Coach 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, 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). The company also provides
leather care products for their items. Coach leather goods
often last 15 years or more with proper care, and indeed,
some of the original Coach bags from the 1940s 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.
A curious characteristic of the company is
its very high profit margins, which are several times higher
than its competitors. Presumably, this is due to the fact
that among high-end leather goods, 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 Michael Kors.
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.
taken from Wikipedia
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