Most Of Marc Jacobs’ Bags Are Now Under $500, Thanks To A New Business Strategy

Marc by Marc Jacobs may have met its untimely farewell, but there will still be semi-affordable (read: well under $1K) items to ogle bearing Jacobs' name. Most of Marc Jacobs' accessories — for spring '16 and beyond — will retail for under $500, WWD reports. Marc Jacobs' CEO, Sebastian Suhl, estimates that 70% of the brand's accessories inventory will retail for under $500. This new strategy — which Suhl calls "a unique selling proposition" — went into effect for the latest delivery of spring '16 pieces, which landed in stores and online last week. Instead of separating luxury and contemporary price points, it places lower-priced styles alongside four-figure silhouettes made from exotic skins, or embellished with embroidery. The majority of handbags in the Gotham (like the bucket bag, saddle bag, hobo bag, and small shoulder bag), P.Y.T., and Madison silhouettes come in at a more traditional contemporary price range. It could just be the fix for those pangs you've been experiencing for Marc by Marc Jacobs ever since the diffusion line announced it would fold into its parent company in March 2015 in order to focus and streamline the Marc Jacobs voice. What made Marc by Marc appealing to many was its contemporary price point: It allowed those who couldn't afford Marc Jacobs proper to buy into the brand. (Although Marc by Marc developed its own totally cool voice under the creative direction of Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley, making it more than simply a cheaper version of Marc Jacobs.) This move also helps with brand positioning. Whereas before the designer's various labels occupied different sections of the department store — Marc Jacobs could be found in designer handbags, while Marc by Marc Jacobs resided in contemporary — Suhl explains that all the handbags moving forward would fall into the former category. "It’s a designer brand," he told WWD. "It’s one that, again, is the only designer brand able to market most of its product at a democratic price point."