NEW YORK — After a 31-month hiatus from his namesake company — in which he served jail time for money laundering and securities fraud — shoe designer Steve Madden has bags on the brain.
“I give it to you real,” said Madden, who is now creative director. “Girls just want to have fun and be sexy, that’s it.”
And the Madden company’s renewed mission is to make handbags that provide a youthful but fashion-forward appeal to its customers.
Madden has called upon a new licensor, Daniel M. Friedman and Associates Inc. — which currently produces various accessories labels, including Betsey Johnson and Unionbay and Madden’s own belts — to produce its handbags in order to up the ante in the category and make them more relevant for today’s consumer.
The bags were formerly produced by accessories company La Rue, but have not been in the marketplace for about 18 months.
The new bags, of which there are 14 groups with several styles in each, come in two categories: casual and evening or “club,” as the company terms it.
The day bags consist mostly of slouchy leather hobos with subtle stud details with long leather zipper pulls or metallic leather satchels. The collection also incorporates a number of prints on canvas, including a cross-body bag in a multicolored African print fabric with brown leather trim.
Another popular style among retailers, according to Madden and Friedman executives, is a slouchy black suede hobo with subtle stud details.
“Day into evening is important,” said Madden, who also emphasized that young women from the ages of 14 to 25 are trading up when it comes to shoes and bags, and that the older bridge and contemporary consumer is looking for something younger and less serious.
The club category includes small, highly beaded or sequined bags that go from black tie to a night at Marquise.
The bags, which are produced in China with materials sourced in both China and South Korea, have dramatically increased in price, from a median of about $25 wholesale to $75 to $150 wholesale.
“We’ve matured as a company,” said Madden, “We’re trying to make it a little more contemporary.”
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The initial spring collection will bow at 300 department store doors and all of the 100 Steve Madden boutiques nationwide in late January.
“It’s a young, cool, sophisticated customer we’re trying to get and the department stores are trying to do the same thing with their audiences,” said Daniel M. Friedman, president of the eponymous company. “Very few junior brands have the ability to go up. [Steve’s Madden’s] handbags haven’t reflected the growth the shoes have had. We’re in a great cycle right now for better goods…if you want to survive in a department store, you can’t be a moderate supplier, people are trading up.”
Neither company would talk specifics about their sales projections, though Friedman said that the bags will be a “very important launch.”
Friedman has plans to produce additional categories under the Madden brand. Small leather goods are slated for fall, while cd and cosmetic cases are expected in the future.