Fashion: It's All In The Bag

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Right now Krakoff and his team are betting on a whole new idea that Coach will introduce next fall: the Legacy collection. It's a line of bags made out of burnished leather that ages as you wear it. Each bag carries some of Coach's trademarks--binding on the edges, signature turn-lock closures and striped silk linings.

"Bags right now are about soft and chunky," Krakoff says as he examines a black Legacy bag prototype with chunky brass. The bag is not yet perfect, but it's very close. Krakoff corrects the outer pockets (too high) and asks the designer to take off the coin-purse patch pocket ("I love a coin purse, but here I want it to go away"), and he questions the height of the bag. "This bag is going to be big, so we should do more choices," he instructs the design staff members. They decide to add metallic and grainy-metallic versions to the line--what are known as "novelty" choices, bags that won't necessarily have mass appeal but might draw in the fashion-forward customer.

The final question is price. At $348 the Legacy is expensive for Coach's market, which is known as accessible luxury; designer bags run from $900 to $1,200. Krakoff asks for a less expensive version--$290 is the target price. "It's like a big puzzle," he says. "Every time you add a piece, it changes. A leather comes in at a higher price, so you have to lose a buckle." But when the price is right, the handbag will fly.