Ruthie Davis
is a modernist at the forefront of the new movement called Smart
Fashion. This fall ’05 she launched DAVIS by Ruthie
Davis, her signature collection of designer women’s
shoes that she calls, “Hi-Tec Hi-Fashion”. Taking
high-tech materials like Carbon Fiber, Titanium and Graphite,
she shapes these elements into sexy avant-garde stilettos, wedges,
and platforms.
Davis likes to take a quality and functional product and transform
it into something more fashion forward and consumer relevant.
When at REEBOK, she was known as a “Cool Hunter” (circa
1996), someone who identifies trends and translates them within
the consumer product and marketing arenas. As Director of the
REEBOK CLASSIC division, she pushed the envelop by launching “Classic
Derivatives” which were reinvented, more fashion forward
versions of the classic white sneakers that soon became Reebok’s
hottest and best selling styles. As Vice President of Design and
Marketing at UGG® AUSTRALIA, the East Coast transplant Davis
took the California UGG surf brand and turned it into the hottest
fashion accessory on all coasts. She repositioned UGG as fashion,
added new updated styles and took a marketing strategy that included
seeding UGGs on the Hollywood crowd and launching a first time
glossy national advertising campaign in books like Vogue and O
Magazine. The rest is fashion history. As Vice President of Footwear
Design and Marketing at TOMMY HILFIGER, Davis found that a large
number of consumers who loved the brand were junior girls causing
her to concept and launch “Tommy Girl Shoes”, consisting
of more fashionable preppy styles for the younger and hipper set.
Now with the creation of her signature Designer Collection and
her ownership of RADesign Inc., a women’s fashion footwear
design and marketing firm, Ruthie Davis is poised to impact the
footwear landscape once again by channeling her industry and product
knowledge and know-how to create, design and market her own designer
label.
Davis has an MBA degree in Entrepreneurship from Babson Graduate
School of Business and a liberal arts education from Bowdoin College,
where she studied English Literature and Visual Arts.
She lives and works in New York City.
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