Success breeds success — or so Stuart Vevers hopes.
The executive creative director of Coach will use the runway at his men’s show in London on Monday to offer some “runway exclusives” for men for the first time.
The designer has offered special bags at his past two women’s shows and made them available for sale immediately after the show. The “tremendous response” to these bags, which sold out in 90 minutes, led him to expand the idea to his men’s collection as well. “We thought there was a real appetite so we expanded on the concept,” he said.
The runway exclusives will include apparel for the first time. Some 20 to 25 pieces of ready-to-wear, bags and accessories will be offered including “easy T-shirts, leather outerwear and bags.” Not every piece will actually walk down the runway, he said, and there will also be one-of-a-kind pieces that Vevers collaborated on with an artist whose identity has not yet been revealed.
The women’s bags were only available in North America, but the men’s capsule will be sold worldwide, Vevers said.
And once these runway exclusives are sold out on the Coach web site, they will never be offered again.
That’s what’s different from the buy-now-wear-now phenomenon, he stressed. “Everything will be available after the show and will never appear later in a store. We’re celebrating the moment of the show,” which will live-streamed by the brand on its social media channels. “We’re seeing more of our clients engaging in our shows and we wanted them to have something special and fun.”