Kate Spade Acquisition Of Personalized Handbag Customization System Bag Bar Is An Opportunity.

The US luxury fashion brand Kate Spade & Co. has completed the acquisition of Bag Bar, which includes the intellectual property rights and related business assets of the latter. The seller is D.H. Designs LLC, and the paction price has not been disclosed.

The move hints at Kate Spade's determination to further customize the accessories market.

According to reports, Bag Bar is a new brand launched by handbag designer Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger last autumn, allowing customers to choose the size and color of handbags, and even to replace handbags with optional shells or trinkets, making it both practical and fashionable.

Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger is the current wife of the famous fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, and also the founder and President of D.H. Designs LLC.

From 2017, Kate Spade New York will introduce Bag Bar technology to the designated stores, and the company will also provide a series of handbag profile customization options.

By then, customers of Kate Spade can use this new system to customize handbags according to their own preferences.

Kate Spade executive vice president and CMO Mary Beec said: "the acquisition of Bag Bar customization system enhances the Kate Spade New York core handbag business, so that we can meet the needs of loyal customers and new customers, and provide them with an innovative, personalized way to customize handbags."

Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger said, "I have gained inspiration from women who are full of life and colorful. I have created Bag Bar to create the concept of" multifunctional luxury ".

Our goal is to meet the ultimate demand of customers' BYOB build your own bag to build their own handbags.

From the perspective of aesthetics, commerce and storytelling, Kate Spade & Co is the ideal choice to market the concept.

Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger said she decided to sell Bag Bar after listening to the recommendation of Gilbert Harrison, founder and chairman of Finance Inc, the investment bank.

After a preliminary discussion with some retailers, she showed the concept of Bag Bar to Gilbert Harrison, and Harrison was very interested.

"However, I soon realized that it would take many years for me to build and expand Bag Bar, but I gave it to Kate Spade for only one night," Hilfiger said.

Harrison added: "Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger is brilliant, which helps her advance and gives Kate Spade a good chance."

Kate Spade quickly understood and accepted the concept.

Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger says that although it is difficult to give up the business, she believes Kate Spade can upgrade it to another level.

"Really, from the design point of view, the accessories of Kate Spade are excellent," she said.

The uniqueness of Bag Bar is that customers can choose the size and color of handbags and decorate them with replaceable shells and trinkets.

In the development of this concept, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger provides the choice of tassel, metal hole, lotus leaf edge, goat skin, antelope's sheepskin, ostrich skin, bag hook, leather card, key button, package ornament, etc.

The price of the package is 295~695 dollars, the price of the decoration is 45 dollars, and the shell is 150 dollars.

But the concept of Bag Bar has not really entered the market.

Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger said: "now it is very easy for people to bump into bags, or the same, or imitation products, customization becomes more and more important, especially accessories.

Customization is to make customers unique, and I believe they will participate in it.

After the completion of the acquisition, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger will not join Bag Bar or Kate Spade, or focus on its own brand luxury Dee Ocleppo.

She designs handbags for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hudson 's Bay, Harrods and other department stores, and her website.

These handbags are all made of Python skins.

For example, fur and other special materials, the retail price is 950~1200 dollars, of which the most expensive can reach US $2500.

In 2017, the Kate Spade New York Bag Bar series will be sold at the designated Kate Spade New York store and will be on the official website katespade.com.

Mary Beech said that it is too early to publish detailed information (package, material or price), but he revealed that with the new system, customers can change the color and fabric of the package, so that the handbag can be used both day and night.

"There are many choices. We are just beginning to study."

She said.

At present, Bag Bar still focuses on handbags, but it may also include small leather products in the future.

Kate Spade has launched some customized products, such as basic jewellery or constellation.

(necklace, rings, bracelets and accessories on the bracelet, below), notebooks, stationery and glasses, as well as some classic Cedar Street handbags and small leather goods that can be printed together.

As to whether it will expand to other categories, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger says that only one thing at a time.

"I have experience, so I am more careful now, and the retail environment is unstable.

Lessons tell me to be cautious.

She added that building a brand is expensive, and "if it grows too fast, it may lose its fortune."

She has a small team, but there is no expansion plan recently.

Dee Ocleppo

It's next to brands like Alexander McQueen and Valentino.

She said, "I want to follow this path slowly.

Those who have a good taste and unique taste should like my style.

People are seeking novelty. I like to skip the frame thinking. "

As a shoe fan and Bao control, she said that the right time to start shoes design.

She is very satisfied with the acquisition, and Tommy Hilfiger, the designer's husband, also believes that Kate Spade is the best end result for Bag Bar.