We Might Just Make It After All

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A moving portrait of female friendship by Elyce Arons as she reflects on her long relationship with fashion icon Kate Spade, whom she met in college and with whom she cofounded the multi-billion-dollar designer handbag brand that helped define 1990s New York fashion.

When Elyce Arons first met Katy Brosnahan in a University of Kansas dorm room, she had no idea that this polo shirt–wearing Missouri girl would not only become her best friend but also change the course of her life. Back then, Katy and Elyce were preoccupied with frat parties and The Mary Tyler Moore Show; within a decade, they’d be scraping by in downtown New York City, working day jobs to spend nights building a new line of handbags that would one day revolutionise the accessories industry.

We Might Just Make It After All brings us on the roller coaster of adventures (and misadventures) that the best friends embarked on, from transferring colleges on a whim, to falling in and out of love with suitors, cramming into roach-infested Hell’s Kitchen apartments, and eventually designing the chic, simple Kate Spade bag that would launch the pair to global fame. Through it all, Katy and Elyce’s powerful friendship remained unshakeable. It lasted nearly forty years, until Katy’s tragic suicide in 2018. We Might Just Make It After All celebrates her legacy as a cultural icon and loyal friend.

Set against the glitzy and gritty backdrop of SoHo, Tribeca, and the Garment District at the turn of the 21st century, We Might Just Make It After All lovingly and candidly explores the power of a friendship as close as sisterhood, the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in the 1990s, the evolution of the fashion industry, and the timeless elegance of a generation-defining brand.