Coach - Bond Street, London Flagship Store.

Images Copyright David Watts

I attended an event this week at the Coach Inc Bond Street Flagship store in London and experienced first hand the latest ranges for men and women. I have always been a fan of Coach buying it when on trips to the USA, but it is a brand that had never really crossed the Atlantic until recent years. They did have a small retail site on Upper Sloane Street about 7 years ago but it was a very limited and tiny offering that really did not promote the range of the brand. In 1999 Fashion Designer Reed Krakoff joined the company as President and Executive Creative Director to oversee all product design. Under his creative leadership Coach has transformed both it's product offering and brand strategy which has resulted in phenomenal sales growth in recent years. This has certainly been addressed in the Bond Street store design which is a temple to clean lines and neutral palette of putty, taupe, sand with flashes of red accent walls that perfectly complements the luxe leather goods. The address of the Bond Street store is Number 41 which coincidentally is the year that the business was founded [1941] - lucky happenstance perhaps? There is also an exclusive product range of a Tote and Weekend Bag called '41' which is only available at the London Bond St store.

I do feel that some of the product lines are very American market focussed and I feel that Coach are missing a trick by not developing product specifically for the EU market. European customers have a different taste level to that of our U.S cousins and some of the womenswear is a tad too 'girly' and 'fussy', with way too much hardware. Simpler, more minimal lines would be better received by both Fashion Editors and consumers alike! Product highlights for me are the butter-soft putty coloured leather tote, and the suede 'converse' style footwear in acid-green and taupe colourways. I suspect I will be sporting a soft leather Tote any day now and Coach are making an interesting addition to the luxury leather goods market in London.

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