Women Have Abandoned A Longtime Wardrobe Staple

In April, Elle writer Justine Harman spotted a classic, nylon box-shaped Kate Spade bag .

The bag, she noted, was knocked down from its original price of $250 to a staggeringly low $39.99. (That particular discounted bag has now been sold, but remaining “vintage” Kate Spade items are still marked down pretty low.)

While this discovery delighted some millennial women who grew up begging their parents for one of these handbags, others might have noticed that this dramatic price dip is indicative of something bigger: The designer handbag industry is losing its luster.

As with all trends, there’s an ebb and flow. Not everything can stay relevant forever. Kate Spade has adjusted to a more colorful, bright, fun look, but the company’s offshoots, Kate Spade Saturday, targeted towards millennials, and Jack Spade, which tapped into the men’s industry, shuttered all their doors in the winter, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In April, Bloomberg noted that Michael Kors was the top handbag for teens, replacing Coach. Kate Spade was in third place.

But Michael Kors’ sales growth has been eroding, and prospects do not look good for the brand.

The brand’s inventory has risen, suggesting that the brand’s products aren’t flying off shelves.

It might be because the brand is too popular — or too widely purchased. This is in part due to the presence of outlets — which Michael Kors has aplenty — which can ultimately be brand killers. Outlets devalue a brand, encourage people to not buy at full price, and make luxury items too accessible.

Further, widespread popularity is the “kiss of death for trendy fashion brands, particularly those positioned in the up-market younger consumer sectors,” industry expert Robin Lewis wrote on his blog. Lewis compares Michael Kors to Tommy Hilfiger, which reached its peak in the late 1990s.

premium for its label. Once everyone has the product, it is no longer considered cool.

Other brands that have experienced this phenomenon include Juicy Couture, Jordache, and Coach — which Michael Kors dethroned as the most popular high-end handbag brands for teens, as Bloomberg has reported.

But Coach’s woes are undeniable. CNBC reported the bizarre disparity for Coach: Sales still dipped amid shares rising. On a recent earnings call, CEO Victor Luis attributed this to how the brand has been cutting back on flash sales.

Sweeping up shoe brand Stuart Weitzman at least helped slightly; “the acquisition of Stuart Weitzman in early May contributed $43 million to fourth-quarter and full-year revenue,” CFO Jane Hamilton Nielsen said on the call.

But it might not just be handbags that are at a loss. This pattern is indicative of a much larger trend.

After all, millennials spend their money differently than the generations preceding them did. Old-school retailers like Gap have suffered compared to fast-fashion companies like Zara and H&M, which allure millennials with their quick turnaround and low-price. Traditional retail has been struggling as a result.

And those traditional retailers who attempt to cater to millennials instead of baby boomers or Gen Xers face huge possible risks: Millennials don’t spend that much money as it is. Saddled with debt, this generation isn’t spending money on luxury items. And by alienating consumers who do have money, retailers inadvertently put themselves in a precarious situation. Who will buy from them?

Hilary Stout illustrated this problem in The New York Times in June: “After all, the millennial generation has less wealth and more debt than other generations did at the same age, thanks to student loans and the lingering effects of the deep recession,” she wrote.

And Forrester researchers highlighted in a study that baby boomers, between the ages of 51 and 69, are the “biggest spenders” because they have extra cash from decades of saving and investing — something millennials just can’t afford.

Additionally, millennials are flat out not spending on apparel. A study by Morgan Stanley highlighted that millennials are instead choosing to spend money on expenses like rent, cellphones, and services.

Macy’s CFO, Karen Hoguet, even blamed Netflix on the sales slumps. “I think part of that is the customers are buying other things, whether the electronics, cable services, Netflix, whatever,” Hoguet said.

Ultimately, there’s a limited market for selling clothing — let alone designer handbags.

The biggest threat to the industry could be “HENRYs” — a term luxury expert Pam Danziger coined, standing for “high earners not rich yet.” These people make over $100,000, and, as she told Bloomberg, are “making very careful decisions” when it comes to spending. But because they’re not picking up designer products, the luxury brands are feeling the burn.

“Today, those people feel decidedly middle class and not at all luxury class,” Danziger told Marketplace.org.

Which begs the question — why buy luxury items? Especially when you can sweep your favorite items from the aughts on eBay for under $40.

Then again, while some of Kate Spade’s bags are relics of the past on the internet, its more fashion-forward bags are thriving — proving that the handbag industry can, in fact, save itself from an ominous fate.

“In wholesale, our business was primarily driven by strong performance in handbags, with data showing a continuing increase in market share, representing a key opportunity for growth as we build on our still modest penetration of market share,” CEO Craig Leavitt said on a recent earnings call for the company.

This article comes from: http://blog.aitbags.com/women-have-abandoned-a-longtime-wardrobe-staple-and-thats-terrifying-news-for-michael-kors-coach-and-kate-spade-262.html

Jane Birkin Asks Hermes To Take Name Off Crocodile Handbag

Paris (AFP) – British singer Jane Birkin has asked luxury manufacturer Hermes to remove her name from its crocodile-skin handbag after learning of the “cruel” methods used to make the iconic accessory.

Costing tens of thousands of euros, the Birkin bag is a symbol of wealth and is much-loved by celebrities, but the version made out of crocodile skin has attracted the ire of animal rights activists.

“Having been alerted to the cruel practices reserved for crocodiles during their slaughter to make Hermes handbags carrying my name… I have asked Hermes to debaptise the Birkin Croco until better practices in line with international norms can be put in place,” Birkin said in a statement.

Rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) recently published an expose on crocodile farms from Texas to Zimbabwe where the animals are allegedly crammed into barren concrete pits before being “crudely hacked” to death.

PETA said it takes two or three crocodiles to make one of the cherished handbags.

“At just one year old, alligators are shot with a captive-bolt gun or crudely cut into while they’re still conscious and able to feel pain,” said PETA.

“The investigator saw alligators continuing to move their legs and tails in the bleed rack and in bloody ice bins several minutes after their attempted slaughter.”

Aside from being the muse for the Hermes handbag, Birkin is best known as the former wife of French singer Serge Gainsbourg.

This article comes from: http://blog.aitbags.com/jane-birkin-asks-hermes-to-take-name-off-crocodile-handbag-215.html

Top 10 Kids Street Styles Renovate Your Concept On Fashion

Sometimes I will find the erratic pic on the street snap outside the Fashion Week while there are also some fantastic items or collocation on it, but I concede, I have crush on it . So, my feeling just like the sentence I saw from fashion website: we love it. Then we hated it. Then we loved to hate it. Then we hated to love it. Anyway, “street style” has established itself as the competing event outside Fashion Week tents around the world. I don’t know since when, most styles appear in the street snap are adults, in fact, it’s not only just for grown-ups, but for kids! Come and appreciate the “scaled-down” fashion from Seoul Fashion Week now!

How could you miss the versatile fashion item- printing dress in the spring blossoms season! The cute and vivid is the focus on design! If the weather is a little cool for a kid, lay with a wrap, create different styles are nothing difficult. Complete the look with some accessories such as vintage designer handbags, fashionable hats, simple style jewelry would be a great choice for your kids.

Only a piece of jacket help you play around with the cool and casual style for both the little girls and boys. There is nothing quite as fantastic as matching with the broken tore up jeans. A piece of headband, sunglasses, jewelry is the key to add sense of unruly! Some of you may think children should be the way as they should be, but I believe fashion is not just for adults, fashion sense and wearing skills are significant for everyone, why not infuse fashion in kids daily life since their young? Find a piece of accessory on fashion brand like AIT Bags Fashion Blog and match a perfect look for your kid from then on!

4 Tips Help You Spot Fake Leather Bags

I haven’t crush on the fake and I couldn’t understand how people see a fake handbag as a “bargain”. I’ve heard ladies around me say of a fake Saint Laurent, “it just the same as a genuine one and only cost about $600”. I didn’t think it is cheap for buying a handbag that is not real!
Recently, I have also read a new whose title is “Bad eggs: free range shysters exposed”, this new is mainly about two companies who allege and promoted their eggs as free range on social media, but actually they dupe consumers, as a result, the court agreed with the ACCC and fined the company $300,000 after finding some evidences.

It has no sympathy for an egg supplier fined by Federal Court for misleading buyers, some strict rules should be taken to reduce those dupe consumer phenomenon. But we all know it is not an easy problem that could be solved in a few days. You’d better learn more useful knowledge so as to prevent buying fake leather bag in our real life first.

Now I will share some tips below, and hope they will help you to prevent buying fake large leather handbags, especially when you are going to buy the wholesale leather handbags!
“Leather” is the most common letter that you could find on the leather product market, it is made from mammal skin. There are various kinds of leathers in the market, with diverse qualities and prices.
Leather is divided into different types by people, which including the skin of pig, cattle, horse, mutton and so on. In addition, there are also some leather that made of fish skin, amphibian skin, as well as ostrich skin. Among, cowhide is segmented into cattle, buffalo,yak, dzo leather while sheep is classified as goat skin and sheep skin. According to the layer of skin, there are still grain leather and split leather, and the grain leather including full grain leather and corrected grain leather; split leather covers pig split leather and cattle split leather.

Among those several kinds of leather, both of the dzo leather and sheep leather own a smooth as well as small pore, the inner structure is fine and compaction, they are full with sense of elasticity. For those reasons, doz leather and sheep skin in high quality is generally used in making top grade leather, and the prices are a little expensive. When compare with other leathers, the grain leather is seen as the best one, as it is made from the skin with less damage, the surface of the leather is perfect, totally show well the animal skin grain, moreover, the abrasion resistance and breathability is better.

After making full use of the buffing machine and slightly grind the surface of the leather, then decorate with related decorative pattern, the corrected leather is finally finished. Actually, those are the processes that restore the rough natural leather. This type of leather mostly loses their original look and the abrasion resistance, breathability is not as better as the one be mentioned above.
As for the split leather, it experiences paint, pasting and other series of processes. The quality is a little poor and the price is not so expensive either.

However, the appearance and structure of those different kinds of leathers look almost the same. With the rapid development of the technology, it is hard to know which kind of leathers it is through naked eye after decorating. Hence, many businessmen sell fake leather on the market in a big way. Check the following easy method for distinguish fake leather:
1.Feel the leather with your own hands, while it is smooth, soft and elastic, it may be genuine leather, or it will be fake if you find the leather is rough and hard.
2.Look clearly and find whether there is clearness pore, grain on the surface or not.
3.Smell the leather, if you found the leather spread strong plastic, it must be fake leather, on the contrary, it is genuine.
4.Set fire to the leather, tear down a bit fiber from the leather, fire it, the fake leather will be smelly and knot together.

Hot Sale Ladies Hobo Leather Bucket Tote Handbag Shoulder

I am really happy with this bag. It's got a lot of space, with several smaller pouches in the interior to keep smaller items organized and protected. The bag has a nice soft feeling finish and the single magnetic clasp is small, and holds relatively well (though the magnet is a little on the smaller side and might not always line up when the bag is full).

The main thing to note about this bag is that even though it's got a lot of space, it seems to be meant for lighter items. The straps are on the thinner side and I wouldn't really want to take the chance of them supporting anything heavier than maybe 10 pounds or so. The bag is perfectly suited for large, bulky but lighter items.

It has a single snap closure which closes the mail area. Snap hold securely and doesn't unsnap on its own. Inside the main area is a small zipper pocket and also 2 smaller pockets which you can keep your cell phone, keys, or whatever you want in it. Has a flat bottom so once filled, it will stand up on its own for you.

The material is a Microfiber PU Leather which is a nice soft leather. Inside is fabric lined. The stitching is all done very well on this. The carry straps are attached very well but they are thinner. I personally would not put a lot of weight in this because I think it would be too stressing over time on the handles. Just normal using and filling with your essentials, I would imagine this purse would last a long time and give you many years of use. The quality of this bag is really nice and I absolutely love it and would recommend it.

I really like this bag. It's plastic leather and has a bit of a smell, but the material is strong and water resistant. The straps are the perfect length to be able to reach into the bag while it's still on your shoulder. If the bag is full, it rests securely on the bottom. It has pockets inside for organizing phones and toiletries but the phone pockets make it top heavy.

The bag is beautiful on the outside - the color is a little paler than shown but the material is beautiful.

The women red charming bucket bags comes from Wholesale Aitbags.