There's a peculiar logic to Coach's resurrection: it got cool again precisely by staying affordable. While LVMH was busy telling the world that luxury means pain at the checkout, Coach was asking out loud whether anyone should really save four months of salary for a bag.

The real strategic move wasn't the rebrand or the celebrity campaigns. It was the decision to stop lying to themselves. They closed the outlet stores, killed the 20%-off-everything coupons, and admitted that discounting isn't a sales strategy — it's a slow brand funeral.

What followed is a case study in how to use heritage as an asset. The Y2K revival didn't happen to Coach — Coach happened to Y2K. They had the archive, the craft story (a baseball glove, of all things), and the patience to wait for the cultural moment to arrive. When Gen Z decided that old-is-new and customisation is identity, Coach had the charms, the brooches, and the Tabby bag ready to go.

The number that should make luxury conglomerates uncomfortable: demand up 332% year over year, double-digit sales growth for two consecutive quarters, while LVMH was reporting declines and blaming "the affordable luxury consumer." Coach is that consumer — and apparently, that consumer is doing just fine.

The risk now is the oldest one in fashion: winning so visibly that you forget why you won.