Coach is a designer handbag.
When women think of handbags, the Coach brand usually comes to mind. Since the 1940's, Coach has been manufacturing high-end leather accessories and handbags. Coach has more than 400 stores in the United States and Canada and also sells products on a company website, making Coach one of the most recognized accessory brands in the U.S. Does this Spark an idea?
Coach Heritage
Coach was founded by six leather artisans in 1941 as a family-run workshop in Manhattan's garment district. They started off by making small leather goods such as wallets and billfolds by hand. Miles Cahn joined the company in 1946 and by 1950 was running the entire Coach factory.
Miles Cahn
Cahn developed a new way to process leather after noticing the leather of baseball gloves. Realizing that with wear, baseball glove leather becomes soft, he found a way to process leather in a similar fashion that made it strong, flexible, soft and dark in color so that it could absorb dye. After discovering of this technique, Cahn started manufacturing women's handbags out of sturdy cowhide. This paved the way into the luxury handbag market. In 1961, the Cahn family bought out the factory's owners and took possession of the company.
Sara Lee
The Cahn family sold Coach to the Sara Lee Corporation in 1985 for roughly $30 million. By this time the company had six boutiques and a flagship store in New York City. Lew Frankfort, previous vice-president of business development, took over leadership of the company. By 1987 the company had nearly doubled its revenues and had opened several new boutiques and outlet stores.
Rapid Expansion
With increased demand for Coach goods, the company was forced to increase the workforce and open another production plant. The plant was opened near Miami in 1988 and supplied 22 freestanding stores and 300 retailers with Coach products, making the brand available in more than 1,000 locations. Coach's product line grew with business items such as briefcases and diaries. The firm also introduced a line of lightweight bags in new shapes and colors called the Coach Lightweights.
Going International
Coach opened a boutique in Harrod's department store in England and five boutiques in Mitsukoshi stores in Japan during 1988. The first freestanding international store opened in 1989 on Sloane Street in London. Coach also opened a store in Stuttgart, Germany, and continued to open more in-store shops in Mitsukoshi department stores by 1991.
The 1990s to Present
By 1991, annual sales had reached $150 million. Coach continued to broaden its product line with new lines such as the Sheridan collection and the Camden collection, which was more textured leather and styled with brass accents. Coach launched a more colorful line of bags in 1993 called the Manhattan collection and then the Sonoma collection in 1994. In 1999, the company started producing colorful cotton twill and lightweight fabric handbags to attract younger customers. As product lines grew, so did the stores. As of 2010, Coach is available at more than 900 department stores in the U.S., 159 department stores internationally and in several retail stores and duty-free shops across 20 countries including Japan and China.
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