Lew Frankfort: building a billion-dollar brand

Summary

Business Daily – Lew Frankfort: Building a Billion-Dollar Brand

Host: Ed Butler (BBC World Service)
Guest: Lew Frankfort, Former CEO of Coach
Date: January 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features a revealing conversation with Lew Frankfort, the executive credited with transforming Coach from a small family-run leather goods business into a global, multi-billion-dollar brand. Frankfort reflects on his personal journey from a working-class childhood in the Bronx to becoming CEO of Coach, outlining the guiding philosophies behind the brand’s success, the evolution of American “affordable luxury,” and his views on social change, both in business and society at large.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Life & Formative Experiences

• Working-Class Upbringing
  • Born 1946, Bronx, NYC; father was a policeman, mother a homemaker
  • Grew up in a diverse, working-class apartment building ([02:40])
  • Faced speech impediments and late development as a child
• Education & Defiance of Authority
  • Turning point at age 12: Guidance counselor recommends vocational school; mother insists on college ([03:43–04:35])
  • “My mother said, ‘My son is going to college,’ and she got up during the interview and said, ‘Louis, we’re leaving…’ After a moment of hesitation, I left the room and I said to myself, I guess I’m going to college.” – Lew Frankfort [04:22]
• Coming of Age & Meeting JFK
  • Inspired politically and socially by John F. Kennedy’s campaign ([04:48–05:16])
  • “John Kennedy was running for president, and I found myself interested in the globe and the world. My political and social consciousness grew through my high school and college years.” – Lew Frankfort [04:51]
  • Shook JFK’s hand during a campaign stop in the Bronx ([05:16])

Social Consciousness and Early Career

• Activism & Civic Engagement
  • Became aware of U.S. racial divisions and protested Vietnam War
  • Marched with Martin Luther King Jr. ([05:48])
  • Embraced the 1960s idealism for a better, more peaceful world
• Public Sector Work
  • Worked in New York City government, focusing on human services and Head Start programs for children ([06:23])

Private Sector Transition and the Coach Story

• Pivot to Coach
  • Switched to private sector to support a growing family ([07:12])
  • Hired at Coach (then a small, family-run business) as VP of marketing in 1979
  • Undercover Research: Posed as a Business Week reporter to interview buyers and shopkeepers ([07:49])
    • “Overall on everyone said their Coach was a popular brand, oversold…one person, a shop owner, said it had a cult following. And being a product of the 60s, I thought it’s amazing that a product could be so beloved by its users.” – Lew Frankfort [08:06]

Building Coach into a Global Brand

• Understanding the Consumer
  • Emphasized the emotional connection women have with their handbags ([10:15])
    • “It’s a very intimate product…Women put all their essentials in a bag. They open it multiple times a day, and they develop a relationship with a bag.” – Lew Frankfort [10:26]
  • Opted for natural “baseball leather” that ages beautifully, emphasizing durability and authenticity
• Innovative Retail Strategies
  • Launched a catalog business, then opened the first Coach store in 1981
  • “We treated customers as if they were guests in our home. And we treated employees the way we would like to be treated. And we built a very strong performance family culture…” – Lew Frankfort [11:28]
• Defining ‘Accessible Luxury’
  • Coined the term before going public in 2000 to clarify market positioning ([12:19])
    • Made luxury more attainable without compromising quality

Scaling Up & Navigating Growth

• Balancing Affordability and Luxury
  • Coach handbags priced between a few hundred to just over a thousand dollars ([12:43])
  • Aimed to bridge gap between elite European luxury (e.g., Hermès) and aspirational U.S. brands (e.g., Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors)
  • “Women and men wanted well made products that they could depend upon.” – Lew Frankfort [13:05]
• Purpose-Driven Business
  • Saw his work at Coach as an extension of value-driven purpose
  • Built a diverse, meritocratic workforce that reflected broader American society ([15:03])
    • “Providing access for the immigrant classes to lead a life that would give them the potential of an American dream has always been on my mind.” – Lew Frankfort [15:20]
• Social Responsibility vs. Exclusivity
  • Coach remains aspirational but reaches 30–40% of U.S. households ([15:47])
    • “There’s a lot of gray. Being true to your values is something one can still do in business.” – Lew Frankfort [15:47]

Coach’s International Expansion

• Focus on Emerging Markets
  • Targeted China’s growing middle class, especially in secondary and tertiary cities where European luxury brands had little foothold ([16:43])
    • “We built out a very strong business…focused on the emerging middle class who was striving to have professional careers.” – Lew Frankfort [17:02]

Reflections on New York & Social Change

• View on New York’s Future
  • Acknowledged NYC’s affordability issues and the need for more accessible housing ([18:06])
    • “The city is here forever. New York has never been more vibrant…we can do a much better job in providing affordable housing and we do need to listen to young people.” – Lew Frankfort [18:08]
  • Sees Gen Z as echoing 1960s activism, focused on climate, peace, sustainability, and ethics ([18:45])
• Assessing Personal & Generational Impact
  • “Clearly, on a macro basis, I have not been successful. I never dreamt that 50 or 60 years after I came of age that the world would be as polarized and divided as it is. But I still remain hopeful on the human condition and I think that the generation that’s coming of age now offer the potential to make the world a better place.” – Lew Frankfort [19:27]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Overcoming Early Stereotypes and Ambitions
  • “My mother said, ‘My son is going to college’… I guess I’m going to college.” – [04:22]
• On Product and Brand Affinity
  • “A product could be so beloved by its users … It’s amazing.” – [08:06]
• On Treating People Well
  • “We treated customers as if they were guests in our home. And we treated employees the way we would like to be treated.” – [11:28]
• On Balancing Purpose and Profit
  • “Finding purpose in what you do is critical.” – [14:09]
• On Social Progress and Limitations
  • “On a macro basis, I have not been successful…But I still remain hopeful on the human condition.” – [19:27]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Early Family & Education: [02:40–04:35]
• Political Awakening & Meeting JFK: [04:48–05:37]
• Activism and 1960s Values: [05:48–07:12]
• Transition to Coach, Undercover Research: [07:12–08:28]
• Understanding Coach Consumers/First Store: [10:15–12:19]
• Launching ‘Accessible Luxury’: [12:19–13:05]
• Navigating Purpose vs. Exclusivity: [13:46–15:47]
• International Expansion (China): [16:24–17:35]
• Reflections on New York & Social Progress: [17:35–19:57]

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Episode Conclusion

Lew Frankfort’s journey—rooted in social consciousness and driven by a sense of purpose—reflects not just the transformation of Coach, but also the enduring tensions between aspiration, accessibility, and social responsibility in business. His reflections bridge decades of social change and offer hope in the ability of future generations to shape a better world, even as challenges persist.

Transcript

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[Ed Butler]

Hi there, I'm Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. On today's program we're meeting a former retail boss, Lou Frankfurt.

[Lou Frankfort]

Our philosophy was to bring together a microcosm of America in terms of a very diverse workforce that reflected the population value based and we built a meritocracy.

[Ed Butler]

The meritocracy he's talking about was Coach, the so called affordable luxury handbag brand which CEO Lou has transformed from a small family run operation into a $5 billion business.

[Lou Frankfort]

We don't have a history of luxury in the United States. What we wanted to do and others have done this as well other brands and businesses is create a product that could be accessible and affordable to a good portion of the population.

[Ed Butler]

Lou Frankfurt looks back on his Life and his 35 year career at Coach. And although the idealistic hopes of a better future he once had, aged 13, may have faded, he's still optimistic for the future. That's all to come on today's Business Daily meets from the BBC.

[Lou Frankfort]

It began after World War II. I was born in 1946 and my parents lived in the Bronx which is one of the boroughs of New York City. My father a New York City policeman, my mother a homemaker and we lived in an apartment building with about 20 other families. I grew up in a working Class, family. I was a late talker, and I had speech impediments that I struggled with during my childhood. And I was a late bloomer. I had a happy childhood. I really did not have any early dreams of, of what life could be like when I was a young child. I think a defining moment occurred for me in 19, in 1958, when I was in middle school and my mother and I met with my guidance counselor who said that I should go to a vocational school and learn a trade, which was very different than what my mother's intention was. She said, my son is going to college. And she got up during the interview and said, louis, the we're leaving. I was embarrassed because My guidance counselor, Mr. Schmutter, was an authority figure. But after a moment of hesitation, I left the room and I said to myself, I guess I'm going to college.

[Ed Butler]

It was a chance encounter during Lou Frankfurt's teenage years with one of the 20th century's most well known figures, which proved a major turning point in his life and his ambitions.

[Lou Frankfort]

I believe I came of age when I was 13, so to speak. John Kennedy was running for president, and I found myself interested in the globe and the world. And my political and social consciousness grew through my high school and college years.

[Interviewer/Host]

You met jfk?

[Lou Frankfort]

I did. He was campaigning in the Bronx. He was in an open convertible, smiling with his wife. And at the time, security wasn't tight and we were able to go up to the car and shake his hand and the alike.

[Interviewer/Host]

And you were saying your social consciousness bloomed at that point. How did that dictate your subsequent career?

[Lou Frankfort]

In a few different ways. I became conscious of the racial divisions in the United States, of the need to reform social policy. I found myself protesting the war in Vietnam, thinking it was not something the US should be involved in. I marched with Martin Luther King multiple times, and I felt that I would be of service after I came out of school. I'm a product of the 60s and felt that my generation had an opportunity to create a more peaceful and collaborative globe. And after a very small amount of time on Wall Street, I found myself joining government at the local level in New York City, where I spent 10 years in human services, the last three of which was as head of daycare and Head Start Services for the children of the city of New York.

[Ed Butler]

The 1970s were a tough time to be in local government. With budgets stretched and constant pressures. Lou Frankfurt eventually decided it was time to try something new. He had a growing family to support, so he thought the private sector might give him what he needed. Another chance encounter with an old friend led him to getting a job at coach in 1979. It was as vice president of marketing and special projects. It was then just a small family run wholesale business selling handbags, and without a background in fashion, he decided to do some research. So he went undercover.

[Lou Frankfort]

I pretended to be a Business Week reporter and I interviewed buyers and merchants as well as one shopkeeper. And overall on everyone said their Coach was a popular brand, oversold. And one person, a shop owner, said it had a cult following. And being a product of the 60s, I thought it's amazing that a product could be so beloved by its users. And I was curious about that.

[Ed Butler]

You're listening to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

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[Ed Butler]

I'm Ed Butler and today I'm talking to Lou Frankfort, the former boss of the Coach handbag brand, which he took over as CEO in 1985. So what was it that drew him to handbags in the first place?

[Lou Frankfort]

It started with an understanding of the consumer, primarily women, which through today represent over 80% of its sales and understanding why bags were important to women. It's a very intimate product in that women put all of their essentials in a bag. They open it multiple times a day, and they develop a relationship with a bag. Fortunately, in our case at Coach, we used a natural leather, baseball leather, and that leather developed a patina over time. So as the bags were used, they actually weathered in a beautiful way, like a saddle. And people use them for years and years. What I saw was an opportunity to reach consumers directly by first opening a catalog, starting a catalog business, which we did. And then secondly, one year later, in 1981, we opened our first Coach store. And I knew that was a. An important moment. And it turned out to help shape our destiny. When we opened this very small store, about 45 meters, we had lines outside the store to the corner. During busy periods, we learned much more about our consumers. And we treated customers as if they were guests in our home. And we treated employees the way we would like to be treated. And we built a very strong performance family culture that exists through today. It was a long journey. I was with coach for 35 years, and there were different inflection points prior to going public. In the year 2000, we coined the term accessible luxury, which is now part of the global lexicon. And we coined the term to give investors a visual understanding of where we sat in the marketplace.

[Ed Butler]

The price of a Coach handbag today ranges from between a few hundred dollars to just over a thousand. At the turn of the millennium, the company was trying to bridge this gap between being high quality, rival desirable European brands, but also attainable, like the American rivals like Ralph Lauren or Michael kors.

[Lou Frankfort]

In the 80s and the 90s, it became really clear as the middle class was prospering and growing, that women and men wanted well made products that they could depend upon.

[Interviewer/Host]

You clearly transformed the company. A public company, its stock grew 3,000%. I'm reading. A $5 billion global brand. It now is.

[Lou Frankfort]

That's true.

[Interviewer/Host]

Going back to your dream as a young man, though, your dream in the 60s to change the world, how does that square with a luxury handbag brand?

[Lou Frankfort]

Great question. In the 70s, when I was in city government, social services, I felt purpose. I felt I was in. I was serving children and families in need. And when I joined Coach, I felt a similar purpose, which was that I was serving women and men and providing them with a great product and created a culture of people with good values and as I said earlier, a diversified workforce. And I believe finding purpose in what you do is critical. If You're a value driven person in terms of how does it square with my view of the world? I realized in the 70s that the United States has an institutionalized underclass as a country of immigrants who feed America and take the jobs that the children of immigrants no longer need to take because they have gone to college or have learned skills in vocational areas. Providing access for the immigrant classes to lead a life that would give them the potential of an American dream has always been on my mind.

[Interviewer/Host]

But coach itself, of course, remains an.

[Ed Butler]

Exclusive product, doesn't it?

[Interviewer/Host]

I mean, it's an aspirational product which still is out of the reach of many ordinary Americans. So the handbags that you make, that is. So it must feel like you're operating on two levels here.

[Lou Frankfort]

Yes, there's a lot of gray. Being true to your values is something one can still do in business. 30 to 40% of the US population are coach owners and we enjoy very strong market share. We have similar success in other markets such as China and Japan, where we really service a professional class.

[Interviewer/Host]

China and Japan, of course, have driven, haven't they, the growth, well, China especially the growth of, of luxury brands across the world in recent years. Some would say that's flattening out, that luxury, luxury brands generally are hitting rockier times. Would you say that's true?

[Lou Frankfort]

Absolutely. And I would say true luxury brands and high luxury brands. Coach, as I said earlier, is an excess of a luxury brand. It costs only a fraction of the price of a European luxury bag. And what we did in China was focus on the emerging middle class who was striving to have professional careers. What we did was start in the secondary and tertiary markets in China where there were no European luxury brands present and there were no consumers with high income. And we built out a very strong.

[Interviewer/Host]

Business back in New York, though, that your home times are changing, aren't they? I mean, the city has just elected a democratic socialist to City Hall. There is a feeling amongst the younger generation, it seems, that the city is no longer affordable. It's out of reach, it's out of touch with the needs of ordinary people. Big businesses, I'm reading, or some the top financiers are leaving the city. That's not a plan you've got.

[Lou Frankfort]

Not at all. The city is here forever. New York has never been more vibrant. I think the very large turnout during the recent mayoral race is an indication of dissatisfaction and the desire for change. And I do believe that the city is not affordable for many, many people. And we can do a much better job in providing affordable housing and we do need to listen to young people. I will say that Gen Z is very reminiscent of my generation that came of age in the 1960s, a generation that is focused on climate, on peace, on sustainability, on ethical behavior. So I'm still optimistic about New York City and it has survived the ups and downs.

[Interviewer/Host]

Tell me then, you began with a dream of changing the world. Your generation. Do you think you've succeeded or failed?

[Lou Frankfort]

Clearly, on a macro basis, I have not been successful. I never dreamt that 50 or 60 years after I came of age that the world would be as polarized and divided as it is. But I still remain hopeful on the human condition and I think that the generation that's coming of age now offer the potential to make the world a better place.

[Ed Butler]

Place the thoughts of Lou Frankfort, former CEO of Coach Talking to me Ed Butler for Business Daily Needs this episode was produced by Hannah Bewley. For more Search for Business Daily wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

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