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Stuart Weitzman adds bags to the mix

By FashionUnited

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Manhattan-based footwear company Stuart Weitzman has launched a handbag collection. The $175 million (£92.6 million) firm also said that it planned to more than double its US stores from 19 to 40 within the next three years and to add an undisclosed number of international stores to its existing 17 boutiques abroad. It furthermore announced its intention to add categories through licensing deals, including children's and men's shoes, jewellery, eyewear and beauty. The company expects to generate $15 million for the handbag collection at retail this year and intends to expand it to a $100 million business within the next three to five years. The collection is aimed at a broad customer base, from young and hip to a more mature audience and includes pieces like a fake anaconda satchel. The bags, like the shoes, are made in the company's factories in Alicante, Spain.

"Our customers feel a tremendous loyalty to our brand," founder and chief executive Stuart Weitzman told WWD. "We didn't want to do one "It" bag, because that you either hit or you don't." In the past, the company had introduced some bags, but never a full collection for wholesale. The first collection, which wholesales for between $250 and $400, will launch at a select number of retailers that already carry Stuart Weitzman shoes, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's and Harrods. The bags will also be sold in the company's own boutiques in both the US and abroad.

The handbag collection was designed under the direction of executive vice president of the product division, Clare Schultheis. She joined the company in January of this year after working for Cole Haan's women's division as senior vice president of design and merchandising. Also new on the team is the firm's first president and chief operating officer, Greg Ribatt, who reports directly to Weitzman. In 2007 Stuart Weitzman will open stores in five US locations, including Los Angeles, and an outlet store outside Las Vegas. It opened its seventh store in Rome this month and there are three new stores in the pipeline for China next year. The company already has boutiques in Israel, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Italy.

Stuart Weitzman