NEW YORK — Accessories got top billing at Kenzie in 2005.
After launching watches, jewelry, hair accessories and cold-weather categories in the past year, the 15-year-old contemporary company, a division of Westcoast Contempo, is capping the year with a new handbag collection.
A collection of 40 handbag styles will preview at WWDMAGIC in Las Vegas in February. Rosetti Handbags and Accessories, which makes bags for Franco Sarto and private label for midtier retailers, will produce the bags for Kenzie.
The fall handbag collection will incorporate softly constructed shoulder bags and totes in canvas, velvet and leather bags in hunter green, sienna, licorice and various prints. The bags wholesale from $40 to $80.
“It’s an easy collection,” said Lani Karls, vice president and director of design for the Vancouver-based Kenzie. “The bags have soft shapes and hardware, but not in a bling-bling way.”
The collection will be targeted to department and specialty stores in the U.S. and Canada, and where other Kenzie products are already available.
The handbags will also be sold at Kenzie’s two U.S. boutiques, in Seattle and Santa Monica, Calif. Kenzie has plans to open up to six U.S. stores in 2006.