Kate Spade adding new categories

London - American fashion brand Kate Spade is continuing its quest to become a global lifestyle brand with the addition of several new categories, including athletic wear, sleepwear and kidswear.

The 1.14 billion dollar apparel and accessories label is striving to become less dependent on its core handbag business by developing new categories, with the first being a fitness apparel collection.

Developed in collaboration with Beyond Yoga, the 16-piece limited edition collection will be available for spring 2016 and will be sold at Kate Spade, as well as select regional and specialty stores, boutique studio locations and on katespade.com and beyondyoga.com. It will combine Kate Spade’s love affair with bright colours with Beyond Yoga’s fabrics and body-conscious silhouettes and will include bras, cami tops, leggings and jackets.

In a statement, Mary Beech, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Kate Spade & Co., stated that the athleisure collaboration was “a thoughtful expansion of our lifestyle offerings.”

Additionally, Kate Spade is developing its kidswear offering after signing a licensing deal with Tawil Associates to introduce apparel for kids, baby and girls to be available for this autumn.

Other categories all in the pipeline for next year includes sleepwear, loungewear and a bridal capsule line, after the brand signed a licensing deal with Carole Hochman.

Away from fashion, Kate Spade is also making a play for the lifestyle section with a partnership with Magnolia Bakery, which will include a cupcake box tote, banana pudding crossbody bag, an illustrated tote and a cookbook clutch that will launch in October. There will also be an expansion of its agreement with Lenox, which does Kate Spade New York Tabletop, to offer 116 pieces of cookware, dinnerware, flatware, glassware and gifts.