The unexpected death of fashion designer Kate Spade on Tuesday has shoppers rushing to buy her brightly colored handbags, raising prices of used merchandise several times over, second-hand online retailers say.
Online fashion market Tradesy saw a sextupling of average prices, a doubling of supply and an 800 percent increase in purchases for Kate Spade handbags on the day of her death. Bags that had sold for $50 the previous week fetched $300 on June 5, in line with new bags.
‘Whenever an artist of any kind passes, it’s a common thing that you see both demand for their products increase and average price also increase,’ said Kamini Lane, chief marketing officer of the Santa Monica-based company. ‘But I’ve never seen a jump this significant before.’
The 55-year-old designer, who with her husband built a fashion empire on the popularity of affordable luxury, was found dead in her New York City apartment on Tuesday after she hung herself with a scarf.
Kate Spade products are flying off the shelves of online stores after the accessories tycoon died by suicide
Spade hung herself with a scarf in her Park Avenue apartment (pictured) on Tuesday
Since her death, the beloved designer’s products have flown off the shelves of online thrift stores, sending prices soaring as sellers try to keep up with demand
Lane recalled that when the high-end couture designer Azzedine Alaia, who dressed stars from Greta Garbo to Grace Jones and Lady Gaga, died last November, the platform saw a spike in the sale of Alaia items, but it was nowhere close to the story of Spade.
‘Kate Spade was so accessible to so many people and therefore desired by a broader base,’ she said, adding that after Spade’s death the platform was selling ‘hundreds of items a day.’
Kate Spade’s brightly colored, clean-lined accessories and bags offered a spunky style to younger working women at a time when luxury handbags were out of reach of most consumers and the industry was dominated by venerable European brands.
Spade launched her eponymous accessories and fashion line with husband Andy Spade
Kate and her husband Andy Spade sold their last stake in the Kate Spade accessories brand in 2006 and in 2016 launched a new footwear and accessories brand called Frances Valentine, named after their daughter.
Last month high-end handbag maker Tapestry Inc, which bought the Kate Spade brand a year ago, said that sales at established stores were disappointing because of a reduction in discounting of new bags, which cost around $200 to $300.
Tapestry was not immediately available for comment.
Online thrift store ThreadUP said it had sold three times as many Kate Spade items on Tuesday, the day she died, than on Monday.
Items with the Kate Spade logo, primarily bags, were most in demand, with users buying more than 3 times as many Kate Spade handbags the day of and day after Spade’s death, when compared against the three month trailing average for Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the company said.
Spade’s death by suicide at her Park Avenue home came as a shock to her millions of fans and customers around the world.
Her family released a statement to say they were devastated by her death and asked for privacy.
However, her sister says she was prone to depression and battled bipolar disorder.
Fans are now searching for Kate Spade designs made by the mother-of-one before she sold the company
Stock from her new accessories line, Frances Valentine, has almost completely sold out online, with only a few pieces remaining
Spade’s sister, Reta Saffo, said the designer had been struggling with her celebrity status for some time, and was believed to have bipolar disorder
On Tuesday, Reta Saffo told DailyMail.com that she struggled to cope with her celebrity status, which only made her suspected bipolar disorder worse.
‘My little sister Katy was a precious, precious little person. Genuine in almost every way.
‘Just dear – but she was surrounded by YES people, for far too long, therefore she did not receive the proper care for what I believed to be (and tried numerous times to get her help for) bipolar disorder… stemming from her immense celebrity,’ Saffo said.
Saffo said the 55-year-old never anticipated how successful her brand would become – and how she, with it, would become a household name.
‘She never expected it – nor was she properly prepared for it,’ she told DailyMail.com.
Increasingly concerned about her mental state, Saffo claimed that she repeatedly urged her to go for treatment, including to the same treatment program where Catherine Zeta-Jones went for her successful bipolar treatment.
But she had always ‘chickened out’ at the last moment.
‘We’d get sooo close to packing her bags, but — in the end, the ‘image’ of her brand (happy-go-lucky Kate Spade) was more important for her to keep up. She was definitely worried about what people would say if they found out.’
Spade, who shot to fame with her line of eponymous purses, was found unconscious and unresponsive’ by her housekeeper on Tuesday morning.
She is survived by her husband Andy, who is the brother of actor David Spade, and daughter Frances.