Coach’s investment in brand experiences and commitment to delivering products that are made to be personalised has helped the brand increase its sales by a significant margin over the past few years. Read on to explore how Coach has tapped into the gold vein of personalization and captured the attention of arguably the fashion industry’s most important audience: Gen Z.

Personalisation and Brand Immersion

As we’ve seen with many brands that have secured the loyalty of Gen Z like Mejuri, Alo Yoga and Glossier, Coach has recognized and tapped into the value of in-person, immersive brand experiences. While other successful brands have mastered the pop-up shop and branded flagship store, Coach made the key move to bring personalization into the mix.

At Coach Play stores, customers can purchase and customise their bags, from selecting the color to adding embellishments such as stamps, monograms and charms. These “bag personalization stations” turn the act of purchasing a bag into an activity and increases engagement with the brand.

In addition to bag personalization stations, some Coach stores have their own “Coach cafes” along with events complete with music and skilled artisans hired to further embellish customers’ recent purchases.

 

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The Resurrection of Personalization in Fashion

The Coach Play stores have become such a success that the brand plans to open additional pop-up stores around the world specialising in customisation for their signature Tabby bags. Customers will have the experience of picking out accessories like bag charms and straps and get their bags painted or monogrammed.

This all leads us to ask: why has personalization taken the fashion world by storm, especially with the Gen Z market?

Personalisation is not a new concept in the fashion world—from ‘70s punk to Jane Birkin’s beat-up Birkin bag, the idea of adorning your bag or outfit with accessories has had its moments on the radar, and much like history, fashion repeats itself.

Coach’s 2024 advertising campaign promoting their signature Tabby bag, Unlock Your Courage, features spokespeople like actor Elle Fanning and South Korean rapper Youngji Lee. In these playful ads, Fanning and Lee find the courage to tune into themselves and embrace the mess in stressful situations, whether it be a chaotic day in the city or a high-tension family reunion, all with a perfectly styled Tabby on their shoulders.

It’s not a coincidence that we’re seeing the rise of personalization in this specific moment in time. Whether it’s adding a charm to your everyday bag or attaching a Sonny Angel (the recently popular collectible baby figurine) to your phone case, personalization is a way to enjoy yourself and indulge in a much-needed moment of frivolity. As the Coach ad suggests, a fun bag or meaningful charm can also help boost confidence and give you the small push you need to be yourself in a world that can often feel overwhelming.

According to fashion psychologist Shakaila Forbes-Bell, since personable objects like charms and Sonny Angels exist in the “space between the inner self and the outer world,” they can help us to cope with stress and form our unique identities.

The Cult Favorite: Bag Charms

Inarguably the crown jewel of personalization, the bag charm has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over just the past few months. The most high-profile bag charm to date is undoubtedly the Labubu, a plush little monster that comes in a variety of colorways and can even be dressed in designer outfits.

Despite the Labubu’s seemingly overnight rise to fame, if we take a closer look at the fashion trends of the past year, we can clearly see the snowball effect that led to the bag charm craze that’s happening today.

Brands like Coach have been ahead of the curve. In its 2017 collaboration with Selena Gomez, leather heart and star shaped charms were sold alongside the collection’s bags and wallets. Today, Coach sells a variety of bag charms ranging from $20-$195. Their cult classic Cherry Bag Charm retails for $95, and charm enthusiasts can shop everything from bejeweled frogs to a miniature Empire State Building (from their New York collection).

Alongside Coach, higher-end luxury brands have also tapped into the market and added bag charms to their product offering. For those with larger budgets, bag charms are now offered by brands such as Loewe, Prada and Burberry.

Dior is the most recent to hop onto this trend with their Lucky charm capsule collection, designed to embellish their signature Lady Dior bag. Their advertising campaign centers different celebrities, from models to actors, as they delve into the meaning behind the charms they’ve chosen for their Lady Dior bags.

 

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The New Luxury

The power of personalization is further proof that the luxury industry is changing, and brands like Coach that embrace this change are finding success. Gone are the days when inaccessibility drove desire. There is certainly still a market for high-end luxury products, but there’s also a new approach to luxury that’s making ground.

Today, Coach is embracing values like individuality, self-confidence and connection. With the success of bag charms, we can see that this is the right direction for luxury brands. Critically, bag charms have been a catalyst for connection. We can see this in the pure energy and excitement that seemingly innocuous fuzzy little monsters have facilitated over the past few months.

This is an opportunity for brands to change the definition of luxury, and we’re already seeing it happen. Will luxury’s emphasis on heritage and quality shift to different, more personal values? We all want a product that makes us feel good—something that helps us to feel confident and like the most elevated version of ourselves, and this is the idea at the core of Coach’s new brand identity.

We’ve seen it work for Coach, but how will other players in the luxury market follow suit? Bag charms are just the tip of the iceberg, and as we’ve seen throughout fashion history, the ways in which style and personalization intersect are limitless. As consumers lead the way in this exciting and evolving space, it’s up to brands to craft their own narratives and create meaningful products that resonate.