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Article: Why Sara Lee bagged Mark Cross. (Sara Lee Corp.; handbag label)
- Article from:
- Crain's Chicago Business
- Article date:
- September 8, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Packing it in: Tale of a once-exclusive brand's leathery decline
Sara Lee Corp. looked like the perfect rescuer for Mark Cross, the expensive, upscale handbag label that had fallen on hard times when it was acquired by the Chicago company in 1993.
Sara Lee, after all, was bagging 30% average annual sales increases since 1987 from its Coach leather products, and had made that line the world's No. 1 leather goods maker.
Sara Lee's master plan: Cross and Coach were to complement each other in the marketplace.
But now, the Mark Cross brand is dead, having been abandoned by once-loyal consumers who turned away from the expensive, chic handbags and ...