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Public -
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Manhattan , New York City , 1941
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516 West 34th Street<br> New York , New York 10001<br> United States
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Lew Frankfort, ''Chairman & CEO''<br> Keith Monda, ''President & COO''<br> Michael F Devine III, ''Senior VP, Chief Accounting Officer & CFO''
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Handbags , women's accessories, men's accessories, business cases, weekend and travel accessories, Watches , Footwear , eyewear, Office Furniture
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$211B USD (7/2006)
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$7646M USD (7/2006)
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$4943M USD (7/2006)
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5,700 (2005)
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Inc. is an
American Leather Goods company.
Coach began as a family-owned business in a loft in
Manhattan ,
New York in
1941 . It is famous for ladies'
Handbags , as well as items for both men and women, such as
Luggage ,
Briefcases , wallets, and other accessories (belts, shoes,
Silk scarves, umbrellas, sunglasses, key chains, etc.). Coach also offers watches, footwear, and office furniture.
Coach leather products tend to be somewhat expensive to some, but very well-made, using a thick, supple, high-quality leather that obtains a
Patina with age, and sturdy metal rivets and hardware (often solid brass). Coach also provides leather care products for their leather ware items. Coach leather goods often last 15 years or more with proper care, and indeed, some of the original Coach bags from the 1970s are known to be intact and in regular use. One of the hallmarks of the Coach company is their policy which states that any Coach product may be repaired for the life of the product by simply shipping it back to the home office for a nominal fee, with a note or letter stating the problem.
The original designer for Coach as it is known today was the visionary American designer, Bonnie Cashin. In 1960, Miles and Lillian Cahn, the owners of a wholesale handbag manufacturing business, decided to create a retail collection. They asked Cashin to become their designer. She declined the project, as she was too busy with other design contracts. The Cahns declared they would not start the business without her. Ultimately, they waited two years for her to clear her calendar. In 1962, Cashin became the designer for their new label of leather accessories, Coach.
In developing accessories functionally appropriate for her philosophy of contemporary dress, Cashin revolutionized the handbag industry. Her designs were akin to modern sculpture, dyed to match her favorite candy colors of pink, orange, yellow and green, and lined with exquisite Belgian linens, Mexican cottons, or tweeds designed by her friend and mentor, textile designer Dorothy Liebes. After years of rigid black and brown accessories, clients - and the craftsmen in the Coach factory - raved about the variety of shapes, colors and textures available in the new "Cashin-Carry" designs, all with convenient wide openings or exterior coin purses and pockets.
Then rare for the handbag business, Cashin also designed matching wallets, makeup bags, key holders, and sunglass cases, all purpose-built with trim compartments. Most famously, she pioneered the use of hardware on her clothes and accessories alike, particularly the brass toggle that became the Coach hallmark. Inspired by Cashin's memory of quickly battening down the top on her convertible sports car, the adaptation of this automotive closure to luxury women's accessories was a typical example of Cashin's search for design solutions outside of fashion. See external links below.
A curious characteristic of the company is its very high
Profit Margins , which are several times higher than its competitor designer brands. Presumably, this is due to the fact that among high-end fashion companies, Coach is somewhat of an oddity with its long production runs (the number of items of each design that are produced). With longer production runs, Coach is able to take better advantage of economies of scale than its higher priced and less profitable counterparts. Further, Coach utilizes lower-cost production facilities in developing countries such as
China and the
Dominican Republic . Currently, there are over 300 Coach stores in the
United States and
Canada . Business analysts also attribute the continuing success of Coach to the fact that it has found a place in the niche market known as 'affordable luxury,' wherein a brand is recognizable as a luxury product but is priced such that it is accessible to the budget conscious.
Overseas sales for the American leather company have also remained strong, especially in the
Japanese market. Its main competition in
Asia is
Louis Vuitton , the top seller of women's luxury handbags. Coach also operates nearly 200 locations in 19 countries outside of the United States and Canada.
Other competitors include
Privately Held Companies such as
Dooney & Bourke ,
Kate Spade , and
Juicy Couture .
In
1985 Coach was purchased by the
Sara Lee Corporation . By October of
2000 , Coach had its initial public offering and became a public traded company listed on the
NYSE under symbol COH. Since this purchase the company has departed from its small selection of painstakingly-crafted items to include "fashion" items. While this has made the company more robust financially, some of the old standby items have become more difficult to find, alienating some of its loyal customers. There has recently been a reintroduction of "classic" handbags and purses to address this matter. The company continues to expand its offerings of newer items.
Current
Executive Officer s include: Lew Frankfort, Reed Krakoff, Keith Monda, Michael Tucci, Michael Devine III, Carole Sadler.
