Coach wants to be the American Louis Vuitton...
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Is there a comparable non fashion brand that has suffered because the average consumer can afford them with saving? I can only think of electronics where ubiquity and affordability increased profitability.
I am beginning to think the Rogue is the home run Coach hit out of the park. If you look at the original generation one, they made one size and a handful of colors. Then they added more colors and now embellishments and different sizes. Once you have owned one of these beloved bags, it seems difficult to resist the new styles and colors.
Rogue lovers have at last found their HG bag and the idea of owning just one? ...No way!
This trend reminds me of shoppers who have an affinity for a particular brand, and then find their holy grail bag and end up buying several colors. If you think about the Louis Vuitton Speedy, or the Hermes Birken, or Channell's Boybag, or Kate Spade Cedar Street Maise or the Michael Kors Hamilton bags, there seems to be a similar pattern here. A manufacturer creates a design that people love and once they make an original bag that people absolutely love, it's a big hit. If you love the bag, you love the brand and you become brand loyal and style loyal. When the company releases another color or style or material of someone's "perfect bag", they buy a second one, or third, or even fourth. This is what I think is happening with the Rogue. It is becoming a "classic" item of desire.
Rogue lovers have at last found their HG bag and the idea of owning just one? ...No way!
This trend reminds me of shoppers who have an affinity for a particular brand, and then find their holy grail bag and end up buying several colors. If you think about the Louis Vuitton Speedy, or the Hermes Birken, or Channell's Boybag, or Kate Spade Cedar Street Maise or the Michael Kors Hamilton bags, there seems to be a similar pattern here. A manufacturer creates a design that people love and once they make an original bag that people absolutely love, it's a big hit. If you love the bag, you love the brand and you become brand loyal and style loyal. When the company releases another color or style or material of someone's "perfect bag", they buy a second one, or third, or even fourth. This is what I think is happening with the Rogue. It is becoming a "classic" item of desire.
I'm not sure at all the Rogue will become a Coach "classic" as in days of old (such as the Stewardess bag, Bucket, etc.)
The bag is priced extremely high for many Coach customers....even on sale. Though it's a beautiful bag I'd be surprised if they keep it in production for any great length of time. Just like most of their other popular bags.
I'm searching for a mini Gramercy and don't have high hopes of finding one because it came and went so quickly. Also a beloved bag by the ones who own one but many others never got the chance to find one.
I do wish Coach would keep their fast selling and popular bags around longer, why they don't is a mystery to me.
The bag is priced extremely high for many Coach customers....even on sale. Though it's a beautiful bag I'd be surprised if they keep it in production for any great length of time. Just like most of their other popular bags.
I'm searching for a mini Gramercy and don't have high hopes of finding one because it came and went so quickly. Also a beloved bag by the ones who own one but many others never got the chance to find one.
I do wish Coach would keep their fast selling and popular bags around longer, why they don't is a mystery to me.
The Rogue is a great bag, but I will wait and see on the "Coach Classic" thing. For the past few years we have seen the same phenomenon with the Borough bags (which eventually went to the outlet), the Swagger bags (which eventually went to outlet and even have a knockoff version by Coach MFF), etc. There seems to always be a current "it" bag at Coach (Phoebe, anyone?) that eventually loses favor and ends up on the markdown table. With all of those releases, we were told "absolutely NO PCE on this bag," and then a few months later they allowed them, which only served to piss off a bunch of boutique customers.
Were you watching Coach back during the time of the Borough? It was supposed to be even more special than the Rogue, because it was designed with 5 compartments as a special omage to the five Borough's of Coach's hometown, NYC. It wasn't just a special step up or a new classic, it was a personal tribute to the city of their birth.
But what really jumps out at me is the incredible sense of deja vu I'm having. All those things you've just said, were said about the Borough. I mean, posts almost verbatim, of people convinced the Borough would be a new classic. It too started out with a low inventory in only a few select colors. It too was a new, chic, cool, leather design. It too started out as often removed from PCE's. It was limited in inventory, it was special, it was the new classic. .... Then it came out in more and more colors, more sizes, worked it's way onto PCE's ..... and eventually ended, within ... what, 2 years? ... eventually made it to the outlets and online outlet, some versions dropping to ridiculous discounts because no one seemed to want them, and finally they made some made-for-factory versions before it completely disappeared.
Please don't get me wrong ... I'm not trying to be a downer.
I adore my Boroughs. They're some of my favorite bags ... I have four of them in the mini size. But I just cannot stress enough, how verbatim this sounds to the excitement, the stir, and the confidence that surrounded the Borough.crazyforcoach09 (am I remembering her handle correctly?) used to always emphasize that Coach is Coach, and every time there's excitement that "this is different, no really, this time is *different*", it's actually not. In all honesty, I'm also waiting to see if the 1941 takes a similar path to the last big 5-year legacy release. Remember that? "This legacy line would never make it to outlets, so get it now while it's hot!!!" And that legacy line actually *did* take a longer time than usual to make it to outlet. But when it finally hit, it hit like a freakin' tsunami. .... 1941 is essentially the latest "every-5-years-legacy line". They do it every five years. Will it change now? Maybe. I mean anything is always possible. I'm certainly not holding my breath though.
(One other thing I've noticed, is that if someone is not "invited" the online outlet, then it really does look like stuff is no longer making it to outlet. I mean, the deletes that make it to brick-and-mortar outlets have reduced dramatically. But then look at what happens every few months or so on the online outlet. Huge "reserve sales", just bursting at the seems with large numbers of deleted items. It's not so much that they're not making it "to outlet" ... it's that they're making it to online outlet, rather than brick and mortar. So the perception might change for those who visit brick and mortar, but not so much for those at the online one. And the result? Feelings hurt for people who've been booted from online outlet, feelings hurt for those that don't get invited, and lots and lots of items going from online outlet into the hands of ebay resellers. :-/ (Disclaimer: I have no horse in that particular race. I don't resell on ebay, or anywhere for that matter, and I've been "admitted" to the online outlet ever since it started, though I don't buy overly much. I'm just recalling observations here.)
Sorry for the stroll down memory lane. I was just getting such a strong deja vu, I just couldn't resist mentioning it.
(Still getting used to this new format, hope I'm doing it correctly.)
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Should have read this first before replying.
Yep, same thing I was trying to outline. Phoebe and swagger were in my mind too, but the Borough strikes me as the closest in comparison to the Borough. It seemed like they really wanted the Borough to be a new step in "upscale". I think that was when they first pulled in the super models too ... that's when suddenly Karlie Kloss was appearing in the Borough ads. ..... "The big, new, change. The new evolution. The new upscale Coach" ...... which finally ended with a brief number of MFF Boroughs, and that was that. Not only did it not become the classic everyone was so sure it would, but it ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Sigh. It's almost funny how history seems to repeat.
Were you watching Coach back during the time of the Borough? It was supposed to be even more special than the Rogue, because it was designed with 5 compartments as a special omage to the five Borough's of Coach's hometown, NYC. It wasn't just a special step up or a new classic, it was a personal tribute to the city of their birth.
But what really jumps out at me is the incredible sense of deja vu I'm having. All those things you've just said, were said about the Borough. I mean, posts almost verbatim, of people convinced the Borough would be a new classic. It too started out with a low inventory in only a few select colors. It too was a new, chic, cool, leather design. It too started out as often removed from PCE's. It was limited in inventory, it was special, it was the new classic. .... Then it came out in more and more colors, more sizes, worked it's way onto PCE's ..... and eventually ended, within ... what, 2 years? ... eventually made it to the outlets and online outlet, some versions dropping to ridiculous discounts because no one seemed to want them, and finally they made some made-for-factory versions before it completely disappeared.
Please don't get me wrong ... I'm not trying to be a downer.
crazyforcoach09 (am I remembering her handle correctly?) used to always emphasize that Coach is Coach, and every time there's excitement that "this is different, no really, this time is *different*", it's actually not. In all honesty, I'm also waiting to see if the 1941 takes a similar path to the last big 5-year legacy release. Remember that? "This legacy line would never make it to outlets, so get it now while it's hot!!!" And that legacy line actually *did* take a longer time than usual to make it to outlet. But when it finally hit, it hit like a freakin' tsunami. .... 1941 is essentially the latest "every-5-years-legacy line". They do it every five years. Will it change now? Maybe. I mean anything is always possible. I'm certainly not holding my breath though.
(One other thing I've noticed, is that if someone is not "invited" the online outlet, then it really does look like stuff is no longer making it to outlet. I mean, the deletes that make it to brick-and-mortar outlets have reduced dramatically. But then look at what happens every few months or so on the online outlet. Huge "reserve sales", just bursting at the seems with large numbers of deleted items. It's not so much that they're not making it "to outlet" ... it's that they're making it to online outlet, rather than brick and mortar. So the perception might change for those who visit brick and mortar, but not so much for those at the online one. And the result? Feelings hurt for people who've been booted from online outlet, feelings hurt for those that don't get invited, and lots and lots of items going from online outlet into the hands of ebay resellers. :-/ (Disclaimer: I have no horse in that particular race. I don't resell on ebay, or anywhere for that matter, and I've been "admitted" to the online outlet ever since it started, though I don't buy overly much. I'm just recalling observations here.)
Sorry for the stroll down memory lane. I was just getting such a strong deja vu, I just couldn't resist mentioning it.
(Still getting used to this new format, hope I'm doing it correctly.)
Don't forget the borough/urbane were the first major ad campaign COACH did with high paid supermodels. They put a lot of money into marketing those products only to do exactly what you said.
I would really love to believe the 1941 collection is different, mainly because now there is a different creative director and things seem to have shifted a little, (marketing, celebrity spokesmodel, ready to wear line) I have also noticed and have been told from a friend who is an SM at a boutique that there is a lot less quantity in the 1941 collection, by the time the bags went on delete there weren't any left for employees to buy, well not a lot anyway. I know only a few girls at my store scored some dinkys and one rogue. It makes me happy to know that they aren't overproducing them....yet. But we all know coach is coach and we've all seen what happened with borough and swagger. As much as I love Coach it makes it frustratingly difficult is I never know "should I buy this?" "Should i wait for SAS or even FOS?" It makes it even harder for me because one of my biggest flaws is i'm impatient and I don't want to wait and take my chances. Purchasing LV or any other high end brand like that almost ensures that I'm not losing money by buying right away.
You know, I honestly expected the Borough bag to be Coach's "Speedy." I thought they had a classic with the Borough but they kicked it to the curb just like all the others.
You and me both!!You know, I honestly expected the Borough bag to be Coach's "Speedy." I thought they had a classic with the Borough but they kicked it to the curb just like all the others.
You know, I honestly expected the Borough bag to be Coach's "Speedy." I thought they had a classic with the Borough but they kicked it to the curb just like all the others.
I thought the same thing. The Borough was a great opportunity to create a 'classics line' and I think they blew it.
So true! Add the Dakotah to that list. The Ace satchels are now 60-70% off at the Outlets. So aggravating! The Rogue will be on the SAS or hit the Outlets eventually. I have no doubt. Just a matter of time. Unfortunately, there is nothing "classic" with Coach.