Coach parent Tapestry Inc. just wrapped up a doozy of a fiscal year. Lessons From Ralph Lauren and Coach: How to Get a Fashion Brand Back on the Growth Track After Its Popular Repetto Collab, Birkenstock Is Going Bigger With Ballet Fashion How Wolverine CEO Chris Hufnagel Plans to Keep the Good Times Rolling at Merrell and Saucony Sales hit $8 billion — a 17 percent jump in constant currencies, excluding the now-divested Stuart Weitzman business. And net profits tallied $1.5 billion as the company bought back $1.4 billion of its own stock and still had room to boost its dividend by 16 percent.
That had Tapestry meeting the goals of its three-year plan, which isn't even a full year old yet. In an interview with WWD, chief executive officer Joanne Crevoiserat described it as "a defining year" for the New York-based company. "It was an incredibly dynamic environment and our team not only drove strong growth, but we attracted millions of new customers around the world," Crevoiserat said.
"We did this by continuing to be relentlessly consumer-obsessed, data-driven and disciplined while delivering the magic and innovation that sets our brands apart. So this balance of magic and logic is really important in our business." The story at Tapestry remains very much the same, and has quarter after quarter despite the war in Iran, oil price hikes, weakening consumer confidence, worries over AI and more. "We're boring in that way, that we have a consistent strategy and the capabilities that we're building and the culture, importantly, the internal culture that we're building are structural and durable," Crevoiserat said.
"We see them not only driving the results that we delivered in 2026, but they're what's underpinning our confidence in 2027." Tapestry's four-part Amplify strategic growth plan focuses on: Building emotional connection with shoppers. Fueling fashion innovation and product excellence. And igniting the power of its workforce.
That's a collection of corporate action items that are both easy to articulate and hard to pull off. The company's success has led to big expectations on Wall Street, where the stock was up 20.3 percent this year headed into the earnings report. But investors decided to take a step back given a more conservative outlook for this year, leading to a 16.5 percent stock drop on Thursday to $128.39, still leaving the company with a sector-leading market capitalization of $26 billion.
Tapestry still has plenty of fans, among analysts and consumers, who have driven average unit prices on its handbags up by a percentage in the midteens. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said: "The Coach engine is still humming nicely. The fact that Coach is growing average unit retail and increasing volume speaks to the enormous brand heat it is giving off and the willingness of consumers to pay a fuller price for its products." Crevoiserat said the company continues to be well positioned.
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