Meet the Coachies

Coach have taken to anthropomorphizing the classic Rogue bag and related items (Card Case and limited-edition Kira Crossbody). 

Each bag has iconic Coach details like turn locks, tassel hair, polished rivet or grommet eyes, zipper tab or metal-cap hangtag hands, and key hood legs. 

And to truly embody the playful, optimistic Coach’s spirit, each of the five Coachies is imbued with their own distinct personality: 

Groovie – the laidback, off-beat one 

Dreamie – the slightly sarcastic beauty 

Sparkie – the perky leader of the pack 

Sweetie – the cute one (and as sweet as the name suggests) 

Winkie – the mischievous trickster 

This limited-edition Rogue bags are crafted of glove-tanned leather and Signature Textile Jacquard – a sustainable material made from a blend of organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles. 

In case you’re interested, prices for these bags range from RM2,950 to RM4,500, the card case is priced RM650 and the Kira Crossbody RM1,700.

The Rebranding of Facebook Inc.

Facebook Inc are re-christening themselves Meta, decoupling their corporate identity from the eponymous social network mired in toxic content, and highlighting a shift to an emerging computing platform focused on virtual reality. 

“The metaverse is the next frontier”, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a presentation at Facebook’s Connect conference, held virtually on Thursday. “From now on, we’re going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook-first”. 

The name change is the most definitive signal so far of the company’s intention to stake their future on a new computing platform – the metaverse, an idea born in the imaginations of sci-fi novelists. In Meta’s vision, people will congregate and communicate by entering virtual environments, whether they’re talking with colleagues in a boardroom or hanging out with friends in far-flung corners of the world. 

The erstwhile Facebook is hoping to parlay its social-media user base, comprising more than 3 billion people globally, into an audience that will embrace immersive digital experiences through devices powered by augmented and virtual reality software, a business already being aggressively pursued by Meta and their rivals. 

It is said that Meta may have other reasons to make changes to their corporate identity. Leaning harder into the metaverse lets the company appear to be diversifying the business at a time when they’re facing new pressures in the social media market. 

Younger rivals such as ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok are gaining traction among the under-25 age cohort, and Zuckerberg (right) said on Monday he is retooling Meta to focus on attracting young adults again. 

Building out the metaverse will also allow Meta to reduce their dependency on mobile operating-system and browser makers such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc. to deliver services to consumers. The company seems increasingly aware that they don’t own the foundations of the digital real estate most users occupy. And that is likely to be the direction they’ll take Meta next. 

Meta aren’t the first tech giant to rebrand. Internet search leader Google changed their corporate name to Alphabet in October 2015, seeking to provide a stronger, more accountable corporate structure to oversee their disparate businesses, co-founder Larry Page said at the time. Alphabet became the holding company for Google, self-driving car developer Waymo, life-sciences subsidiary Verily and others, including a variety of experimental endeavors. 

Anyway, this corporate rebranding initiative is nothing new. Even non-tech brands have made their own attempts to create new corporate identities. In 2017, leather-goods maker Coach Inc, which also own the Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade product lines, changed their name to Tapestry Inc. The following year, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd rechristened themselves Capri Holdings Ltd after agreeing to buy the Versace brand.

China Screw-ups

Many companies seem to be getting it wrong about China. And paying the price. 

Versace had T-shirts that implied the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau were separate countries. Image credit: Sina Weibo 

China claims self-ruling Taiwan as its own territory – and Coach claims ignorance or oversight. Image credit: Sina Weibo 

Global brands such as Versace, Coach, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, ASICS, and Swarovski all faced similar angry criticisms for listing Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as separate countries or regions – not part of China – on their official websites or branded T-shirts. 

Even Huawei got careless. Taiwan was listed as its own country when the default language in Huawei's smartphone setting was set to traditional Chinese – which is the script used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Know that mainland China mostly uses simplified Chinese. 

These brands have upset Chinese consumers because of either their ignorance and/or oversight. It’s not only negative publicity but boycott campaigns, if they are initiated can harm the companies’ sales and profits, even if temporary. 

Not only that but there’s also what is called “celebrity brand flight” – and this has the effect of accentuating the negativity surrounding the delinquent brands. 

This week saw Chinese actress Jelly Lin, Calvin Klein's brand ambassador for the Asia Pacific region, announce an immediate termination of collaboration with the American fashion house. Chinese star Yang Mi also ended her relationship with Versace, while Chinese singer Jackson Yee and supermodel Liu Wen terminated their partnerships with Givenchy and Coach respectively. And Chinese actress Jiang Shuying, also known as Maggie Jiang, announced on Tuesday that she would be ending her co-operation with Swarovski.

China Fashion Week responded to the controversies this week, writing that "all brands doing business in China should respect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity". 

In the light of the ongoing Hong Kong protests which don't seem to be going away any time soon and having demonstrated pronounced anti-China sentiments – it becomes even more necessary for companies which market to China to exercise extra vigilance and due care.

Sneakers that Marry Fashion with Sports

A model presents a creation from the Dolce & Gabbana Autumn/Winter 2018 women collection during Milan Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, February 25, 2018

Luxury fashion and sports are coming together. And it looks as if they have become inseparable. 

Strange bedfellows alright but it is the in-thing now. And yielding big profits for those involved in the business. Already, both luxury groups and sports companies are looking to cash in on a booming market. 

Premium sneakers can start at around $400 but can easily go up as high as $3,000 for a pair of Christian Louboutin’s leather, crystal-embellished sneakers. 

And limited editions can even sell for well over $10,000, including the Chanel X Pharrell Hu Race Trail or Nike’s Air Jordan 3 Retro DJ Khaled Grateful. 

High-end brands such as Gucci, Prada and Balenciaga are increasingly looking to sneakers for growth, putting them in direct competition with sportswear giants like Nike, Puma and Adidas – and creating ever-more striking and swank designs. 

A Reuters report put global sales of sneakers – or trainers – to have expanded by 10 percent to 3.5 billion euros in 2017. 

For sure, sneakers are a big driver of the luxury shoe business – in fact, luxury sneakers represent the fashion industry’s fastest-growing segment. 

Bruce Pas, Men’s Fashion Director at US department store Neiman Marcus – a leading purveyor of the world's most unique luxury goods – trumpets: “It’s not really even a trend anymore – it’s become a category”. 

The rise of luxury sneakers is part of the growing influence of casual and streetwear in high-end fashion, where it is now acceptable to team sneakers with a tailored suit. 

Upmarket brands are tapping into street style to refresh their looks and young buyers are driving the shift. “Millennials” – born between the early 1980s and mid-90s – already represent a third of the luxury market, according to consultancy Bain & Co. 

It has been noted that even with intensifying competition, profits will remain very healthy. 

“There is (a) large space for prices moving up”, said Erwan Rambourg from HSBC. It seems that the ‘luxurization’ of sneakers can only impact margins positively. 

Designer footwear or luxury sneakers or couture sneakers or whatever we may wish to call them – they are a fast-growing market segment. 

Even for sportswear companies, like Adidas, fashion collaborations are not unusual. 

In fact, Adidas recognize that it is a way of expanding their company’s creative ecosystem and keeping consumers engaged and excited by the Adidas brand in a fast-moving market. “These days the pace has become so fast. People go to verticals, like H&M and Zara, and expect new products every month. Even with high fashion labels, it’s the cruise collection and pre-collections; every three months you get something new”, said Dirk Schönberger, creative director of Adidas’ sport style division. 

“We are a very commercial brand, so, of course, we have to deliver – at a minimum every week – something that excites the consumer. The verticals and the [speed of the] Internet have changed the way we do things”, he added. 

When a market opportunity presents itself, you can be sure marketing-driven companies will be in the thick of the action. It’s business, after all!