Fashion goes in cycles, and it looks like a flashy one is coming back into vogue: showing off brand logos.
Upscale handbag label Coach is one telling example. Its Signature logo C line, which at its peak accounted for 70% of its global retail sales before crashing in popularity and being retired, is about to be relaunched in March.
“What we are seeing there is a part of global movement in luxury brands toward a higher penetration of logo product,” Josh Schulman, CEO and brand president of the Coach brand, said on a conference call Tuesday, when Coach parent Tapestry, which also owns Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman fashion labels, reported better-than-expected second quarter results.
However, Schulman is not oblivious to the brand’s painful logo lesson: When the C logo line became ubiquitous, it lost its aura of exclusivity and ended up hurting Coach's brand image and sales. The company embarked on a turnaround that included the 2013 hiring of British fashion designer Stuart Vevers as its executive creative director and the 2016 signing of pop star Selena Gomez as brand ambassador. The logo collection all but disappeared from Coach’s retail assortment and marketing campaigns, Schulman has said.
“We want to be very clear though that we're going to take a very measured and disciplined approach in how we reintroduce this into retail,” he said on the call Tuesday, adding responses to the new collection from both the fashion press and its wholesale customers including Neiman Marcus have been “terrific.”
Industrywide, global growth in the $40 billion premium handbag and accessories market has been “driven by the strength of luxury logo products,” Tapestry CEO Victor Luis said in November when the company reported its first-quarter results. That proves “that brands absolutely still matter,” Luis said, describing it as a “logo trend sweeping the market.”
Under Vevers, Coach’s new Signature line involves what Schulman has described as “fresh take,” including “re-colored” logo or designs trimmed with burnished leather. Gomez also will play a part in driving buzz for the re-launched line.
“This trend is an industry trend and it’s a very cyclical part of the business,” Schulman said in November. “Every few years, there is a big cycle around logo….(Vevers’ design) really sets the tone for our most elevated assortment.”
A case in point, on Coach’s website: a Coach 1941 Signature clutch is available in colors from wine to beige. Another clutch mixes the C logo with a floral design.
In another sign of the resurgent demand for logo products, Coach actually lost some sales in its outlets in recent quarters because it didn’t catch the trend early enough and didn’t have enough in stock to meet customer demand, Schulman said.
And it’s not just an outlet customer thing.
“What’s really interesting for us is we are seeing demand in our outlet channel, but we’re also having requests for more logo product coming from our most elevated wholesale partners around the world, like Le Bon Marché in Paris and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York.”
Also expect to see the company explore an expanded logo line opportunity for Kate Spade, Luis said.
In another example of the new logo twist, LVMH has partnered with New York-based fashion brand Supreme on a line of sweatshirts, denim and other items that feature the mixed Supreme Box Logo with its own signature LVs. The French luxury house has credited the collaboration in contributing to its fashion and leather goods business group's 13% organic revenue growth in 2017.
Meanwhile, lower down the price spectrum, Abercrombie & Fitch, which in 2014 announced it would scrub most of its logo products from U.S. stores, appears to also see some return in demand for its logo items. Company CEO Fran Horowitz said in November logo shirts partly contributed to the company’s improved business for men. In fact, on Abercrombie’s website for men, about half of the top 20 items on a page listing men’s hoodies and other tops all have its namesake legend.
Riding the new wave of the logo trend is one thing, but balancing it against increased consumer demand for personalized items that no one else has is yet another.
