Reed Krakoff to Leave Coach

Coach seems to be consistently changing, and now it's about to go through its biggest yet: after 16 years as president and executive creative director, Reed Krakoff will be stepping down to focus on his own luxury line.

"I'm excited to focus exclusively on the RK brand and to embark on the next phase of my career," he told WWD. "It's relatively recent [that I made this decision], I've been so focused on Coach and the RK brand for the last bunch of years. I've been focused on preparing and getting ready for the next evolution of Coach, building a team with Lew, moving forward…it's really taken up all of my time."

Now, Krakoff plans to "create more awareness" about the RK brand, growing its global presence, and investing more time into his men's business.

"We've had an amazing reaction to the brand, without much awareness, whether it's been Michelle Obama, or on the cover of Vogue or the windows at Saks or Bergdorf's," he continued. "It's really to leverage the desire that we already see."

Krakoff and Coach chairman and chief executive Lew Frankfurt worked very closely together over those 16 years, but the two assure the public that they'll still remain quite closely linked. So here's to a new era in the Coach and Reed Krakoff legacy — and to seeing how we, the public, reap the benefits.