Nancy Gonzalez is a designer from Columbia who launched her line of exotic-skin handbags about 10 years ago. They are sold in Neiman Marcus, Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, etc. Most of the bags pictured below are in the $3,000-range. I own the crocodile clutch in black and I love it. I've included a 2006 article from
Women's Wear Daily.
WWD
August 7, 2006
NANCY GONZALEZ STICKS TO HER INNER SKIN
Byline: Sophia Chabbott
NEW YORK - As many handbag designers take their businesses to the next level by expanding into categories like footwear and outerwear,
Nancy Gonzalez is content staying with what it does best - exotic skin handbags.
The firm has grown sales 20 to 25 percent each season since 2003, said Santiago Gonzalez, president of the firm and the son of its founder,
Nancy Gonzalez. The company generates about $37 million in wholesale sales annually, people familiar with the firm said. Its bags are carried in Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, and 65 specialty retailers in the U.S., including Ultimo in Chicago and New York's Bergdorf Goodman, which last month dedicated its entire Arcade space on themain floor to Gonzalez's clutches, satchels and luxe totes. The firm's bags are also sold in Harrods in London, Joyce in Hong Kong and 165 specialty doors worldwide.
Despite the growth and requests from retailers and consumers, Gonzalez is not looking to expand into categories like footwear, gloves or outerwear.
"I want to stay focused on our core competency," said Santiago Gonzalez. "I am open to exploring opportunities in the marketplace, but only with things that relate to the bags, which anchor the brand."
The firm is contemplating starting a hardware-free jewelry collection, using its skins.
Gonzalez credited the increases in business to the distinctiveness of design, as well as to the relatively low prices for the exotic skin bags, achieved by the company's vertical organizational structure.
Nancy Gonzalez operates several caiman crocodile farms and tanneries in Colombia and the bags are produced in Gonzalez's own factories there, which make as many as 23,000 bags a year.
The company introduces 450 styles each year, divided among three seasons: fall, spring and resort. Since the firm controls its supply of skins, it is able to keep prices far lower than designer crocodile bags at other firms. At
Prada, for example, they start at about $10,000. Hermes has crocodile bags starting at $18,000. Gonzalez's bags range from $600 to $8,000 retail, with an average price point of $1,000. The bags are offered in 300 colors and 20 shades are added each season.
None of the styles have a logo, hardware or an identifying trait, an anomaly in the label-driven handbag market.
"There's a quiet elegance reflected in her bags," said Sandra Wilson, accessories fashion director for Neiman Marcus, which carries thebrand in 25 doors. "She brings a marvelous sense of color and uniquestyling to our assortment. Exotics are important to our business. They are pure luxury."
Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies at consultancy Kurt Salmon Associates, said, "Where there are some other luxury handbags that are true in luxury pricing, the Gonzalez line is terrific in terms of value. By not promoting a status logo name, it promotes her status."
Ron Frasch, vice chairman and chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, which has the line in 28 stores, said, "The customer is telling us it's OK to have handbags without logos.
Gucci, Dior and Fendi [bags] have a strong iconic design presence, they have a broad appeal. The sophisticated customer loves the idea of being noticed for carrying thebrand. Nancy does that with exotic skins."
Nancy Gonzalez, a 52-year-old native of Cali, Colombia, started designing bags in 1988, with a brand she founded called Encueros de Colombia, which had three stores in her homeland. In 1997, she created the namesake brand, which helped shift the paradigm that only women of a certain age should be carrying crocodile bags.
"My bags are a cross between fantasy and classic," said Gonzalez, noting that they are carried by young, fashionable girls and older, more sophisticated women. "It's not boring, but at the same time it's not too out there."
Gonzalez takes on exotic skins with a dose of irreverence. Although many companies create simple clutches and totes using crocodile, Gonzalez is known for making bags of woven crocodile, and cobra.
"We have a very significant business with
Nancy Gonzalez," said Jim Gold, president and chief executive officer of Bergdorf's. "We feel their product is unique and they earned that space. They have a very loyal following of women who love to add to their collections season after season."
Andrew Jassin, managing director of the Jassin O'Rourke Group consulting firm here, said it takes confidence for a retailer to take on a brand simply because they think a consumer will react to it, compared with a line that has a big marketing machine behind it.
"Brands can be important without a logo on the outside and still set trends," Jassin said.
