Deep Dive - Week of August 26th 2024 - Coach's Bag Goes Fashion Viral & Retail Insights
Let's look deeper into Quince's strategies and business model, thoughts on Nike and a fun look at making a handbag go fashion viral.
I find the Coach campaign so exciting - to watch this marketing campaign and interest in the brand happen in real time. Especially as the Tapestry - Capri deal is pending. Lots of new launches to review, especially in the Beauty space. Plus I dive a little deeper into the Quince business model and my thoughts on Nike and innovation.
This Week's Topics:
Coach Viral Bag & Campaign
New Launches in Fashion & Beauty
The Business Section (Including insights on Quince & Nike)
What else I ❤️️
Coach Viral Bag & Campaign
This new Coach Bag - the Brooklyn - is the bag to have right now. If you follow me on Instagram or TikTok you’ve maybe already seen my explanation of the playbook that Coach is using this season to drive awareness. It is similar to what Ugg has done in the past with the Tazz Platform and other shoes (here, here, here, here….) The brand seeds celebrities and gets beautiful paparrazzi shots that feel natural. With Coach, Bella Hadid was seen carrying the bag and photographed by celebrity photographer Miles Diggs (aka .@diggzy) (Looks like Diggs also covered Sydney Sweeney’s Chloe moment.)
Do campaigns like this catch your attention? Are you into the Coach-aissance? Thoughts on the Coach Brooklyn Bag? (I saw
did a “what’s in my bag” with it on Instagram Stories and it holds a laptop and another mini bag!)New Launches
Fashion Launches
Sézane is launching Petit Sézane this Sunday, an adorable collection of kids clothing. Inspired by French classic styles. I think this will do incredibly well, especially ahead of holiday photo session time period. I’d like to see Sézane integrate this into their sezane.com website vs having a stand alone children’s, but there is a huge opportunity to improve their site navigation. It is très compliqué.
Filson, a 127 year old American Heritage brand, is launching their debut Women’s Wear Collection. The timing is spot-on for this slightly western, rugged, flannel shirt and workwear jacket collection. Prices range from $98-$995. I’m very into this jacket with it’s details (pop lining! pockets!) and slightly feminine take on the work jacket. The field shirt in the key colors of the season (both fashion and classic) and the cotton flannel Alaskan Guide Shirt because this is the season to wear a flannel!! (You can channel both The Row and Dads in Plaid.)
In time for the US Open, Lululemon has been partnering with Canadian Tennis Player Leylah Fernandez on some new tennis styles that are aces. I love the Varsity Tennis Dress (sharp pleated skirt) and the high neck tank top.
Quince launched Premium Denim in 4 Women’s silhouettes. Worth noting that all 4 are straight or skinny silhouettes. None of the more fashion forward/trend barrel leg or wide leg. Priced very sharp at $50. I will be listening out for quality feedback and insights. They currently are offered up to a size 32 (equivalent to a Women’s size 14.)
- had an Elsa Peretti vintage drop earlier this week. Items went fast. The account .@databutmakeitfashion covered the Tiffany trend (the brand is +46% in popularity from trends and mentions since June and +55% in sales on TheRealReal) I think a few of the reasons for this increase are:
The July 1st massive campaign for Elsa Peretti’s 50th Anniversary at Tiffany & Co. which had countless celebrities and fashion insiders promoting the brand’s new split ring and bone cuff. I wrote about it here.
Love how the Desert Aunt style trend coined by
and her styling promote the incredible Tiffany pendants (and styling too.)Opening of the redesigned store - and let’s not forget Tiffany & Co. is now owned by LVMH and there has been so much focus on LVMH brands ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Beauty Launches
Westman Atelier launched their new Vital Skin Concealer. In the product details WA is claiming “Skin gets an instant moisture boost that lasts — even after makeup is removed. Clinically shown to reduce dark circles under eyes in just 4 weeks.” (with a disclaimer) The brand is leaning into the make-up as skincare with this product. I’ve ordered in shade L3 to try. I’ll keep you posted.
- has talked about a fragrance boom - and we are certainly in it now. Molton Brown is the latest looking to expands their fragrance business from 12% of their total to 30%. They had 27 SKUs and relaunching 3 of the most popular scents as part of the Artists of Note collection. The price point will be $180 (I also noticed another use of the fancy round cap like this one, this one and this one.)
Hotel Lobby Candle launched their first home product, Hotel Lobby Home and the Dermatologist tested Hand Soap* (that is hydrating and has aloe and jojoba oil) is housed in a refillable fluted glass vessel that is impressive in its weight. The Reed Diffuser* scent lasts continuously for 2-3 months and has a strong throw. It is also refillable and the refills are also sold on Hotel Lobby Candle’s site.
First, I really like how they organized their site navigation to add the new category. Really well done.
Second, I think the roll out of a new Home Fragrance Collection was executed so well (I really like the HLH logo and treatment.)
I would love to see some collabs here and they can also add to the Navigation. So many other brands are doing the hotel brand + candle collab but I have followed HLC and the founder Lindsay Silberman for a long time (I’m a big fan of her content) and she has been making this connection between fragrance and travel for a long time. This is the brand to collab with!
Finally, there was an urgent launch day slight discount on the new launch kit. I love this tactic and thought it was a great way to drive urgency and get it into customers hands quickly. The page now 404s since it is no longer valid. My recommendation here would have been to have it redirect to a new page saying sorry you missed out, sign up to be notified for future announcements (capture your discount shoppers at the moment of intent) and also show how they can still shop now and maybe some early comments from reviews etc. Also, having the broken link impacts SEO. Bad for indexing, you lose rank and a poor customer experience (and one thing about Hotel Lobby is their customer experience and service is top notch!)
Sharing these insights because I really love the product*, brand and founder and want to help share ways to optimize the retail experience and performance.
Another elevated pouch/mini handbag GWP in the beauty world. This week Dr. Diamond Metacine launched a bag with any purchase of the InstaFacial* while supplies last. The stripe pouch is really cute. It actually reminds me of this sold out Carven handbag/pouch from earlier this summer. (I was gifted the InstaFacial* to test and I’m really enjoying it. My skin looks clear, feels smooth and hydrated and, yes, glow-y. It also feels so refreshing to put on at night. The set of two is on the expensive side so I’ll likely see how my skin does after I run out to decide if it is worth it to purchase.)
I recently wrote about Summer Friday’s expanding their Jet Lag Collection (and rebranding one existing item to now be in the Jet Lag assortment.) For the marketing campaign direction and collateral
interviewed the team that worked on it and shared in this post. (I’m obsessed with this eye serum from the Jet Lag Collection.)
The Business Section
Two mini deep dives this week with insights and considerations. Let’s look at the latest news from Quince and from Nike.
Fashion & Beauty Business News
Quince’s Rapid Growth and Challenges Ahead
After reading the BoF article “What Luxury ‘Dupe’ Brands Get Right About Shoppers” I had a lot of thoughts and points I’d love to discuss.
TL;DR: Quince has seen impressive growth with its "same, but cheaper" approach to basics and luxury knockoffs (I don’t want to use the “d” word.) Questions remain about product quality, sustainability of growth, and the ethics of their copycat strategy (I think their strength lies in their basics which feel unbranded and not knockoffs. I have and love this short sleeve “t-shirt” style cashmere sweater.) Their ambitious goal of tripling sales to $1 billion in 2024 raises eyebrows and concerns about the balance between growth and profitability.
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