Some Stock Picks
LULU - Lululemon Athletica Inc.
This is a very interesting stock just like Crocs. Both companies sell unique products so one can easily distinguish them from others. Crocs sells rubber shoes with holes while Lululemon sells athletic Yoga apparel that are made by natural materials such as seaweed.
Recently, in November '07, Lululemon got criticized because they tried to sell high-end clothing as regular cotton T-shirts. Nevertheless, Lululemon is very popular in Canada among women and is growing very quickly.
COH - Coach Inc.
Coach sells high-end luxury handbags for women. One can say it is currently the top brand in its class. In Toronto, you can see a lot of girls and women wearing Coach handbags. I don't know if they are fake or not, but it seems that Coach is extremely popular here. I guess the reason for the recent fall of the stock price is that people think these handbags are little expensive (few hundred dollars) compared to other brands.
January 10th, 2008 - 14:35
A large number of the bags are fake bags made by child labor in China. But then authentic Coach is also make in China.
Coach has saturated the USA with Coach bags from it’s discounted outlet stores and every woman, high school, and junior high girl has at least one.
Now it’s doing the same with Japan and Canada.
For most of us Coach has lost it’s appeal and therefore many are no longer buying.
January 10th, 2008 - 16:21
I agree that lululemon is a great company and stock. Products are incredibly stylish and feminine. The store in NYC at lincoln center is crowded and seems to be really busy. My daughter studies ballet in NYC at the school of American Ballet and I see the products on both the principle dancers and ballet mistresses . My gym is full of women wearing the clothing as well. The products seem to be incredibly popular everywhere.
January 10th, 2008 - 18:01
Nowadays, many luxury clothing and accessories are made in China due to lower production and labour costs. Chinese products vary in quality depending on how much you are willing to pay. This is different than things made in Europe. Labour in Europe is not cheap, therefore many European products (German cars, Italian leather, etc.) are expensive. Coach does not want to expand in Europe because of this reason.
I’ve been to few outlet stores before even though I’ve never been to a Coach Outlet. Even though it is the same brand, outlets are very much different compared to the retail stores. Retail stores often have the latest products and therefore the things they sell are more expensive compared to the outlets. On the other hand, outlet stores usually sell cheaper and older products. As one can see, Coach target different customers at different levels.
Compared to other luxury brands (LV, Gucci, Prada, etc.), Coach is still considered a “luxury” and is less expensive than its competitors.