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.
The Michael Kors brand may be wearing thin in other markets, but it is downright thriving among teens. According to Piper Jaffray's semi-annual survey of teenager shopping habits, 39% of average-income teenage girls picked Kors as their go-to handbag brand. The next most popular brand, Coach, trailed behind at 17%, and Kate Spade rounded out the top three at just above 5%.
Bloomberg reports that this behavior is almost a direct turnaround from teenage behavior in 2012, when Coach was the most popular handbag brand among 46% of teenage girls and Michael Kors captured just 7% of the vote. Piper Jaffray analyst Erinn Murphy cited Coach's new pricing strategy as one of the main reasons teens left the brand in droves. Coach recently stopped offering lower-priced bags in an effort to win back its core older customer, while Michael Kors continues to offer bags at all kinds of price points. While Michael Kors's extreme accessibility makes it an easy buy for teens, the brand has gathered plenty of critics—in the same vein as Coach—who say the discount price points are diluting the brand name.
Loading comments...