Kenneth Cole – The Sikh
"We all Walk in Different Shoes"
A few days ago, Kenneth Cole unveiled one of his new ads on a wall of Rockefeller Center in New York City. The model is, surprisingly, a sardar.
The campaign features Sandeep (aka: Sonny) Caberwal as a Sikh and in the below video he explains about being a Sikh and standing out.
Read more about it at on SikhNet and on SikhChic or KennethCole.com
90 Responses to “Kenneth Cole – The Sikh”
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It’s great to see Sandeep in the ad!! Our family has had the pleasure of watching him grow and knowing his family. He has always been a good Gursikh – always maintaining his Sikh identity with faith and pride. It is indeep very inspiring and reassuring to see our young generation advancing the cause of Sikhi in such creative ways.
To all those wanting to know more about him – he is happily married!!
Long overdue publicity for our fellow gursikhs, hopefully will spread positive message and knowledge to the ignorant masses who link us to the Muslim extremists.
Maybe this ad would encourage those turbaned sikh males (young and old) who shave/ cut beard but yet keep dastaar and the ladies (some turbaned) but yet have well shaped eyebrows to practise 5ks sincerely??
RAJ KAREGA KHALSA.
My congratulations to Kenneth Cole having the guts to go outside the box, instead of the blue eyed blond hair model in this age of globalization. Wish other designers could emulate this trend.
Please do not criticize the turban or the phiphti, it is the first step and for those who can do better, put it out on the web for others to see and show off that a Sardarji is also good looking dude.
Sonny, please keep up the good work and if you are further involved in uplifting the image of Sardarji’s please stay in the full form that Guru Gobind Singh ji gave us, (Please forgive me for this observation, it seems you have a trimmed beard, I could be wrong and I ask for your maphi).
Great job and congrates again.
I must say that I am both impressed and troubled by the comments on this blog. For those that are proud to see one of our own in a highly visible media spotlight – cheers! For those that are hypercritical of or dismayed by this campaign – you are blind the challenges the Sikh community faces in the 21st century, particularly in the U.S. Our community’s future will be determined by society’s acceptance of and respect for our unique identity as Sikhs. This will be accomplished through interaction with our communities, government outreach, education, legal challenges, and POSITIVE MEDIA IMAGES OF SIKHS! Maybe this campaign will do nothing to change the perceptions most people in the West have about Sikhs and the turban. But maybe – just maybe – a few people will see this campaign and say “wow, not all people in turbans are fundamentalists or terrorists – this guy looks pretty cool and normal. Let me learn a bit more about the Sikh faith.” Let us hope for the latter, for our sake and that of the next generation of Sikhs.
To Jagjiwan and others critical of Sonny’s appearance – your postings are narrow-minded and presumptuous. First, I don’t recall the Rehat Maryada proscribing a particular direction that the turban should be tied or the size of one’s fifty. And as to whether this model is wearing a “topi,” read http://www.sikhchic.com/article-detail.php?id=423&cat=6 to learn that Sandeep Singh has kept his hair since birth and has proudly worn a full turban since his grade school years, through college, into law school, into his practice as an attorney, and as an entrepreneur in NYC and San Francisco. I don’t think the same can be said for Vikram Chatwal.
This is a positive for the community that should be applauded, not criticized.
Kenneth Cole for president !
Sonny,
We are all proud of you, keep it up and represent us well. Take care.
– Sunny
You are doing a lot to help the Sikh community.Good luck and keep on doing what your doing.
Dear Kenneth Cole – The Sikh,
I saw and heard you on U Tube today. I enjoyed listening to you – it was a impressive show. I am fond of writing short write ups. Can I do it for this site? I will be very happy to contribute on any thing else you suggest to me—–
Dr. Swaranjit Singh Cameotra,
Senior Scientist, MTCC & Gene Bank,An IDA,
Fellow AMI, Member WFCC Task Groups,
Institute of Microbial Technology,
Sector 39A, Chandigarh-160036, India.
Phone: +91-172-2636680 to 94 (Extn. 3155)
Fax:+91-172-2690632 and 2690585
Residence Phone: +91-172-4631243 and 2747470
Emails:[email protected],[email protected]
Swaranjit
I second Sensible Singh
Mad props! But I dont know if its just me but i hate it when ppl say seekh you arent seekh my brother your sikh! we are taught sikhi not seekhi sorry just had to get that off my chest…but other then that again MAD PROPS to both Sonny and Kenneth Cole!
Excellent.i agree fifty should be little smallar and name should be sandeep singh not sunny.I am so proud to see the sandeep singh 8 years old performing shabad from pittsburg Gurdwara in 1986 september’mun mere gho her nam ka olla’Is rocking up in the Manhattan in 2008-Every one is talking about smart gursikh and it is all good.
Keep up Sandeep Singh.
This is fantastic to finally see a sikh guy being presented by a big name company. This is another positive step forward for us and the the world population seeing us for who we are.
Well done to Kenneth Cole for endorsing this advert and to the sikh brothers and sisters for keeping up the good image of sikhs.
Good job…………… Great marvelous……………
its cool……….really amazing…….fantastic sikh guy
Kuddos to Kenneth Cole. Absolutely awesome and this ad certainly creates the required awareness. Billboards and other forms of advertising is a way to get across to the masses. Hopefully in the near future we will see other famous designers doing the same.
Great job and congratulations to Sandeep Singh.Delighted to see this great job by Kenneth Cole.
This achievement is with the grace of Guru Gobind singh sahib.Let us always remember Waheguru and thank him for all his blessings.
Gurdev Maata Gurdev Pitah Gurdev soami Parmessara
Gurdev sakhaa agayan bhanjan gurdev bandap sahodraa
Gurdev daata har naam updasah gurdev mant nerodrah
Guru ang sang hove ji
Once again sab nuh wadayia.
Tejdeep Singh.
HE IS SOOOOOO GOOD LOOKING….. I CAN’T BELIEVE SOME SIKH GIRLS WANT THEIR GUYS TO CUT THEIR HAIR…. SIKH GUYS LOOK SO RESPECTFUL AND HANDSOME IN A SIKH ATTIRE!!!
This is great for the sikh community. i also wear a turban and keep my hair. This add has just took sikhs to another level in the american community. Great work kennet cole and to the model.
While undoubtedly it is great to see Sonny helping gain Sikh exposure. It is important to be mindful not to place him as some sort of Sikh role model. From his own blog it does not seem to be the case.
Looks can be deceiving…Don’t judge a book by its cover…and all those things. I personally know so many people that have the “perfect†Sikh look but are all alcoholics. So just because he’s on a billboard he’s not a perfect example of a Sikh.
From Sonny’s blog:
http://caberwal.blogspot.com/ — he seems to have blocked it after people were visiting it.
“Driving home, we stopped to think about how much our lives have transformed over even the past even three months- there’s just no time for us to go out and drink hard like we used to (frequently) do, because we need to get up as early as we can to continue trying to chip away at the 10,000 things that need to get done, and actually be productive. When we do make it out, we’re a tired, lightweight version of ourselves that our previous selves would have openly mocked…â€
This guy rocks… I feel I have seen him in India too,is he an Indian sikh?
Anybody know about him?
Whoohoo!!! Singhs in Action and always in Chardi Kala!!!
A good example for the young generation.We,Sikhs are always on the top.
First I just want to clear it up that I’m not the same “Sehaj” in the above post. The one with the HE’S SOOOOOOO GOOD LOOKING. LOL. I don’t want my friends thinking thats me posting that.
Yes its a good thing we have that sikh image out there for the public to see, especially in New York in a post 9 11 world. Keep it up Singh.
However we should be cautious on how we percieve this and what message we send to our gursikh younger bros and sisters. Like pritam singh’s comment indicated above. We have to be careful not to miscommunicate the message of sikhi to the youth. For ex. yes keep your hair one day you will be a model like this guy. We need to keep reminding everyone that sikhi is a path that is about love and being unique and keeping our kesh is just one of the ways we hold true to the teachings of our Guru. Remind the youth of the sacrifices that were made for this kesh.
So i urge you all not to get the message mixed up. A sikh should never strive to be a model, but strive to be the best guru ka sikh he can be. And if that means having your picture up for kenneth cole will thats kirpa.
Also some organization needs to step up to help regulate the way the sikh image is being confused for the taliban on CNN. Its absolutely pathetic how much they show the big bad unkept turban wearing beard sporting taliban on that channel. A positive campaign for the sikh image to educate these media sources would be a good thing to add to this billboard pic.
Saying all that i’m proud of my bro for doing what hes doing at least getting the image out there. God bless and keep true to your sikhi values. Thats most important
Ithink this Sikh Sensible Singh has talked a lot of sense. Sikhism is very relevant in this century but the Sikh ethos and the accompanied attire has to be projected with vigour an advertising BLITZKRIEG . Sikhs all over should contribute to take up a media base deffort .
I cant explain in words – I feel so happy to see the Sikh image being used as a symbol of pride. I had always seen the illterate Indian Cniema/press/media to gag on Sikhs identity, but experiencing a positive Sikh image here makes me THANK GOD!!
WAHEGURU G DA KHALSA
WAHEGURU G DI FATEH
its very good dat a ” sikh ” has been selected as a model …….
for dis i think every sikh would feel proud of thier identity given by their guru’s…..
ITS REALLY COOL…BUT I PERSONALLY DON’T NEED K.COLE TO SHOW THAT WE ROCK..I KNOW WE ROCK..
BE STRONG WITHIN URESELF AS A SIKH..PPL WILL SEE IT…
sikhi khendeo tekhi ;singhs always is in chardi kalla.
i soooooooo happy to see a singh in the fashion industry as it hard all ready. Its so exciting for our people to make it this international with a very reowned fashion label house.
I would like to see many more indians as models
i have some one to admire
I like the video particularly. :-) Very insightful! Also, bro is seriously FINE. ^_^
I SAW THE AD IN SAN FRANCISCO-I HAD TO TAKE PICTURE OF THE BILLBOARD-LOVED IT…
There is nothing more manly and nobel than a Sardar in a stylishly worn Turban, his moustache and beard!  Very Sexy and very masculine!
Putt Sardaran Dee
bai tanu dekh sadey mundey v hun pagga bandey aaa
we are proud to have you – a very good example to our young Sikhs
Dear Kenneth Cole – The Sikh,
I saw and heard you on U Tube today. I enjoyed listening to you – it was a impressive show. I am fond of writing short write ups. Can I do it for this site? I want to be associated. I will be very happy to contribute on any thing else you suggest to me—– PLEASE REPLY
Dr. Swaranjit Singh Cameotra,
Senior Scientist, MTCC & Gene Bank,An IDA,
Fellow AMI, Member WFCC Task Groups,
Institute of Microbial Technology,
Sector 39A, Chandigarh-160036, India.
Phone:09888146750, Residence Phone: +91-172-4631243 and 2747470
Emails:[email protected],[email protected]
Swaranjit
In Kurukshetra, Haryana is the Gurudwara of our 6th Guruji. A couple of months back I was there and was moved and amazed to see 111 akhand paths being recited by 111 people together in a huge tent. The Gurudwara on a mount has a sarovar too. Please visit it sometime. It is near ~1 Km from the Railway Station.
Han ji bai ji waka he sing is king hunda han
maybe now sikh parents should teach their daughters to accept sikh guys wiht turbans instead of marrying clean shaven sikhs
great to see theose posters in the streets of New York City. since then, i’m a big fan of Kenneth Cole. Thanks Kenneth Cole…