Burberry Bag Test -- Results Are In! And Other Bags

Redburn Partners analyst Lisa Rachal has been checking out how the big ticket bags are performing (i.e. selling) for Burberry. And the news is good for the latest and costliest, the Knight. In a research note she says:

Last Friday I spoke to 6 Burberry flagship stores in the US & Europe - including Rome, London, Madrid, Palm Beach, New York and Dallas - all of which reported that the classic Knight bag (priced at £1,595 in the UK) is flying off the shelves. In fact, sell-through has been so strong that they are running very low with very few left (if any) in store after just 4 weeks of arriving. As a reminder, the Knight bag is the latest "It" bag for Fall/Winter '07, similar to the Manor (F/W '06; retail price: £795) and Beaton Bag (S/S '07; retail price £1,095). And, it was only a year ago that Burberry was "testing" its ability to sell a £795 bag (with the Manor), compared to today when they may be struggling to keep up with demand for a £1,595 bag. I estimate the bag could add up to 2% to FY08 (ending Mar) sales (and perhaps slightly more to EBIT).

She recommends you buy Burberry stock. I say, buy the bag too.

Natalie Massanett of Net-a-Porter says the bag we'll all want for Spring is Marc Jacob's Duffy, the bag on a bag seen on his recent runway show in mesh. She's ordered it in mesh and leather.

On the arm of a select few London beauties, I've seen the bag I'd like -- it's a new versions of Lara Bohinc Laratella bags (£795). Bohinc is a jewlery designer by trade -- she consults for Cartier -- which explains her way with the hardware. And, by way of business trivia, she's backed by Ernst Malstrom, founder of Boo.com, which famously went bust with a bang about 10 years ago.