The Luxury Arms Race: Michael Kors and Coach Target Takeovers
Coach, Kors’s biggest competitor, has also publicly promoted its ambitions to build itself into what
its chief executive, Victor Luis, termed “a new American multibrand accessible luxury organization.”
Fashion may be in for consolidation and competition of a sort not seen since LVMH
and what was then the Gucci Group — now part of Kering — went head-to-head for brands like Fendi.
“Acquiring Jimmy Choo is the beginning of a strategy
that we have for building a luxury group that really is focused on international fashion brands,” John D. Idol, the chairman and chief executive of Michael Kors Holdings, said in an interview.
With the boards of Kors and Coach clearly willing to spend on acquiring brands, two of the best known names in American accessories seem to be headed for an arms race —
and there is plenty of speculation about their potential targets.
Idol said Kors was not interested in emerging faces, but rather those with “some longevity”
that “may need to have a structure to accelerate their growth.”
At the same time, he added, Kors was attracted to businesses where a founder or family member remained involved.
