Two years after Kate Spade & Company’s launched its Kate Spade Saturday brand, ecommerce site and stores, the company announced the Kate Spade Saturday stores and and ecommerce site will close, and that the brand will be rolled into its kate spade new york brand.
The 16 company owned and three partnered store locations will be shuttered during the first half of 2015. The Kate Spade Saturday ecommerce site will remain active during this wind down phase until the label is incorporated and reintroduced into the kate spade new york brand.
“We now have a better understanding of our customers’ weekend style, thanks to the hard work and contributions from the members of our Kate Spade Saturday family who developed commercially appealing products and attracted new customers through the Kate Spade Saturday business,” said Kate Spade & Co. CEO Craig A. Leavitt in a press release. “We are excited to apply these learnings to the kate spade new york collection.”
The Kate Spade Saturday brand is geared more toward “weekend fashion” and casual wear. During Fashion Digital New York 2013, Leavitt described the audience as more digital-savvy. The company had a successful store opening in Los Angeles by promoting its grand opening vial Instagram instead of ucing more traditional methods.
Kate Spade & Company also announced in January that it would also close its Jack Spade stores, but would continue to sell Jack Spade products via other distribution channels, as well as JackSpade.com.
As part of its focus on geographic expansion and partnered approach to margin expansion, Kate Spade & Company separately announced in January that it has formed joint ventures with Walton Brown, a subsidiary of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Asia’s premier fashion retail and brand management group.
The newly formed joint ventures are focused on scaling and accelerating Kate Spade & Company’s growth in Greater China. The partnership will leverage the expertise of Walton Brown and the global demand for Kate Spade & Co. products to establish a strategic network of stores in key cities, enhanced by a robust organizational and marketing platform across China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.