Coach! About time for a new design...good for them

Coach's new purse line makes play for high end
Confident in its customer research and product quality, Coach moves toward designer level with Legacy bags

By Sandra Jones
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 19, 2007

A tangerine tie-dye clutch with a rhinestone closure. A snow-white ski hobo bag with fur trim. A royal blue python satchel.

This is not your mother's Coach handbag.

The 65-year-old maker of sturdy leather purses is pushing into fashionable designer territory, going up against the likes of Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gucci in the race to tap into women's insatiable appetite for chic handbags.

Just a decade ago, it would have been difficult to imagine such audacity from the old-fashioned company that relied on descendants of George Washington, J.P. Morgan, Mark Twain and other famous Americans to advertise its bags. But since spinning off from Sara Lee Corp. in 2000, Coach Inc. has found new life as a fashion icon.

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