Michael Kors, a teen fashion idol

NEW YORK — Known for its posh handbags and signature MK print, the teenage glamour of the Michael Kors label outshines all other handbag brands, according to a semi-annual survey of teens in the US released this week by Piper Jaffray. In fact, the brand has reached new highs: 39 per cent of average-income girls choose Kors as their preferred handbag label, up from just seven per cent in a 2012 survey. Rival handbag maker Coach fell from 46 percent to 17 per cent in the same period.

Teens are highly influenced by other consumers, making the demographic an important indicator. Erinn Murphy, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, looks at teen shopping habits as a way to determine which brands are coming in or going out of favour.

Coach’s satchels, duffels and crossbody bags long dominated the market for “affordable luxury”. Now in a deep slump, the company is in the early stages of a revamp that includes new marketing campaigns and overhauls of its stores and merchandise.

Yet Kors, for all its power and prominence, isn’t safe either. Alarms of Kors becoming too ubiquitous — like Coach once did — have rang as sales slowed in the past year. Among teens, Kors is reaching territory once inhabited by Coach as the overwhelming favourite. This position proved unsustainable for Coach. “My guess is that it’ll be hard to sustain at this level,” Murphy says of Kors’ popularity. “You have brands like Tory Burch and Kate Spade coming up.” BLOOMBERG