Direct-to-consumer sales, which consist primarily of transactions at U.S. Coach stores, increased 19 percent to $191.5 million from $160.5 million last year, while comparable-store sales for the quarter rose 12.7 percent, with retail coach outlet coupons stores up 18.1 percent and factory store sales up 5.8 percent. Indirect sales — including Coach Japan, U.S. department stores, international wholesale operations and special markets — rose 56 percent to $117.1 million from $75.3 million in the same period last year. “I’m [pleased] to focus exclusively on the RK coach outlet online brand and to embark on the next phase of my career,” Krakoff told WWD from a bright conference room on the 12th floor of Coach’s headquarters in New York. “It’s relatively recent [that I made this decision], I’ve been so focused on Coach and the RK brand for the last coach store bunch of years. I’ve been focused on preparing and getting ready for the next evolution of Coach, building a team with Lew, moving forward&[censurado]ip;.It’s really taken up all my time.”The creative director said he would not renew his contract with Coach when it expires in June 2014. The news follows coach factory outlet 85% off decision by the 67-year-old Frankfort, who is widely regarded as the architect behind Coach’s, to transition to executive chairman next year when Victor Luis, president of Coach international, becomes ceo. The better-than-expected profit drove Coach’s shares up $3.31, or 11.4 percent, to close at $32.48 in New York Stock Exchange coach outlet trading Wednesday. In the past 12 months, Coach’s shares have traded as high as $35.70, reached Dec. 2, and as low as $17.19, reached July 24.“What we are experiencing, during our renaissance, is a growing market share as we attract a growing number of new and stylish consumers to the coach bags outlet franchise and maintain our strong cl[censurado]ic consumer base,” Coach chairman and chief executive Lew Frankfort said in a brief telephone interview. “No one else in accessories offers accessible luxury across multiple channels and different geographies.” Charlotte Chesnais went home with the competition’s inaugural Accessories prize, which comes with a cash www.coachoutlet.com/store endowment of 30,000 euros, or $33,214. Nadja Swarovski, a member of Swarovski’s executive board, is to mentor the former protégé of Nicolas Ghesquière for one year.Pierre-Yves Roussel, chairman and ceo of LVMH Fashion Group, one of the award’s sponsors and also a jury member, said he was particularly happy about coach factory outlet this prize. “Accessories are such a big part of fashion. Everybody does it. We can’t even think of it as part of ready-to-wear. And it’s not just bags – we had two jewelry designers nominated,” he said of Chesnais and Annelise Michelson, “and one bag designer,” he added, referring to coach sale Hugo Matha. JACK WILLS SAYS ‘BRAVO’: Rose Marie Bravo has joined the board of Jack Wills, the young and preppy British fashion retailer, as a non-executive director. The company, founded in Devon, England, in 1999, has more than 30 stores in the U.K. The label, often considered Britain’s answer to coach outlets Abercrombie & Fitch, has no brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., but operates the U.S. Web site jackwills.com. Meanwhile, Belinda Earl, chief executive officer of Jaeger and Aquascutum, has been named a non-executive chairman of AlexandAlexa.com, a London-based online designer children’s wear retailer. Alex Theophanous, the company’s ceo, said he plans coach factory to explore the possibility of setting up separate sites in countries such as the U.S. and Australia, which are among the company’s most significant markets outside the U.K. Coach coach outlet stores Inc., self-described marketers of “American accessible luxury” leather accessories, said Wednesday a solid holiday performance drove its quarterly profit and sales higher than expectations, prompting it to raise its forecast for the full year as the ongoing clamor for its handbags here and in Japan offset weak market conditions.The New York-based company said that in the second quarter ended Dec. 28, profits rose 41.4 percent to $62.4 million, or 68 cents a diluted share, beating previously raised coach factory online consensus estimates of 66 cents. Last year, Coach reported earnings of $44.2 million, or 49 cents. Sales shot up 30.9 percent to $308.5 million from the year-ago mark of $235.8 million. |