MILAN — Donatella Versace takes a daily driving test. Not of a car, but of a bag.
It’s all part of her goal to design bags that are as practical as they are pretty. “Accessories today have to be anything but ordinary and banal,” said Versace, curled up on a sofa inside the Via Gesù palazzo, her Squash bag, a brown crocodile style with ivory trim, sitting beside her.
An accessories fanatic-cum-collector, Versace is putting her heart and the brand’s DNA into growing the company’s accessories division. And it’s bearing fruit. Sales for accessories for spring 2006 rose 50 percent over the previous year. Overall, accessories are expected to leap from a trifling 4 percent share of the company’s revenues of $396 million last year to 30 percent of revenues within the next three years.
“Versace has a history in accessories, but we’ve now refined both the technicalities and the design,” said Giancarlo Di Risio, Versace’s chief executive officer. “We’ve approached the category with an accessories mentality rather than as an apparel company doing accessories.”
Proving the brand’s commitment is a new factory that Versace just acquired in Burago, a small suburb outside of Milan known for impeccable quality in bag making. Chanel and Hermès also produce there.
Of all the accessories produced, spring’s top seller, priced at retail between $1,400 and $3,171, is Canyon, named for its shape and because it complemented the designer’s desert-inspired clothes.
“My favorite version is the denim with crocodile trim because I love the idea of luxurious materials mixed with poor ones,” said Versace.
The brand’s accessories now cover the regular ready-to-wear handbag collection and seasonal evolutions of the Biker bag, the year-old Monogram line and the Snap-Out-of-It style with its detachable charms. Versace’s latest undertaking is Couture, which prioritizes labor-intensive accoutrements.
This group, principally in white leather but also in pink and black versions, comprises doctor’s bags, shoppers and shoulder bags with quilted stitching, braided handles and gold hardware. Some of the styles are limited editions with a production of 2,000 pieces that boast a plaque reading, “Made in Italy Gianni Versace Couture Via Gesù 12 Milano.” Retail prices for the bags range from $845 to $1,644.
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Small leather goods, belts and a metallic monogrammed sneaker with a Medusa-head logo round out the Couture offerings.
Excluding department stores, the accessories collections will be available in 220 sales points worldwide, plus the brand’s own stores.
“Donatella has a great sensibility for accessories and we certainly want to exploit it,” said Di Risio.