Dive Brief:
- Tapestry’s investments in tools that help it understand customers are helping its brands resonate with shoppers, including the 11 million new customers with Coach or Kate Spade in the past fiscal year, CEO Joanne Crevoiserat said on a Q4 2026 earnings call Thursday.
- The effort includes the rollout of Coach’s expressive luxury concept at stores globally, according to Crevoiserat. The stores are designed to feel more experiential and build connections with Gen Z shoppers with services like product customization.
- The store concept launched in 2025, but was temporarily put on pause to better understand what shoppers want, “which was really smart,” Todd Kahn, CEO and brand president of Coach, said on the call. “What we did was we listened to the consumer, we evolved our thinking, and now based on that data and that input, we're able to go roll it out.”
Dive Insight:
Tapestry is leveraging customer insights to deliver products and experiences customers want as the luxury retailer aims to further grow its audience.
“This customer obsession starts with understanding them and then delivering product and marketing and storytelling and experiences that are relevant to our target customer,” Crevoiserat said on the call. “And that muscle, that brand building muscle that we're building at Tapestry, is a playbook that is repeatable.”
Coach’s expressive luxury concepts are one example. The stores are driving higher traffic and longer dwell times, with the biggest impact among Gen Z customers, according to Crevoiserat. Coach plans to expand the concept to impact 80% of its store traffic by fiscal 2030.
“One of the things we know is that Gen Z love being in the real world, and I want our stores to be as engaging as the product,” Kahn said. “That's what the expressive luxury design is doing for us.”
Expressive luxury is designed to get customers into the ecosystem and then offer “such a terrific experience that they come back,” Crevoiserat said. The result is a flywheel that drives new customer acquisition across all generations.
Executives credited customer growth for Coach’s solid results during the quarter, though Kate Spade’s poor results weighed on Tapestry’s outlook. As a whole, Tapestry brought in 2.5 million new customers during the fourth quarter of 2026, according to an earnings release.
Coach’s sales rose 15% year over year to $1.6 billion during the quarter, while Kate Spade’s sales fell 7% year over year to $235.1 million during the same period, according to the earnings release. Tapestry as a whole reported 12% sales growth year over year to $1.9 billion. The figures exclude Stuart Weitzman, which Tapestry sold in 2025.
Kate Spade continues to focus on creating a great omnichannel experience, according to Crevoiserat. The brand’s stores are undergoing light renovations, and it will improve its storytelling in the future.
