“What?” “When?” “How?!” – some of our reactions to the above news when it plopped into our inboxes earlier. Yes, today, the Business of Fashion reported that Coach and Burberry might be on the verge of joining forces. By which we mean a marriage of financial concerns, rather than creative. Well, presumably. Mergers and acquisitions and all that other stuff we don’t understand. But the rumour proved popular amongst fat cat city bankers, as, after it hit the interwebs on financial blog Betaville this morning, share prices for Burberry went up 4.8% (the most they have risen in eight months). “Burberry could indeed be seen as the British Coach, as we as analysts had pointed out years ago,” said Luca Solca, head of luxury goods at Exane BNP Paribas and all-round financial expert to BoF this morning. “Yet, contrary to Coach, most of the efforts at Burberry in the past 20 years have gone in the direction of elevating the brand and moving it into mega-brand price territory, rather than squarely into accessible luxury.” Reuters, however, have reported that there is no basis to the rumour. “This is completely speculative,” said their source. “There are no negotiations underway, Burberry is not talking to Coach.” Both brands have declined to comment. Watch this space.
Photograph by Jason Lloyd-Evans, backstage at Coach SS17
www.coach.com / www.burberry.com
