Coach’s creative head gets his own e-commerce shop

Coach Inc. likes its creative director Reed Krakoff so much it’s giving the designer his own e-commerce site and boutiques.

The handbag and accessories manufacturer and retailer, No. 146 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, says it will launch an e-commerce site, ReedKrakoff.com,  next week and will open stores on Madison Avenue in New York and in Tokyo. It also will launch shops inside in Saks Fifth Avenue locations.

The Reed Krakoff line will at first have a few boutiques in the U.S. and Japan, as well as in prestigious international specialty retailers such as Lane Crawford in Hong Kong and colette in Paris, Coach says

“We believe that this concept has an opportunity to define new American luxury and engage a customer who is looking for exclusivity and limited distribution,” Lew Frankfort, CEO for Coach, said in a Q4 earnings call this week. “The Reed Krakoff brand is targeted at the rapidly evolving luxury market. It is a stand-alone brand, separate and apart from Coach, though leveraging Coach's infrastructure.”

Coach says it will ramp up its investment spending to launch Reed Krakoff and build out the infrastructure for the brand’s global growth.

Coach’s web sales totaled $81.09 million in 2009 according to Internet Retailer estimates, up 2% compared with an estimated $79.50 million for 2008. Total sales for Coach’s fiscal fourth quarter ending July 3, 2010 rose 22% to $951 million compared with $778 million a year earlier. For the fiscal year, net sales increased 12% to $3.61 billion compared with $3.23 billion a year earlier.