From Coach to Tapestry

Coach, an American fashion brand known mainly for handbags, shoes, and accessories, has been a major name in the luxury fashion world since 1941. As one of the first handbag brands, Coach is a fashion original. A Coach purse is one of the first handbags I ever remember seeing when I was growing up. My mom and grandma had Coach purses, and in middle school, I was gifted a Coach Poppy wristlet that I carried with me everywhere I went. Coach has not changed its name since it was founded, so the fact that they recently switched their company name to Tapestry comes as a shock to its loyal customers.

Victor Luiz, Tapestry’s CEO, explained to the New York Times that the name change to Tapestry is “a wonderful metaphor for what we believe in, which is individual threads of different colors all working together to create a picture.”

This change comes as the company recently bought Stuart Weitzman in 2015 and Kate Spade & Company in May 2017. With this name change, Luiz believes that Tapestry can now more easily buy and incorporate multiple brands under one name without being dominated by a single brand. This incorporation of multiple brands is to further compete with Tapestry’s rival, Michael Kors, that recently bought Jimmy Choo, a brand that Tapestry was considering acquiring.

Luiz believes that the name change to Tapestry sends a message that “this is a home that is not limited to any category, channel, or geography.” Although by distancing the focus from solely Coach to become more competitive, Tapestry could potentially be losing its authentic, old-fashioned appeal.

Established brand name changes are not uncommon, however, as Kering, a brand that owns Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, and Gucci, recently changed its name from PPR in 2013. Shocking brand name changes have even recently occurred in the entertainment industry, as the ABC Family cable channel became Freeform in 2016.

Although a name change for Coach after 76 years has been met with some disappointment, shown by the stock price declining nearly 3% the day the change was announced, Luiz hopes that the rebranded Tapestry will positively affect the growth of the company in the future.