lower price point brands

and they would have been
completely separate.

Steve Madden was
the first person to democratize
on-trend shoes

He's the grandfather
of this whole movement.

To me, it was like he was
giving people who didn't

have the chance
to have all the stuff

that was being dictated to them
"If you don't have this,
you're a loser."

[Aya Kanai] He wanted
to make sure that
fashionable shoes

were also affordable
for the real girl customers

who wanted took great too.

That's particularly something
that the fashion establishment
is super-duper touchy about.

[Tommy] But I'd even ask,
"How come you're never
in Vogue or Bazaar,

Elle, all these things?"

He's like,
"Those people hate me."

[Steve]
It was an older industry

and we sort of disrupted it.

This is the shoe
that was made famous in
"The Wolf of Wall Street"

The Mary Lou.
I have the--

the Mary Jane is followed
by the-- the kid.

Hoffman played me
and he did a good job.

Jordan, look what
I caught in the lobby,
I caught a genius.

Enter, Steve Madden.

Red hot lady's footwear
and impresario.

And thanks to Danny,
we were taking
his company public

[Steve] Danny said
it was time to go public

"You go to go talk
to the broker's.

You got to tell them
your story,

and get them all pumped up
and it'll be great."

And that's what I did.

And that's that famous scene.

That's why
they got to see your face.

You get 'em fired up
and they push the shit
out of this stock, okay?

[Leonardo DiCaprio] Our job was
to get them worked up.

[Steve]
It's like amazing
how they got this stuff.

It was pretty accurate.

You know,
Jonah Hill playing Danny

and DiCaprio playing Belfort,

they did an amazing job.

I don't know
if I was that dorky.

For those of you
who don't know me,

my name's Steve Madden.

-Yeah, we know who you are.
-[laughs]

Your name is on the box.

[all laughing]

-Show them the shoes.
-Okay, yeah.

Anyway, you know just--
this shoe. It''s pretty cool.

This is the Mary Lou

-which is the shoe
that put me on the map.
-[hooting and hollering]

Without it,
I wouldn't be here.

Believe it or not though,

the Mary Lou is actually
the same as the Mary Jane,
but it's black leather.

[Steve] You know,
I was talking about shoes

and these guys
just went crazy.

They were heckling me.

You know, you've got
like 500 animals heckling.

Let's give it up
for Steve Madden
and his awesome Mary Lou.

-Hold that up, hold that up,
hold that up proud.
-[Steve] Jordan was amazing.

They were just--
he was like--

you know like a dictator.

All knowing leader
of a country.

I want you to ram
Steve Madden's stock

down your client's throats
until they fucking choke on it.

Until they choke on it
and they buy 100,000 shares.

That's what I want you to do.

You be ferocious.
You be relentless

[cheering]

You be telephone
fucking terrorists.

[all cheering]

Then let's knock
this mother fucker
out of the park!

[all cheering]

At the time, it went public
I think he had
one store in Soho.

. I mean, that's not
a business typically that
anybody takes public.

That's a
Stratton-Oakmont hallmark.

I'm talking
to my brother on the phone,

stock was coming out at $4.00.

And it goes from
$4.00 to $18.00

in about an hour and a half.

What? I've never seen
anything like this in my life.

I want to know
where this is coming from.

Twenty-two million dollars
in three fucking hours!

[laughs]

Can you believe this?

I can't tell you how much
I have to thank Danny.

He really took
the reins this year
and made a huge success.

More money, more money,
more money.

[Steve]
It was like holy smokes,
this is insane.

Real money.

I went from
an eviction notice
to a private jet

in like 200 days,
which is crazy.

So I had to play ball
with these guys.

[Leonardo] Danny and I
secretly owned 85%
of Steve Madden shoes

Which legally speaking
was a big, no-no.

But we'd get filthy
fucking rich if our troops
got behind it.

Sometimes they would
do some transactions
under his name,

but the transactions
were really for themselves.

You know, they're buying
and selling it for me

so how could it be illegal?

You know,
I'd become part
of the scheme.

Because I didn't
care about anything
but building the business.

Oh, no.

This is really cute.
Here, could you put this on?

? I love this.
That's a great shoe.

I think that this can be
the next big--
a really big sandal for us.

You know why,
because it's got
taste and style.

It's a problem.

[laughs]

It's tasteful.

God forbid
we should make
a tasteful shoe!

[Daianara]
Fashion was moving at
such a fast pace.

And our biggest
goal of the day would be,

"How much higher
do you think we could
make this heel?

How much higher do you think
we could make this platform
before Steve like kills us?"

There were some crazy shoes.

I mean, some crazy platforms.

You know kind of the
gender-bending shoes
of the 70s rock stars.

It was a very
exciting time and we've--

and as a matter of fact
we've taken a lot of those
things from that era

and made them now
in our company.

It's an instinct,

You know you wake up
in the morning

and you don't
have it in your closet,

so you come in
and try and make it.

It's pretty much
if we're looking for it,
somebody else is too.

He had this
incredible system of
test and react.

Which is exactly what
we tried to do
in the record business.

[reporter] Madden's New York
headquarters features
a sample factory

where new ideas
are cobbled by hand.

[reporter] He found
he could develop a prototype

and sell a small test run
in his own stores

before deciding if it was right
for the mass market.

If they reacted,
he would go and order
them in big bulk.

And that would eliminate
the issue of getting
product back,

because he already knew
that he had a hit.

These shoes can be there first
before anybody else.

[reporter]
Though many times smaller,

Madden's edge over
competitors like Nine West

is speed to market.

Little by little people
started paying more attention
to what he was doing.

I got very interested
in Steve--

with those funny fashion ads
of the big heads

and the little skinny,
sexy body and the big shoes.

We wanted to do something
that wasn't like
other fashion companies

with the beautiful girls
and the poses

so we did something
a little unique.

There was nothing,
nothing, nothing like it.

So it was instant.

The second it went up. Boom.

The subject of
many discussions

because it's somewhat
controversial.

The fact that
we were making them
look like little hookers,

I was like,
"These parents have
to be upset"

But he was like,
"No, I know what I'm doing."

Anti-fashion is what it was.

It kept him
in a separate place
identity wise--

he actually built
his identity.

It definitely was one of
the more memorable
campaigns of the time.

Throughout the 90s
they were--

you know, they were
the talk of the town.

First thing's first.

This shoe on the wedge,
we're going to make

and we're going to sell this
to every store in America.

It's fantastic.

[Sam Edelman] I remember
he had some monster shoes.

Big bottom shoes.

And then he had
a shoe called 'The Slinky'.

And 'The Slinky' was huge.

[Andrea]
It was pixie girls in leggings,

shuffling around with
maybe a fun toe nail polish.

Like they were everywhere.

All of the sudden
every girl I spoke to knew
who Steve Madden was.

I was like,
"Wow, how did this happen.
It's so amazing."

[reporter] Steve Madden, the
number one man for making
the dopest shoes on the planet.

I watched from afar
how Steve built up this
incredible business.

I mean, I, like
everybody else, said,

"Wait a second,
this is Steven Madden".

[Steve] I just felt like
I could do anything.

You know,
we were like this force

that was quicker and smarter
than the other armies.

Tonight, knowing what
your customers want
before the competition does.

Former stock boy,
turned self-proclaimed
"shoe warrior".

Steve Madden has
no intention of slowing down.

[reporter] His retail stores
average a 1,000 dollars in
annual sales per square foot.

Double the usual turnover
for stores their size.

I owned my own shoe store.

Steve used to come
every single weekend

and he bought
the store and then,
I guess,

in turn bought me

I never gave him
a discount, just so you know.

[reporter] Hot shoes have
helped Madden's sales shoot
from five million in 1993

to an estimated
83 million dollars last year.

[reporter] Revenues streaking
from 59 million to 163 million

between 1997 and 1999,

and profits more than
tripling in that
same time period.

[Steve] I needed
to get bigger and bigger

bigger and bigger and bigger
and bigger and bigger.

You know,
because that's what you do.

Those kind of profits,
it was another kind of drug.

[Daianara] We were
just moving so quickly

and it's like, he became
a little bit of a rock star.

Like, people would
come up to him,
"Oh, can I have your autograph?

Can I have this?
And I'd tease him, I'd go--"

"Oh, Steve,
you're such a rock star."

And he was like,
"Leave me alone,
let me enjoy my moment,

it's my moment."

Christinas and Britneys
and Janet Jacksons
all wear our shoes

[hostess]
The man of the evening,
Mr. Steve Madden.

You know, that old
Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame-

we're up to about
six hours now.

[reporter] There are obviously
natural concerns
that the company

might become
really too dependent
on one guy.

That being you.

What happens to the
company, god help us,
if Steve Madden

walks out here on Broadway
and gets hit by a bus.

[laughs]

Gloom and doom.

-Bad stuff, right?
-It's bad stuff.

Um, we're [bleeps]

[reporter] Last year
he did pay more than
four million dollars

to former
Stratton-Oakmont execs

to settle claims
stemming from his
association with the outfit.

I wanted to put
that part of the company's
history behind us

and pay those guys off
and moved on.

[Steve] The shenanigans
with those guys had ended
in the middle of the 90s,

and then the company
went on to just be explosive
because I had this amazing,

you know, company,

but all the while
I know my past

is going to rear
it's ugly head
at any moment.

[clicking]

When the first wave
of the Stratton guys
were-- were arrested,

arrested my mom
called me from Bocca,
and she said,

"I heard they're talking."

[reporter] Mr. Dan Porush
and Jordan Belfort
have pleaded guilty

to variety of securities fraud.

There have been
persistent concerns, Steve,

and federal investigations
in their activities

might become
a federal investigation
into you.

Any thought?
Any truth to those?

-Is there a reason
for the concern?
-No, they took us public and---

but we don't think
we'll be tainted by that brush.

[Steve] Your mind
is telling you one thing,

but inside internally,
you know--

you know that something
is not quite right.

And then the whole thing
came crashing down.

[Steve]
And there was nothing
I could do at that point.

I'll let you take
a picture, relax.

Relax, guy.
You can take a picture,
I'm not hiding.

Relax.

[Charles Koppelman] There was
a story that said
that Steve Madden

was going to be indicted.

[reporter] The flamboyant CEO
surrendered to
federal authorities

facing multiple charges of
conspiracy, securities fraud
and money laundering.

From manipulating
22 initial public offerings

including his own company,

allegedly making
illegal gains of
seven million dollars.

[reporter] Belfort says that
Madden acted as his front.

Selling shares on his command
and giving him
a big cut of the profits.

But at least
Madden's company was real.

[Johanna Berkman] The headline
grabbing person was Steve.

Jordan Belfort wasn't famous
before he committed his crimes,

where as Steve was
already a really
well known person.

And therefore
it's more valuable.

Charges could have called
for as much as
25 years federal prison.

[reporter] Steve, do you have
any comment about the charges?

[Steve] You hope
against hope that it was
going to go away.

Or that they'll have
bigger fish to fry.

You know, you can sometimes
dance between the raindrops
and not get wet.

What about the fact that
there are four other people
with the companies

who have already said that
you...

The world is
falling down on you,

you don't know
what you're doing,

and you're just like...

you're just trying
to get through that day,
you know?

Are you worried
this is gonna
affect your business?

So, Steve,
what do you do now?

Where do you
go from here?

No comment, okay?

[Joel Winograd] They wanted him
to wear a wire against
people that he knew for years,

friends, to try
to implicate them

and he wouldn't do it.

Even though
I wasn't a snitch,

I certainly look back
and have maybe

some understanding
of the guys that did tell.

Because they really--
they can torture you.

The government was very tough.

Thank you very much.

[Steve] It wore me out,
you know,

it was like the constant court
going back and forth

and lead to a relapse.

I just threw in the towel.
I started getting loaded again.

[Joel] We went
back to court
at some future date

and sentenced Steve
to 41 months.

It was devastating to him.

[Phil Pine]
Before he went away,

we had a sales meeting
out in the Hamptons,

and it was about 20 of us.

It was just a good feeling
that he knew

that there were
people behind him.

-It sucked.
-Yeah, it was awful.

It was scary.
We didn't know what
was going to happen.

I had this great family

that I was building,
this great company.

I thought at the time,
you know what?

I may not have
a family of children

because I've got
this family here.

And I know it's different,
but they were like a family.

Steve took the biggest
sacrifice for the company.

Hands down.

He did what it took for
the company to survive,

and in doing that,
he took a massive hit
personally.

And then the next day
he was gone.

[Steve] Boom.
You're there.

And bam, it all changes.

My greatest fear
was going to prison,

and I did go to prison.

So my greatest fear
became realized.

It was worse than I thought.

They handcuffed you,
and you have to change into
like an orange jumpsuit,

they strip search you,
stick a glove up your ass,

all this crazy stuff.

It was really bad.

And I got up on the bunk,
the top bunk,

and I looked up
at the ceiling and I said,

"How am I going
to do this shit?

How am I going
to survive this?"

I wasn't pissed,

I was sad.

It was just the heartbreak
of life going on outside

and you were just dead.

You know,
the world was moving on

and people were
just living their lives

and you were just stuck.

[Eric Harris]
I met Steve in lock up.

He walks up to me
just like--

out of nowhere and says,

"How is it out there?"

First of all, I was like,
"Oh, back up."

So he was like,
"Yeah, my bad, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to do that."

And he was like,
"How is it?"

I said, "It's cool,
it's straight.
You all right."

I come to find out
we were roommates.

My job wasn't to make shoes.

My job was to get through this.

[Amelia Newton Varela]
Our sales started plummeting.

We had meetings on our own,

and was like,
"All right, how are we
going to handle--

yeah, how are we
going to change this?

How quickly can we
get fresh shoes
and keep hitting it.

And to make sure that
we nailed the right style."

And we just kept struggling.

The ball dropped.
The world stops.

That world out there
is no longer yours anymore,
you know?

So you got to get content
on what's going on in there,
you know?

Everybody just called me
"Big Swole".

"Big Swole, Big Swole,
Big Swole."

That's why a line of people
on the compound
used to want to know me,

because I was probably
one of the strongest people
on the compound.

He introduced himself to me,
we talked a little bit,
you know,

he kept saying,
Steve Madden, Steve Madden.

. I'm like, "Okay, I never
heard of Steve Madden."

He's like,
"Man, I'm the shoe guy."

One time he was
actually waiting on me

Sitting on my bed.

And I said, "Hey man.
You know the prison rule,

you find a man sitting
on a man's bed, right?"
[laughs]

He's like,
"No, what is it?"

"If you sit on a man's bed,
you want to be his girlfriend."

[laughs]

He's like, "No." I said,
"Okay, then sit in the chair."

[laughs]

[Steve]
I met a lot of great guys.

Guys who fucked up, you know,

but were good guys.

You know, he adapted that,

you know he learned
all the little slang lingo
cause he was into that.

he just wanted
to learn everything.

Boy, he was a character.
[laughs]

[Steve]
I just liked being around them,
I liked their energy

and they were very helpful.
Lot of guys, you know?

There was a big thing about
running the business
from prison.

Like, "He's really running
the business from prison."

Which is crazy.
You can't run
a business from prison.

And that's how
I got the job here.

I don't know if we should
put this on tape or not--

He said, "You know what,
what I'm thinking is,

why don't you
come to work for me?

You could use my office.

You can use my secretary,

and come see me
and come tell me
what's going on at work."

And he said,
"I've got the perfect,
perfect position for you."

I said, "What's that?"

He says, "I'm going
to make you the
Head of International Sales."

I said,
"That's great! That's great.
Why are you doing that?"

He says,
"Because we don't have
any international sales,

you cannot fuck it up,
you don't know anything
about shoes

and so you can't screw it up.

So you're in charge of that."

You can't run a business
from prison.

People can talk
to you about business,

but my business
you have to create
you have to make shoes,

you have to talk to people.

You can't do that.

So, I thought,
let's give them something
to talk about.

When Steve was in jail, I used
to get requests from
the marketing people.

They're like, "Steve wants
to know if you could
hide little messages

like his jail cell number
in the ad

It was kind of
inspired by Sgt. Pepper.

The Beatles used to do
stuff like that.

They would put like
a secret message in.

And you know, so I decided to
give a shout out to these
people that I was with,

these great guys.

Once we did this big ad,
there was like

Ferris wheels and stuff,
like a Coney Island shot.

And we had to put in like,
the hot dog vendor,

this guy-- every little thing
in there was some guy

who some prison cell mate.

He brought me a magazine,
he said, "Look, man".

I said, "Man, anybody can put
somebody in a magazine,

that don't make you famous,
you know?

It just make a guy
a couple of dollars.
You know to put you--"

He's like, "No man,
I'm telling you,
I'm famous, I'm famous."

See this? F-R-E-E Steve.

Free Steve.

I said, "Keep him in jail.
Don't free his ass."

I said, "Listen,
I don't care how much
money you have.

. Right now, you in here.

So you have zero dollars.

Just like everybody else."

I ran a store
inside of prison.

Everything the commissary had,
I had it.

Yeah, Mackerel
was the currency.

[Steve Madden]
Mackerel. Fish.

You know, that was
the currency in prison.

They're delicious.
I mean, you know--

for somebody in prison
they're delicious.

It's not like, lobster. 2

I mean, I had people
from all of the dorms
coming to see Head.

He's like, "Man, this guy's--
this is amazing."

He gave me some pointers.

He made me think of ways
that I can expand.

And it worked out.

So I had to figure out
how could I corner the
market on Mackerel?

So I figured it out,
and I ended up with
hundreds of Mackerel.

Guy would bring me
cereal from the kitchen,
I give him a Mackerel.

If I wanted to get
my laundry done,
I paid the guy a mackerel.

I became the mackerel king.

Steve started
teaching a class.

So I taught
a little business class.

I tried to reach out
to some of the guys there.

They had
standing room only because,

you know,
everybody came to his class.

And that's what I was
really trying to tell them.

Like, "You guys that are here,

you probably were
successful dealing crack

or whatever it was.

So take that
entrepreneurial skill.

Find a product that's legal.
And sell it.

And you could do it.

You guys are all smart."

And most of them
were very smart.

Very smart guys.

When you in prison, right,
you want somebody to be there.

You understand?
You want somebody
to be in your corner.

So, you know--
and once you've been
gone for so long,

friends tend
to fade off, you know?

Money begins to slow down.

So you have to do
what you have to do.

You have to take
care of yourself.

You have a collect call from...

"Steve Madden,
can you hear me?"

an inmate at
Coleman Correctional Facility.

Do you accept the charges?

I got a call from someone
saying that Steve wants
to see you this weekend.

And I had no idea
why he would want to see me

That's when I realized
I had never been alone
with him before.

[Steve]
Yeah, we liked each other

We always liked
each other, you know?

We always got a kick
out of each other.

So there was that.

She had a nice countenance.

A face to the world.
You know--

She came to see him a lot.

You know,
in the federal facilities,
it's visit five days a week.

Out of the five
she was there maybe three.

That's a lot.

You know, flying from New York.

I remember when he kissed me
the first time ever.

In the cafeteria,
the vending machines
on the side.

The families visiting
and it was so scary,

I wanted to run.

But I was in prison.

Then I get a letter of the
top ten reasons why
the kiss meant nothing.

And I just laughed at it
because I saw what it meant,
he was scared.

Man, he was like, "Man,
why am I starting to develop
feelings for Wendy?"

I said, "Ah, come on,
you're probably
just horny, man."

[laughs]

He did throw something
out there about

"I don't know,
maybe Wendy might be the one."

[Wendy Ballew]
When he proposed to me,

it was kind of like
he stuttered it out

in a story about

wanting to spend
the rest of his life with me

and he goes,
"I guess what I'm asking you
is to marry me."

And I said, "Yes."

Many times I look back
and I'm grateful
for that moment,

and think, "Well, you know--

if I wasn't in prison
I wouldn't have
had that moment."

Of course
I could have done 20 days

and had that moment
on the 15th day.

That would have been good.

[Amelia]
And she married him.

Oh, my God.

I married him.

[Daianara] It's so crazy.

[Steve] It was
such a joy to be out

It was an amazing
period in my life.

I got married
and had a family.

I just thought maybe,
in my line of work

people would
forgive and forget

And I'd be able
to move on, you know?

And get a second chance.

I had a sense that,
"Oh, my God,
I'm free to do this,

Let's not squander it."

Wendy on my side
was very helpful

I just thought,
I'll get back to work
and we'll see what happens.

Is this one of the new ones?

That one?

What happened to that shoe?
It died.

But I did fear being
out of touch with the styles

and not being able
to put my finger
on the winners

because so much
of styling and design
is context, you know?

So I was out.

[Rob]
He said to me,

"It's going to take
me some time
to get back into it."

[Amelia] There was
a shift happening.
Styling changed.

We went from--

Which he predicted
by the way,
he totally predicted this.

[Amelia] Yeah. Really, young
chunkier and younger
junior type shoes

and it was
becoming more dressy.

Pointy toe.
Something that at Steve Madden,
we haven't done.

When you would see
young Hollywood

wearing a $2,000 shoe,

real America wants the look
at the same time.

[Steve] The shoes
are not selling like they were.

They'd canceled
a ton of shoes.

They just told me.

They just canceled
a lot of shoes, yeah

And that's how I know,
because it's not my look.

So I don't have
a feel for that.

I know it's fabulous,

you know, I know
it sells like crazy, but--

And then you think, well,

"God, I'm not
creative at all.

What have I done?

[laughs]

What have I done?
I don't know anything.

I'm just talking."

You know, and then
you figure out a way to put it
all together, you know.

He went back to his
old tricks of just like,

what is she wearing,
what's happening on the street.

[Sam] The reality is
if you're a true shoe guy,

all you do is look at feet

You're looking at their shoes,
where did they get them.

Everything is about
shoe, shoe, shoe, shoes.

I heard the other day
he was at Nordstrom's
for two days.

Sitting on a couch,

you know,
watching the people
buy the shoes.

That's his system,
he likes that.

When we're in stores
and Steve walks up to women

and just starts
talking to them
about their shoes.

They're all like,
"Who is this guy?"

This is my store.

He goes, "You know,
when I was young,

they thought it was cool.
Like I was hitting on them."

Thank you.

"Now they just think
I'm a creepy old man

[laughs]

That shoe is beautiful.

I haven't seen
sport shoes like that
in a long time.

There's a lot of designers
in the world that are
really good at what they do,

but they sort of just sit
and draw it and wait
for somebody to--

and we're hands on.

He's digging it up,

we're back here
trying to hammer it together.

All right, that's good.

All right! Sally forth!

[Alan] All the buyers
wanted the shoes.

The reputation was that
Steve couldn't miss.

[Steve]
I've created a lot of shoes,

but I'm more of like
an executive producer

I'm thinking about it
all the way through the end.

You know, I'm thinking,
"Okay, gonna sell it,
it's gonna sit here.

How am I going to make it?
What am I going to make it for?

How am I going to make it
so a lot of girl's can buy it?

And I'm going to make money?"

It's like a personal war,
each shoe, you know, almost.

For it to merge
and become number one.

Self-esteem wrapped up
in every shoe is something.

New shoes are on
the dashboard of the car,

on the kitchen table,
on the bed.

When I see him
so obsessed with a shoe,

I have taken the shoe
and put it on a pillow at night

to be like,
"Here's your shoe."

He thinks about it
100% of his life.

Here's what we're doing.
Couple of things.

This I didn't love on.

This might be worth a test.

I think they're too cheap.

But on something like this,
a casual item,

you got to be
very price sensitive.

That's my experience
in the market.

Yeah, they're amazing.

The entrepreneurs
is a hard driver

He's like,
"Look, we're on this mission!

There may be
some casualties here."

Where the fuck are you?

No, no, no, no.
You can't do this,

I'm on a fucking
tight schedule.

I believe it's some sort
of neurotic drive.

You know, there were a lot
of people taking vacations
when I wasn't.

I thought maybe
when he got married
and had kids,

I wouldn't be hearing
from him on a Saturday
and Sunday so often.

Now I hear from him more.

[Steve] Hey, Jackie.

How's my boy?

Okay.

I'm always trying
to evolve and get better

and you know,
I want to be a good--
a better father.

That's important to me now,

like, be a better husband.

Those are two goals I have.
I'm very selfish,
self-centered guy.

And it's a struggle for me.

I don't know how he does
everything that he does.

Between building this business,
family and himself.

[Steve]
That's a whole other thing.

Parenting, wow.

I don't even know
what to say about it.

It was different from
my family at work.

I need Krissy.

And I need Amelia.

Let's start.

I have to say,
one of the great things
is picking people

to help you
with the journey.

So I was banned
being a director
or officer of a corporation.

We hired this kid in banking,
young neophyte named
Ed Rosenfeld.

The board had decided
to make a change
with the old CEO

and that I was
going to be the new
interim-CEO.

My first reaction was,
"What? Who?" [laughs]

Wall Street loved him.
Because he spoke
their language,

and Steve, was neither
an officer nor a director

and he was able to devote
all of his time to product.

Your name sake
Steve Madden,

he's still a contributing
designer, consultant,
what does he do?

Oh, yeah.
He's the Chief Designer,

he leads everything we do
from a creative standpoint

and he's-- he and his team
are the ones who
deserve the credit.

So as the CEO,

he started to put
our money that we were
making to good use.

We have 57 locations now
around the Far-East,

whereas one year
and two months ago
we had zero.

My brother was from
the new school,

even though he was
my only brother.

He understood like
entertaining clients.

He didn't really give
a shit about expenses.

The most expensive
bottles of champagne--

we would just
get the bills
and freak out.

But he was like,
"No, this is what I'm doing.

I'm bringing you
a country, you idiots."

[John]
UK was starting it,

Europe was starting it,
South Africa,

South America, China,

Japan. Israel, Australia,
they love it.

[Steve] So now
the financial acumen caught up
with the creative acumen

doing deals to supplement
the creative energy.

We started acquiring companies.

You know, usually just
big companies bought--

you know, buy companies.
And they're like--

we're making shoes
for teenagers,
now we're busying companies.

His understanding
of the music industry

and his understanding
of what--

what's happening
in trends outside of,

what's happening
with footwear,

that resonates
with some many people

and allows him, I think,
a tremendous runway.

We were able to take
the old school hot shoe

and marry it with
the new sort of
marketing procedures today.

Hi--

Weren't we talking to Iggy
about doing some shoes

What happened?

I'd been wanting
to get you in a room,
so I hold you hostage.

So how's it going?

Pretty well,
I loved the stuff that
you did with Iggy.

-Yeah.
-That was cool,

she's one of my
good friends.

Well, we know.

For Steve, his designs,

his influences, his energy
is based on music.

So when he wants
to connect with an artist.

It's different,
it's very personal.

Hello, Steve?

It's for you.

Yes, I kiss this shoe
and I like it.

That's that 13 year old
that was 20 years ago
when he started

is now 33,
he still has her.

I love them.

He has kind of defined
how to bring fashion
to the market.

Got the king right here.
Got the king right here.

[laughs] He is the king.
You know that.

Both of you damn guys,
you blindsided us.

If he's not on the street,
he's with a buyer,

he's talking with somebody
who knows somebody
that can help him

get that shoe
into another door.

It's like he's got
this underground network

where he just figures out
how to get the things rolling.

Did you guys grow up
wearing my shoes?

[Kendall Jenner]
Everyone grew up
wearing your shoes.

It's a gateway
shoe drug, you know.

Before you get
your Louis Vuittons,

you got to wear
Steve Madden.

[Kendall and Kylie Jenner]
Yeah. Uh-huh. Exactly.

I would like to be known
as a guy who did
all of that stuff,

not just,
"Oh, he was this business guy.
He was the shoe guy."

I was both.

I was a shoe
and a business guy

And I'm still not done yet.

You guys need
to do a wide shot
to show how massive

this Steve Madden booth is.

It's like from there
and goes all the way--

it's all Steve,
you understand?

So to come from
where he came from,

to weather the storm,

and now look at him.

That's why I love Steve.
Because he got
federally indicted,

so we have
like a weird kinship.

Because they indicted me
on money laundering.

I was facing 20 years.

But when he talks about
that part of his life.

I understand 100%.

[reporter] For people who
don't know Steve Madden,
the founder,

served a prison sentence,

and now he contributes
in a very-- you know,
important way.

[Steve] You know,
we'd like to be
a power of example

if we could to guys
that made mistakes.

There's things that we support.

The Doe Fund is one of them.

Defy is another.

[reporter] That's for
guys recently incarcerated.

They get out,
you put them to work,

a lot of jobs--
we actually see them in this
neighborhood cleaning up--

I think that's amazing
that you do that.

Yeah, there's a chance.
There's second chances.

The great thing
about America.

[all cheering]

[Verne Kneeley]
I didn't look for Steve,
that man was looking for me

by ear or something.

And I went to see him at a PA,

and everybody was around him.

And he stopped the PA.
He jumped up,
gave me a big hug.

He said, "I told you
I was famous."

[laughs]

-How you doing?
-All right.

-So we're getting it all set up
-Yeah, yeah.

[Verne] He was like,
"Hey man,
what do you want to do?

You want to work?
You want to do something?"

You know what I mean?
He was still that same guy.

So I'm standing on the side,

so people don't realize
that I'm with him.

Guy walks up to me, said,

"Look at him, man.
He thinks he's all that.

You know all the money.
Signing and throwing
things around.

He think,
'Oh, he's a big shot.'

I said, 'You don't even
know this guy.

And I tell you,
I know him personally.

He's not close to any of those
that you just said."

You don't try to please people,
you know,

because you never will.

There's a part of me that
doesn't believe that I'm really
that good, you know.

You know,
there's an element of
being a fraud, you know?

And so, I'm always
waiting for that moment
where, "Ah!

See, I knew I was shit

And now I've failed."

It's that thing.
So I'm so afraid of that.

You're never enough,
you know, that kind of bit.

That's why
I'm moved by
my need to grind

and the need to earn
all the time.

My work and my life are one.

It's-- you can't
separate them.

I don't think any entrepreneur
can separate them.

Who can we hire to do that?

We got to figure it out.

Everything is about
the project.

Everything is about
the struggle.

You know, just what
you're trying to do.

There's nothing more
important than that, that's it.

And I've felt that way
so many times.

My son would say,
"Daddy, why do you have
to work so much?"

Well, "I have to pay
for clothes
and the food that we eat,

this is what
Daddy does for a living."

I wanted them
to understand work,

what work is all about.

But the truth is,
is I love the work.

So Dad loves the work.

And now that
I'm getting older, 58 now,

you know, I'm thinking,
why do I keep pushing myself?

And it's because
I want to win.

[Rachelle] You take on
the responsibility
right along with him.

You want it to succeed,
same way he does.

And it's hard,
because you lose friends,

relationships go to shit
because it's like--

this becomes your priority.

Sometimes I'm like,
"I have kids, that's right."

[Wendy] Can I say this?
That it was great
to have Steve in prison.

It was the only time,
maybe even to this day

that, you know,
I got his full attention.

It was a different Steve

When he was
in this environment,

you know, he didn't see
what was right there.

He was never planning
on getting married

His whole life.

[Steve] When it at all costs,
there are costs. You know

I'm not proud of it

It's really
taken it's toll on me.

I have to say,
it's changed me.

You know, it's like,
"What the hell am I
doing this for?

What's happening here?"

So I'm thinking about my life
other than shoes, you know?

[Steve] Lot of loss,
lot of loss along the way.

But you know, that's--
that's the human condition,
I guess.

And now, you know,
I want to be with my kids.

Jack is here.

[Steve]
Okay, Jack is here?

I'm leaning on them now,
you know?

It feels like.

[indistinct]

It's okay if things are slower

It's okay, you know,
things can be slower.

Something changes, you know?

You're just less of a prick.

You know, you get older
you just--

I don't know.

I'm different

I'm different now.

But then I have moments where
I'm completely insane.

[laughs]

[gasps]

This is my office now.

It's not your office until
I say it's your office.

You just said it was my office.

They push me a lot.

Because they're so smart
I want to keep up with them.

It's a great team
and they're very talented.

So I have to work my ass off
to keep up with this crew.

Hello! [laughs]

So what are we talking about?

Turned 60 last Monday.

All right,
I'll see you over there.

All right.
I'll see you there.

[interviewer] Have you found
that love for the business
at all like Steve?

Yeah, man. I find myself
sometimes always
watching women's feet

You know? Always.

I'll talk to you later,
goodbye.

"How's the documentary
about yourself going?"

My ex-wife.

Everybody's full of shit right?

I mean, really.
At the end of the day,

we're all the same.

We're all doing
the best we can.

[mobile ringing]

Hey, Steve.