Coach and Ralph Lauren have two of the best stories in American fashion today. But they aren't thrillers or tales of derring-do. There's very little heart-pounding excitement, on the business side at least.
Karoline Leavitt's White House Fashion: How She Leaned a Bit Trad Wife and Sometimes Took Risks EXCLUSIVE: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Parting Ways With Under Armour Tapestry's Annual Sales Hit $8B as Coach Continues to Drive Growth Instead, both brands are methodical, step-wise case studies on having a vision, a plan on how to grow into that vision and then the fortitude to hold on and stay the course not for months, but for years. On Thursday, Coach-parent Tapestry reported that fiscal 2026 sales hit $8 billion, a 17 percent increase on an adjusted basis, hitting its three-year plan in Year One. The company plans to add another $400 million to $500 million in sales this year.
While investors recalibrated their sky-high expectations for the brand and traded Tapestry's stock down, the company still has a sector-leading market capitalization of $25.9 billion. Similarly, Ralph Lauren Corp.'s market cap stands at $23.1 billion after it said last week that first-quarter sales tallied $2 billion, an increase of 13 percent in constant currencies. For both, that's a breakaway stock performance in a world where very few American fashion brands ever see market caps anywhere near that.
By comparison, the once-red hot VF Corp. is valued at $5.8 billion, followed by Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent PVH Corp. ($3.8 billion), Under Armour Inc. ($2.3 billion) and Michael Kors parent Capri Holdings ($1.8 billion). Ralph Lauren and Coach have each taken a similar path to the top. They have tightened distribution, focused more on their own retail, pulled back in outlets, cut the number of styles produced, zeroed in on higher-priced categories and invested more money into marketing to fuel full-priced sales.
It's a strategy that's easy to articulate and hard to follow. Where Coach and Ralph Lauren have succeeded, the other companies listed above have set out on a similar path, but not seen the same results. Why does this brand elevation strategy work?
And why isn't it working for everyone? Interviews with the chief executive officers of both Tapestry and Ralph Lauren, a former chief financial officer who was key to both turnarounds, Wall Street analysts and retail professors suggest that it's a moment-to-learn, lifetime-to-master kind of strategy. The brands need to be solid from the start.
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