Coach to Close 70 Stores in North America, Rebrand to Attract High-Fashion Audience
Coach has been trying to attract a more high-fashion audience recently.
The struggling brand hired designer Stuart Vevers to give its clothing and bags a new look, which debuted in February at New York Fashion Week. It is also looking to change in other ways.
By the first half of the 2015 fiscal year, Coach will have closed 70 of its 351 North American stores. This just includes full-price stores, Racked noted.
"The overarching objective is to change brand perception from accessible luxury to modern luxury," said Francine Della Badia, president of Coach's North American retail.
Previously, the brand had said it wanted to move away from "mass affluents" and offer more expensive bags.
This will also bring a new store model for Coach. Two outlets will close, but 10 dual-gender stores will open in new locations. The logos tied to the Coach brand will be phased out. The company will use more and better leather. And the bags will match the spirit of the ready-to-wear line.
The current promotional sales model, known as "Coach days," will end. And outlet stores won't get as many sales. The plan is to "de-emphasize promotional pricing strategies [in outlet stores] in order to drive the discount rate down and move ticket prices up," according to Women's Wear Daily.
Coach CEO Victor Luis supports Coach's next move.
"It's not about the next 'It' bag that we're launching or the next 'It' collection," he said. "It's about, at the end of the day, how we evolve the brand over this journey that we are on."
In April, the brand announced it would move from around the $300 mark, where other "mass affluents" such as Tory Burch, Kate Spade and Michael Kors bags exist, to the more-than-$600 mark.
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