US Shoppers Seem to Be Spurning the New Coach

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

How is Coach's high-fashion reboot going? According to Forbes, Coach reported $1 billion in first quarter revenue on their latest earnings results, down 9.6% from the same period a year ago.

Despite this, Coach CEO Victor Luis said in a statement that creative director Stuart Vevers's punky-cool girl vision is working and creating "buzz and excitement." In addition to the buzz factor, international sales gained 4% in the first quarter. On the other hand, North American sales decreased 19% in the first quarter, and according to Forbes, North American same store sales dropped 24% "pressed by reduced discounting."

Luis is confident in Coach's new direction, however. "Importantly, we made progress on the transformation plan outlined this summer to address brand challenges and bring greater fashion relevance to Coach across the three pillars of product, stores and marketing. While we recognize that our many initiatives will take time to be evidenced in our financial results, our performance to date has been on plan, and we are confident we have the creative direction, team and resources to execute our brand transformation," he said in the statement.

Meanwhile, on Coach's Facebook page, there's a lot of disappointment about the prices of the new purses, the lack of discounts and talk of just shopping the outlet:

· I wish Coach would go back to offering 25% off every so often - it helps when wanting to purchase the more expensive bags. I'm a Coach addict so recently I've been purchasing my Coach bags from the department stores when they offer a % off!
·Great job, Stuart Vevers! Coach is back on my list of must-have bags!
·They are making a big mistake....I bought more bags with the 25% discount where as, I would think twice about spending over $300 US for a Coach bag now. If I'm going to spend an insane amount of money for a bag, I can guarantee you it would be a Prada and not Coach.
· Hey Coach just being back the legacy collection with the tassels... PLEASE
· It about time they changed there look, Coach was getting pretty boring!
· That looks like you pulled it out of the lint trap from the dryer! That is a HOT hot mess!
· I am very upset about the discontinued 25% sale. Am going to shop Lord & Taylor's Friends & Family--they give 25% on Coach.
· I'll wait until it gets to the outlet!
· This won't be in outlet.. those days are over.
· Coach Sales Slide 10% As Gains Abroad Fail To Fortify Shrinking Relevance At Home [Forbes]
· Coach Dresses Hollywood Cool Kids in Its New Line [Racked]
· Coach's New High-Fashion Look Is Furry and Pastel [Racked]