Surprising news here, as of June 2014, Reed Krakoff will step down from his position as the president and executive creative director of Coach. The designer has been with Coach for 16 years.
His reasons for leaving Coach are not controversial; Krakoff plans to focus more of his time on his own brand, RK.
"I’m excited to focus to exclusively on the RK brand and to embark on the next phase of my career,” Krakoff told WWD. "It’s relatively recent [that I made this decision], I’ve been so focused on Coach and the RK brand for the last bunch of years. I’ve been focused on preparing and getting ready for the next evolution of Coach, building a team with Lew, moving forward...it’s really taken up all my time."
It is interesting though. He’s giving Coach time to find a sufficient replacement, and there have even been rumors that Coach may be interested in selling the RK brand. This news also comes alongside Coach’s newfound focus on becoming more of a lifestyle label and upping its women’s ready-to-wear sector.
Perhaps Krakoff was unhappy with this? Who knows, but hopefully, Coach will be able to find a creative director just as animated as Krakoff is.
Ally Batista | Elite.
Twitter: @allybatista
Photo Credit: Getty Images
