Good day, and welcome to this Coach conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star one on your touch-tone phone. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing the pounds key. We ask that while posing your question that you please pick up your handset to allow optimum sound quality. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, please press star zero. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Global Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Coach, Andrea Shaw Resnick . Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us. With me today to discuss our quarterly and annual results are Victor Luis, Coach, Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin Wills, Coach's CFO. Before we begin, we must point out that this conference call will involve certain forward-looking statements, including projections for our business in the current or future quarters or fiscal years. These statements are based upon a number of continuing assumptions. Future results may differ materially from our current expectations based upon a number of important factors, including risks and uncertainties such as our ability to achieve intended benefits, cost savings, and synergies from the Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade acquisitions, expected economic trends, or our ability to anticipate consumer preferences, control costs, successfully execute our transformation and operational efficiency initiatives and growth strategies.
Please refer to our latest annual report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a complete list of risks and important factors. Please note that historical trends may not be indicative of future performance. Also, certain financial information and metrics that will be discussed today will be presented on a non-GAAP basis. These non-GAAP measures exclude certain items related to our transformation plan, operational efficiency plan, and Stuart Weitzman acquisition-related charges and Kate Spade acquisition-related charges, as well as the impact of foreign currency fluctuations where noted. The company's sales and earnings for diluted share comparisons to fiscal 2016 have also been presented, both including and excluding the impact of the 53rd week in fiscal 2016. You may identify these non-GAAP measures by the terms non-GAAP, constant currency, or excluding the additional week.
The company believes that presenting these non-GAAP measures is useful to investors and others in evaluating the company's ongoing operations and financial results against historical performance and in a manner that is consistent with management's evaluation of the business. You may find the corresponding GAAP financial information or metric, as well as the related reconciliation on our website, www.coach.com/investors when viewing the earnings release posted today. Now, let me outline the speakers and topics for this conference call. Victor Luis will provide an overall summary of our full fiscal quarter and full year 2017 results and will also discuss our progress on global initiatives across markets. Kevin Wills will continue with details on financial and operational results and our outlook for fiscal year 2018.
Following that, we will hold a question-and-answer session where we will be joined by Todd Kahn, President, Chief Administrative Officer, and Secretary, and Joshua Schulman, President and CEO of the Coach Brand. This Q&A session will end shortly before 9:30 A.M. We will conclude with some brief summary remarks. I'd now like to introduce Victor Luis, Coach Inc.'s CEO.
Good morning. Thank you, Andrea, welcome everyone. As noted in our press release, we are pleased with our solid fourth-quarter performance in which we achieved positive North America Coach brand comparable store sales growth for the fifth consecutive quarter and drove double-digit growth on a comparable week basis at Stuart Weitzman. These results capped an excellent year as we continued to make progress on our transformation plan, delivered strong Coach brand international growth, notably in Europe and Mainland China, while driving operating margin expansion and double-digit net income and EPS gains on a comparable 52-week basis. Importantly, the Coach brand continued to gain fashion relevance while our partnership with Selena Gomez brings our refreshed image and message to broader audiences. We were also very pleased with the overall contribution of Stuart Weitzman as we invested in the brand both in stores and most significantly in people.
We now have the key leadership and design talent to drive long-term performance both in growing the global footwear category and in Stuart Weitzman's nascent accessories business. As you know, we also took a major step in our corporate transformation with the acquisition of Kate Spade & Company, which closed in July, becoming the first New York-based house of modern luxury lifestyle brands. Kate Spade brings a unique brand attitude and additional consumer segment to the Coach Inc. portfolio. We expect that this acquisition will enhance our position in the attractive and growing $80 billion global premium handbag and accessories, footwear, and outerwear market. After the last three years of our transformation and acquisitions, the three brands of Coach Inc. are today united in a common philosophy. First, driven by brand-led strategies that focus on the consumer and on an inclusive approach to luxury.
Second, a focus on innovation across products, marketing, and experiences, both in our stores and in our digital channels. Lastly, the objective to drive sustainable revenue and earnings growth through strategies that are focused on long-term brand health. Our strategic priority is to achieve this balance by making the appropriate investments while carefully managing our distribution channels to optimize growth. To this end, looking ahead to fiscal 2018, we will continue to drive innovation across all of our brands, focusing on creating long-term value for our customers and shareholders. Specifically, our FY 2018 strategies for our three brands are, for the Coach brand and under the leadership of CEO Josh Schulman, we will be writing the next chapter in Coach's transformation as we focus on building emotional connections with a broader audience.
I am especially excited that Josh also brings a new perspective to our coach.com business, refocusing on the brand's digital opportunity globally, including how we can maximize the continuing shift to the online channel. While we have created a compelling vision of the Coach man and woman, the brand is still primarily focused on women's leather goods. We have a significant opportunity to grow our business in lifestyle categories, notably in men's, through continued growth in bags and small leather goods, as well as in our dual-gender offerings of footwear and outerwear. We're particularly excited to launch the new Coach women's footwear assortment, both in our stores and in the wholesale channel, following the take-back of our license at the end of FY 2017.
Even within our core category of women's leather goods, we have the potential to fulfill many more of our customers' functional and occasional needs across price points and attitudes. A key element of this strategy will be adding renewed excitement and diversification in our product offering, notably in the $300-$400 handbag price point in retail. We will also look to focus innovation in our customer experience by expanding our personalization and luxury leather services, both across our store and e-commerce platforms. We believe that we have an opportunity to build a relationship-focused sales culture anchored by our modern luxury selling ceremony to deepen the bond between our associates and their customers, ultimately driving frequency of purchase, of brand loyalists, and new customer acquisition.
Of course, we still have room to grow the Coach brand geographically, notably in Europe, which is largely untapped, and in China, which still has significant potential both from a domestic and travel retail perspective, as well as in new markets such as Russia and India through distributor partners. Finally, in Coach brand marketing, we are particularly excited about our work with Selena Gomez, with the fall campaign hitting now and her namesake bag arriving in stores at the end of the month. Moving to Stuart Weitzman, we expect to drive double-digit growth as we evolve the brand identity across all consumer touch points under the leadership of CEO Wendy Kahn and creative director Giovanni Morelli. This includes defining unique brand codes, differentiating the brand from the competitive set.
Giovanni and the team are focused on launching the new creative direction for Stuart Weitzman, including Giovanni's first footwear collection in April 2018 and a new handbag collection in fall/winter of 2018. These collections are about introducing innovation and capturing new occasions and wardrobing opportunities in footwear while building credibility in the leather goods category. We are also looking at distribution opportunities globally, notably in the key Asian markets where the brand is rapidly growing in awareness. You can also expect to see a new store concept for Stuart Weitzman later this year. Of course, all of these programs will be supported by 360-degree marketing strategies to align global initiatives. For Kate Spade, while early days, we know we have a lot of work ahead to integrate our teams and processes at the corporate level.
At the brand level, our focus remains on delighting customers in a distinctly Kate Spade way, full of color and playful sophistication. Since we announced the deal in May, I've enjoyed getting to know more about the Kate Spade brand, team, and culture. We are excited that Kate has significant opportunity for global growth across channels and geographies while ensuring that we take the right brand-enhancing actions early on to manage discount impressions in the market. What we know today is that Kate Spade is a strong, unique brand with leadership in the attributes of fashionable, fun, and feminine, bringing important attitude and customer diversification to the Coach portfolio. Our research has shown very little overlap between our three brands, with Kate having the most traction with millennials. It is a brand with highly productive retail and outlet stores and a strong top-tier department store presence in North America.
Outside of the U.S., there is significant opportunity in Japan, the second-largest handbag and accessory market in the world, and where the brand already has a strong presence but is still under-penetrated. We're also really pleased with the initial response to Kate Spade in the U.K. market and excited about the long-term growth opportunities in China, where our initial brand tracker shows promising consumer traction for the brand. As we look ahead for Kate Spade in FY 2018, we are taking several steps to position the brand. Building a foundation for solid and sustainable growth and taking a page or two from Coach's own playbook. We will significantly curtail promotional impressions by reducing surprise sales and pulling back on wholesale disposition. We will also accelerate innovation in the core handbag and accessories categories, along with ready-to-wear and tech, leveraging the Coach supply chain and product development capabilities.
We will review the store fleet and leverage opportunities to maximize the brand's global footprint, notably in the outlet channel, where the brand is under-penetrated. We will wind down the Jack Spade brand, refocus the license portfolio, and concentrate on the most significant women's opportunities, women's handbags, ready-to-wear, tech accessories, and footwear, both domestically and internationally. We will tailor the brand's whimsical and fun marketing messages, ensuring that it resonates in all key global markets. I am excited to partner with the terrific Kate Spade team as interim CEO as we look to both capture synergy and, more importantly, drive global resonance and growth. As has been our practice, I'd like to share some of the actions we've taken to drive Coach brand performance.
Starting with product, where I am pleased and proud to say that Coach has been recognized as a house of modern fashion design with Stuart Vevers winning the CFDA Accessory Designer of the Year Award in June. In retail, during Q4, we continued to drive brand elevation, increasing the penetration of 1941, as well as innovation across price points and attitudes. In Q4, outlet delivered our largest brand collaboration to date, with Mickey arriving in mid-May at twice the size of our successful Peanuts collaboration. On stores, in the fourth quarter, we've continued to establish our modern luxury concepts globally, ending the year with just over 720 locations in the new format across all channels and in line with our target. Consistent with the plan, these renovations have been driving comps which exceed the balance of the fleet in the vast majority of stores around the world.
As you know, one of our key strategic initiatives during FY 2017 was elevating the Coach brand in North America wholesale channel. We've added new locations in top-tier specialty stores while also rationalizing our overall department store distribution, taking our door count down by about 25% to just over 750 at year-end. In addition, we reduced promotional events in the channel, with our days on sale down by over 35% for the year. On the marketing front, Selena Gomez's first global handbag advertising campaign for the Coach brand hit in July and will run through this fall/winter, followed by a second campaign in spring/summer 2018. Following a global PR burst around Selena and Coach in late June, our multi-touchpoint media and owned channel marketing, launched on July 6th, focused on driving awareness, engagement, and recruitment.
Through the end of July, we achieved 2.5 billion impressions, an uptick in recruitment across social channels, and a significant increase in North America web traffic. As a result of all these efforts, we have seen continued progress with consumers. Importantly, in our quarterly U.S. brand tracking survey fielded in June, we saw strength for the Coach brand with the broad premium market across key emotional and functional attributes. While discount perceptions, an important measure of brand health, declined versus prior year once again this quarter. In addition, among category drivers, Coach's perception of having high-quality handbags increased. Moving forward, with the addition of Kate Spade, we will have much more to share with you as a house of brands. Turning now to a discussion of category trends.
As we look ahead to FY 2018, we expect that the channel, consumer, and macro dynamics that exist today affecting the category in specific and consumer spending in general will persist. Channel shifts continue to impact traffic. The macroeconomic environment is uncertain. Currency crosswinds are affecting tourist flows, and geopolitical events are negatively impacting sentiment. As a result, visibility into category growth is limited as the landscape continues to rapidly shift. Overall, we estimate that the North American premium women's and men's handbag and accessories market was essentially flat in the June quarter and for the year, which we believe has continued to be impacted by negative trends seen in the U.S. department store space as brands, including our own, have pulled back from the channel. As in FY 2016, we saw men's grow faster than women's in North America.
Globally, the premium handbag and accessory category accelerated in FY 2017, both on a U.S. dollar and local currency basis, up mid-single digits. While Kevin will provide additional details on sales and distribution by geography, we wanted to touch on some current trends and strategies by market. All the compares are against last year's 13-week period, thereby excluding the 14th or 53rd week. Starting with North America. As you read in our release for the quarter, our total Coach brand sales rose 4%, including the negative impact of our deliberate department store pullback. While our direct business rose 5% on a dollar basis and 6% in constant currency. Both aggregate and bricks-and-mortar comp store sales rose slightly over 4% in the quarter. Higher conversion drove the overall comp, with in-store traffic trends significantly improving from the third quarter, reflecting the Easter shift, though still slightly negative.
Most importantly, in the fourth quarter, we comped the comp, given that the fourth quarter of FY 2016 was the first positive quarterly comp we achieved post the implementation of our transformation plan. Finally, our business with international tourists in North American stores was slightly lower during Q4, negatively impacted by [under appointments] with declines in Chinese tourist traffic, once again mostly offset by other nationalities, notably Japanese and Korean visitors. Turning to our retail performance and the metrics we traditionally share on products. The above $400 price bracket rose in penetration, saw another positive comp on a sales and unit basis, and represented over 45% of handbag sales, up from about 40% in last year's fourth quarter. We also experienced strength in small bags and accessories, driven by crossbodies, clutches, and wristlets, which offer a high level of versatility and functionality at compelling price points.
Our below $300 penetration was similar to prior year, with the biggest shift out of the $300-$400 handbag price bracket, an area of focused innovation in the quarters ahead. Men's was very strong in the fourth quarter at almost 20% of total Coach brand sales. For the fiscal year, at POS, our men's sales totaled over $840 million, and we now believe men's is well over a $1 billion opportunity for the Coach brand. To this end, I am very pleased to welcome Cristiano Cletti, previously president of Jack Spade, to the Coach brand as SVP, Head of Men's. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for men's global merchandising and bringing together the teams from design, product development, wholesale sales, and marketing to amplify our investment in this tremendous business opportunity.
As we look ahead to fall for the Coach brand, in retail, our goal is to continue to elevate and differentiate the brand by offering innovation and emotion through our product assortment, marketing, and in-store experience. We will expand 1941 Rogue family through the introduction of additional size offerings and further refresh our leather craft assortment across price points and function. Looking ahead to fall and outlet, we are excited to launch Coach Varsity just in time for back-to-school shopping. Overall, for FY 2018 in outlet, while we continue to update and elevate our leather goods assortment with new silhouettes every season, we are excited to grow our women's and men's lifestyle categories with more frequent deliveries of ready-to-wear newness and an expanded footwear collection. In men's, we plan on continued growth through expansion across all categories, capitalizing on the strong momentum from our men's growth seen in FY 2017.
Across all channels globally, we are very excited about the introduction of Coach own brand of women's footwear after taking back the license at the end of FY 2017. For perspective, the global women's and men's premium footwear market is approximately $28 billion and growing, with women's representing about two-thirds of the total. We are starting with a focused and curated offering of about 100 SKUs for pre-fall, with limited wholesale distribution of about 120 wholesale doors. We're building to pre-spring and spring for about 100-175 SKUs with a more dressy assortment and look-to-grow distribution from there. We will be using key Coach codes, such as saddle welt, shearling, charms, meadow horse and carriage branding.
In addition, we will incorporate proprietary craftsmanship details such as the Tea Rose and studding, which we've become known for, and building on styles and classifications where we already have seen some traction. We are focused on 3 key areas. Introducing proprietary design elements, establishing brand codes in the category, and perfecting fit and comfort by leveraging our learning from Stuart Weitzman. Now moving on to international. In the fourth quarter, international Coach brand sales rose 6% on a reported basis and 9% on a constant currency basis, benefiting from wholesale shipment timing as projected. For the year, Coach brand international sales increased 3% in $ and 2% in constant currency.
Greater China sales increased 3% versus prior year in $ and 7% in constant currency on a 13-week basis, driven by double-digit growth in positive comparable store sales on the mainland, offset in part by softness in Hong Kong and Macau. For the year, Greater China sales were about even with prior year in $, while sales rose 5% on a constant currency basis in 2017. Importantly, despite a rapidly evolving retail landscape, we remain optimistic on the prospects for this market over the long term, as the drivers we have consistently mentioned remain relevant, and our China team continues to do an excellent job of building our brand equity in that market. In Japan, sales declined 3% in $ and approximately 1% in constant currency in the fourth quarter.
For the year, sales increased 4% in $ and decreased 2% on a constant currency basis, impacted by a decline in Chinese tourist spend, lapping last year's dramatic increase as well as an overall decrease in square footage as we optimized our retail footprint. In our other directly operated Asian markets outside of China and Japan, namely South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, sales decreased mid-single digits in $ and declined similarly in constant currency for both the quarter and the year, due primarily to weakness in Korea, where macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds continued to pressure spending from domestic consumers and tourists. In Europe, we experienced a strong increase in sales during the quarter, driven by double-digit growth in the directly operated channels and benefiting from the planned shift in wholesale shipment timing, as previously announced. For the year, sales rose approximately 15% in $ and 20% in constant currency.
Finally, I would point out that we're continuing to see volatile results in our international wholesale business, which increased on a net sales basis in the quarter due to shipment timing as expected, while POS sales declined. For the year, net sales increased modestly and sales at POS decreased as weaker tourist location results offset domestic growth. In closing, we are encouraged with the momentum of our business and proud of the progress we've made along our transformation journey, elevating the perception of the Coach brand globally. Of course, we're also very pleased with the integration and performance of Stuart Weitzman as we've strengthened the leadership team and positioned the company for long-term growth across geographies and categories. For Kate Spade, we look forward to unlocking the brand's potential and updating you on our progress in the quarters ahead.
I'll turn it over to our CFO, Kevin Wills, for details on our financial results and guidance for fiscal 2018. Kevin.
Thanks, Victor. Victor has just taken you through the highlights and strategies. Let me now take you through some of the important financial details of our fourth quarter results, as well as our outlook for fiscal year 2018. Please note the comments I'm about to make are based on non-GAAP results. Corresponding GAAP results, as well as the related reconciliation, can be found in the earnings release posted on our website today. Turning to the details and focusing on Coach, Inc. Net sales totaled $1.13 billion for the fourth fiscal quarter as compared to $1.15 billion in the prior year. Excluding the additional week included in fiscal 2016 results, net sales increased 6% on a reported basis and 7% on a constant currency basis. For the year, net sales totaled $4.49 billion, even with the prior year.
Excluding the additional week included in fiscal 2016 results, net sales increased 2% on both a reported and constant currency basis. As planned, the company's strategic decision to elevate the Coach brand's positioning in the North American wholesale channel through a reduction in promotional events and door closures negatively impacted sales growth by approximately 60 basis points and 150 basis points in the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017, respectively. Gross profit in the fourth quarter totaled $757 million, while the gross margin rate for the quarter was 66.8% compared to 67.8% last year. As expected, we experienced a year-over-year decline in gross margin in the quarter. Specifically, channel mix, which was a benefit in the first nine months of the year, negatively impacted gross margin in the quarter.
In addition, as we now anniversary lower product costs, this benefit did not fully offset the ongoing negative impact resulting from promotional activity, notably the North America outlet channel, where the environment remains very competitive. Coach, Inc. gross profit for the year totaled $3.08 billion, while gross margin was 68.7% compared to 68% in the prior year. SG&A expenses totaled $577 million in Q4, or 50.9% of sales, as compared to 52.7% in the year-ago period. For the year, SG&A expenses were $2.27 billion and represented 50.6% of sales as compared to 50.7% a year ago. As noted in our press release, SG&A expense for both Q4 and full year 2017 included $20 million in non-cash charges relating to the impairment of select stores and a negotiated reduction in a prior purchase commitment for certain store fixtures that were being no longer appropriate.
Operating income for the quarter was $180 million, while operating margin was 15.8%, including approximately 180 basis points of non-cash impairment charges, as mentioned previously. This compared to operating margin of 15.1% in last year's fourth quarter. For the year, operating income was $813 million, while operating margin was 18.1%, including 50 basis points in non-cash impairment charges versus 17.3% a year ago. Net interest expense was $4 million in the quarter as compared to $7 million in the year-ago period. Net interest expense was $19 million in fiscal year 2017 as compared to $27 million in fiscal year 2016. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 19.2% as compared to 24.7% in the prior-year quarter. For the year, our effective tax rate was 23.2% versus 26.4% in fiscal 2016.
Our tax rate will vary throughout the year given the diversity of our sales base and the resolution of various tax issues. To this end, our fourth quarter tax rate benefited from the geographic mix of earnings. Net income for the quarter totaled $142 million compared to $126 million a year ago, with earnings per diluted share of $0.50. Net income for the year totaled $609 million compared to $552 million last year, with earnings per diluted share of $2.15. Excluding the additional week in fiscal 2016, earnings per diluted share increased 32% and 14% for the quarter and full year respectively. Now, moving to global distribution by brand. For the Coach brand, we opened seven net locations globally in the fourth quarter and eight net locations during the year, finishing fiscal year 2017 with 962 directly operated locations worldwide.
Overall, consistent with plan, our global Coach brand directly operated square footage rose low single digits in fiscal year 2017, with North America square footage down slightly versus the prior year, with net store closures in both retail and outlet offset by a higher single-digit square footage increase in international, led by growth in Europe and mainland China. For Stuart Weitzman, consistent with our plan, we closed one location in the fourth quarter while opening six net locations for the year, ending fiscal year 2017 with 81 directly operated stores globally. Now turning to our cash flows. Net cash from operating activities in the fourth quarter was $324 million compared to $249 million last year. Free cash flow in the quarter was an inflow of $233 million versus $129 million in the same period last year. Our CapEx spending was $91 million versus $120 million.
For the full fiscal year 2017, net cash from operating activities was $854 million compared to $759 million a year ago. Free cash flow in fiscal 2017 was an inflow of $571 million versus $362 million in fiscal year 2016. CapEx spending totaled $283 million for the year compared to total CapEx of $396 million in fiscal year 2016, which included $146 million associated with our new corporate headquarters build-out. In addition, during fiscal 2017, as previously announced, we received approximately $680 million in net proceeds associated with the sale leaseback of the Hudson Yards building, as well as approximately $125 million in net proceeds related to the sale of our previous headquarters building. Inventory levels at quarter-end were $470 million compared to ending inventory of $459 million a year ago, an increase of 2%.
At the end of the fiscal year, cash and short-term investments were $3.1 billion as compared to $1.3 billion a year ago. The year-over-year increase was due to our net cash flow generated during the year and the issuance of approximately $1 billion of senior unsecured notes in June as part of the financing for the Kate Spade acquisition . Our total borrowings outstanding at year-end were $1.6 billion, consisting of senior unsecured notes as compared to approximately $900 million a year ago. Subsequent to the close of the fiscal year, we borrowed $1.1 billion in term loans, which combined with cash on hand, allowed us to fully fund the acquisition of Kate Spade, which closed on July 11th. Now, turning to our capital allocation policy. Our long-term priorities remain unchanged. First, we will continue to invest in our brands in order to drive sustainable growth and value creation.
Secondly, we will seek strategic acquisitions, looking for great brands with opportunities for expansion. Finally, returning capital to shareholders with a focus on dividend. Since outlining these priorities some years ago, our strong balance sheet has provided the flexibility to invest in the Coach brand transformation, successfully acquire two great brands in Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade with only modest leverage, while continuing to return capital to our shareholders. Moving forward, we remain committed to a conservative balance sheet management. To that end, we expect to reduce our outstanding borrowings to $1.9 billion by the end of fiscal 2018 with the repayment of an $800 million, six-month term loan with excess cash. At the same time, we're maintaining our dividend at an annual rate of $1.35. Now turning to fiscal 2018.
As we look to fiscal 2018, it will clearly be a year of change as we integrate the Kate Spade business. One of those changes will be our reportable segments. Given the acquisition of Kate Spade and a move to brand president reporting structure, we are shifting to reportable segments by brand. This is consistent with how we have organized the company and how we will operate our business. With this change beginning in fiscal 2018, we plan to provide global brand comps. In addition, given the significant evolution of the company from a mono-brand specialty retailer when we announced our transformation plan in 2014 to a house of brands today, the guidance provided over three years ago is no longer applicable to our current business and structure. Going forward, we will provide annual guidance during our fourth quarter earnings call for the year ahead.
As always, we remain committed to transparency and providing you with information to track our progress against our plans. During fiscal 2018, we will naturally incur a number of integration and one-time charges associated with the Kate Spade acquisition. I will provide more details on these expected charges in a few moments, but note that these charges will be excluded from our non-GAAP results. Additionally, the Kate Spade results will be included in the Coach, Inc. results starting on July 12, 2017, the date subsequent to closing. Now turning to our outlook on a non-GAAP basis. We expect total revenues for Coach, Inc. in fiscal 2018 to increase about 30% versus fiscal 2017 to $5.8 billion-$5.9 billion, with low single-digit organic growth. This includes the expectation for low single-digit Coach brand global comps and a low double-digit increase in Stuart Weitzman brand sales.
In addition, we expect the acquisition of Kate Spade to add over $1.2 billion in revenue. The Kate Spade revenue projection includes the impact of a planned strategic pullback in the wholesale disposition and online flash channels and assumes a high single-digit decrease in comps for the fiscal year. In addition, we are projecting operating income growth of 22%-25% versus fiscal 2017, driven by mid-single digit organic growth, the acquisition of Kate Spade, and estimated synergies of $30 million-$35 million. These synergies are expected to offset in part the reduction in profitability from the strategic and deliberate pullback of the Kate Spade wholesale disposition and online flash sales channels. Taken together, the Kate Spade business and resulting synergies are expected to add approximately $130 million-$140 million to operating income.
We have owned Kate Spade for just over a month and have been working diligently to identify synergy opportunities. To date, we are very pleased with our findings as we expect to realize approximately $30 million-$35 million of fiscal year 2018 synergies, which annualize to run rate synergies of approximately $50 million. This compares with our original expectation of annualized run rate synergies of $50 million by the third year post-acquisition. Much work remains on the synergy front, we look forward to updating you on our longer-term opportunities in the quarters ahead. Interest expense is expected to be about $90 million for the year. The full year fiscal 2018 tax rate is projected at about 25%-26%. As noted in our press release, in fiscal year 2018, the company is adopting Accounting Standards Update ASU 2016-09 for the accounting of employee share-based payments.
This will influence our effective tax rate as certain tax impacts that were previously recorded to equity will now be included in income tax expense. Further, because the tax impacts are defined by the company's stock price, Restricted Stock Units or RSUs and Performance Restricted Stock Units or PRSU vesting and when employees exercise their stock options, the timing and amount of the impact cannot be estimated and are therefore excluded from this guidance. That said, the majority of RSUs and PRSU vest in the first quarter of the fiscal year, and accordingly, it is likely that the first quarter fiscal rate could be most impacted. We expect our weighted average diluted shares outstanding for the year to be approximately 289 million.
Overall, we are projecting earnings per diluted share for the year in the range of $2.35-$2.40, an increase of about 10%-12%, including low to mid-single digit accretion from the acquisition of Kate Spade, consistent with our previously communicated forecast. We also expect our CapEx for Coach, Inc. to be approximately $325 million in fiscal 2018. As previously noted, we will be incurring a number of integration and one-time charges associated with the Kate Spade acquisition and integration. These charges will include such items as transaction fees and integration costs, which include severance, store closure costs, and inventory valuation adjustments. We expect $40 million-$45 million related to acquisition transaction costs.
This estimate for integration charges remains a work in process at this time. We currently anticipate pre-tax charges to be in the $150 million-$200 million range in fiscal 2018, with approximately $45 million being non-cash. Additionally, we expect to incur approximately $10 million in operational efficiency charges. Turning to our debt and capital structure. Post the Kate Spade acquisition, our total debt was approximately $2.7 billion. As previously noted, we intend to repay our $800 million six-month term loan with cash on hand at the end of 2018 with $1.9 billion of debt. We remain committed to a conservative capital structure and moderate leverage. Based on free cash flow and cash on hand, we may elect to further reduce indebtedness by prepaying long-term bank debt. Finally, our fiscal year 2018 directly operated distribution plan by brand is as follows.
We expect 15 net closures globally for the Coach brand, with net closures in North America and Japan partially offset by net openings in Europe and Mainland China. We expect approximately five net Stuart Weitzman openings in fiscal year 2018. For Kate Spade, we expect 20-25 net openings globally and across channels, with the majority of the new door growth coming in the outlet channel. As you know, these net openings will partially offset the reduction in the online flash and wholesale disposition as we build a foundation for long-term brand health. It is important to note that due to the Kate Spade acquisition, we expect significant variability between quarters throughout the year and across all financial metrics based on the implementation of strategic initiatives and the realization of synergies, as well as the variability in brand and channel mix, as well as currency.
Taken together, we expect these factors to have the most significant negative impact on the first quarter, resulting in mid-to-high single-digit decline in operating income versus fiscal 2017. We expect to deliver double-digit operating income growth in quarters two, three, and four. While we anticipate our earnings pattern to be uneven in fiscal 2018, we expect to realize annual operating income growth of 22%-25%, as previously mentioned. Similarly, we would expect a higher inventory to sales ratio than has been our recent history due to elevated inventory levels at Kate Spade. We will protect the brand by not moving excess inventory into the disposition market, rather primarily flow it into our own network into the second half of the year. Therefore, we would expect our inventory to sales ratio to improve as we move through fiscal 2018.
In closing, we will grow both our Coach and Stuart Weitzman brands in the year ahead while successfully integrating Kate Spade, which we expect to be accretive to our fiscal 2018 results. Overall, we remain optimistic about global opportunities. We are committed to driving long-term sustainable growth across our portfolio of brands. I'd now like to open it up to Q&A. Operator?
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, for audio questions, please press *1 on your touch-tone phone. Again, that is *1 on your touch-tone phones. Our first question comes from Christian Buss with Credit Suisse.
Yes, thank you very much. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your expectations for Kate Spade in international markets in the near term. How much are you going to push that business going forwards?
Thank you, Christian. We're very excited about the Kate Spade brand and its international opportunity. Look, just comparing with Coach and where we are in the four key global markets. First and foremost, of course, there's tremendous opportunity still here in the U.S. We've got a brand that basically is in 178 locations relative to our 400. As you heard on our speakers notes, we definitely see opportunity to manage the outlet channel more proactively here in North America. That's one. In the three key international markets, Japan, China, and Europe, we see tremendous opportunity. The brand is more mature in the Japanese market, where there's 88 locations relative to where Coach is, for example, with 180, 184, 5 locations. We definitely see an opportunity in that market. In Europe and in China, we're especially excited because we're in our infancy.
In Europe, there's seven locations. Kate's doing really well in the U.K., where it's just getting its footing, if you will, with the first seven locations in the U.K. and Ireland, six in the U.K. and Ireland, one location in Paris. Especially excited by the initial results there. In China, we are today in approximately, with a distributor partner, 33 locations relative to 175 to 180 for the Coach brand. We see an opportunity, of course, to grow our awareness in all of these markets. As an example, here in the U.S., Kate's unaided awareness is 31% relative to Coach's 71%. In Japan, which is the second-largest market in the world for us and indeed for Kate and for the category, Kate's awareness is 15% unaided relative to Coach's 51%.
We're very focused on the international opportunity, and I think you'll hear a lot about that in the quarters ahead.
Great, thank you very much, best of luck.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Bob Drbul with Guggenheim Securities.
Hi, good morning. I guess the question I have is, could you elaborate a little bit more on the traffic results for the Coach business, both full line and outlet, and how the quarter progressed, and how do you see the fall progressing?
Sure. I'll let Josh jump in. I'll take that question. Overall, Bob, we've been seeing very consistent traffic trends over the last few quarters, more or less, I would say, in the negative single digits range. Obviously, we've been driving the business through conversion, great products, and pretty consistent across both channels, with maybe the full-price stores suffering a little bit more from a traffic perspective than the outlet channel.
Great. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Erinn Murphy with Piper Jaffray.
Great. Thanks. Good morning. I was hoping you could unpack a little bit more about the reversal of gross margin in the fourth quarter. I think you highlighted channel mix. Then you talked about promotional activity at outlet. Could you just speak a little bit more about how much those impacted the margin in the quarter? Was there any impact from the Jimlar licensing back in Q4? Is that going to weigh on gross margin in fiscal 2018? Thanks.
Sure, Erinn. I'll let Kevin take that.
Good morning, Erinn. A few components, I guess, on the gross margin change. As we said on our Q3 call in May, we did expect the fourth quarter gross margin to contract, given that we began anniversarying some of the product cost benefits that drove the gross margin expansion in quarters one and three. We did achieve some cost reductions in Q4, but at a lower level as compared to the prior quarters. It was not sufficient enough to offset the promotional activity, which basically stayed approximately the same as in prior quarters. We also had expected to reduce the outlet promotion based on some innovation and product that we had put in the channel. However, due to the competitive landscape and some of the products not fully resonating with consumers expected, we did not be able to dial back the promotions as planned.
We also felt like we missed a little bit on logo product, as we observed during the fourth quarter, a broad emerging trend towards more logo product, which we're going to be getting into as we move into the second quarter of this year. As you noted, we did have some FX impact in channel mix. While we're speaking of gross margin, I'll just go ahead and also note that as we move into fiscal 2018, we do expect a year-over-year decrease in margin rate with more pressure in the first half, with the significant majority of this year-over-year decline being attributable to the Kate Spade business, which runs at a lower gross margin rate. As it relates to the Jimlar question, that will be a negative impact to the gross margin rate as we move into 2018.
As we commented earlier, that was a licensed business previously that was effectively 100% gross margin rate. That'll provide a little bit of headwind as we move into fiscal 2018. We certainly think it's the right strategic long-term decision for us.
Got it. Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I guess, Kevin, was wondering if you could give just a little bit more color on the Q1 op income decline you talked about, just what exactly the drivers are that are negatively impacting you so much to start the year. You talked about Kate Spade comps down high single digits for the year. Any color, first half versus back half. Should we expect that to be much worse than high single digits to start and then ease throughout the year? Any color would be really helpful.
Sure. I'll let Kevin speak to the first quarter, Ike, I'll take the comp question on Kate.
Sure. Morning, Ike. There's a number of factors that are weighing in on the first quarter, I'll try to unpack those for you. First, on the sales. We do have some calendar shifts in the first quarter where we see some sales probably going to be moving from Q1 into Q2. We also expect probably some more FX headwinds on both sales and margin in the first quarter. Keep in mind, as we said earlier, we did not own the Kate Spade business until July 12. There's about $33 million-$35 million thereabouts of sales that occurred on the July period that we do not get credit for because that was prior to us acquiring them. On the gross margin side, we do expect some continued pressure in the first quarter, although at a lesser degree than we experienced in the fourth quarter.
As I said earlier, as we move into the second quarter, we believe we're going to be in a better inventory position to be able to capitalize on some emerging trends. Because thinking about from a pro forma, from a Kate Spade perspective, again, we're going to see some pressure there on the gross margin. On the SGA side, we've got some puts and takes there, but as the top line is seeing a little bit of pressure, creating some difficulty on the leverage perspective. I would also note that if you're thinking about on a pro forma basis with the Kate business, they did have some good news in their last year, September quarter ended relative to reversing some incentive compensation benefits that they had been accruing for in their first half. We're up against that.
Finally, I would note that, you add all that together, we're not expecting a meaningful operating profit contribution from Kate through Q1 due to the actions that we're taking, combined with the fact that our fiscal Q1 has not traditionally been a large profit contribution for the Kate business.
Ike, in relation to comp and its progress throughout the year, as you know in the speaker's notes, it's been very much something that we've talked about since we announced the acquisition, is our desire to manage and drive the brand for long-term health and growth. We are taking two very important decisions towards that end, which is reducing a lot of the promotional impressions that we believe are more harmful to long-term brand health, specifically through the online surprise or flash sales, as well as through the more urban discounter or wholesale disposition channel. Specifically, of course, the pullback on the surprise business will have a negative impact, of course, on comp throughout the year.
Given that currently, their brick-and-mortar comp has been consistent with the first quarter in their second quarter or what was our fourth quarter at, I would say around negative eight, you would assume that the pullback in online will mean that brick-and-mortar comp will improve as the year progresses. That is our plan today.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Oliver Chen with Cowen and Company.
Hi. Thank you. Good morning. Our question was about your comments related to coach.com and your digital priorities. We're just curious about what you're focused on in terms of stores and mobile and website integration, and also how you'll continue to stand your own in the face of Amazon making so many competitive strides as it relates to retail in general. Our second question was just about synergies with Kate Spade. What's the framework for easier to achieve synergies versus longer-term synergies, and it looks like you had nice findings initially. Just what drove some of the differences in terms of what you've been seeing very recently since you've had Kate Spade for just a month? Thank you.
First, I'll let Josh talk a little bit about his views and strategies on the web. We're very excited about his passion and experience there. Then I will jump in with Kevin on everything related to synergies and costs.
Good morning. This is Josh. As Victor said, I am passionate about really building the coach.com business, both from a business perspective and as our global digital flagship. We see opportunities to immediately impact the business by evolving our targeting strategies and the way we look at the spend allocated for performance marketing. Then as we re-vision coach.com as the global digital flagship, really looking at it regionally on a global basis and seeing how we can tie that more holistically into the omni-channel experience that our customer has. From a product point of view online too, we have an opportunity to distinguish the channel and leverage an exclusivity message that can tie into some content creation, as well as amplifying the volume at some lower price points as well.
In terms of Amazon, for the time being, we don't see that as a true luxury play and where many of our core competitors play. We're more excited about engaging directly with our customers through our own digital channels and those of our premium wholesale customers.
Thank you. On to synergies, Kevin?
On the synergies that we noted earlier today, we are anticipating to realize $30 million-$35 million on 2018, which annualizes to a run rate of about $50 million. I think we've been working very diligently over the last several weeks. Just a reminder, we've only owned this business a little bit over one month. We've been pleased. We have dedicated teams across the company in specific areas. If you think about what the easier the longer term, I believe you asked about. What I would put in the easier bucket, think about lack of public company expenses, our ability to make some personnel changes early, our ability to get procurement savings. Those are in the more easier bucket.
If you think about more the longer term, that's generally in the systems area as well as the cost of goods sold, as it takes longer to affect changes there. Overall, I think we feel good about the process that's underway. We feel good about the teamwork across the organization. As I noted earlier, we will be updating you during each quarter's earnings call.
Okay. Thank you. Best regards.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Again, ladies and gentlemen, we ask in the interest of time that you limit yourself to one question. Our next question comes from Anna Andreeva with Oppenheimer.
Great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. We had a follow-up on gross margin. What's the negative impact we should expect from Kate for the year? Should we expect underlying Coach gross margin up for 2018? Then looking out, Coach brand operating margins just under 19% this year. You have previously talked about reaching low 20s. Maybe talk about the puts and takes for 2018 and beyond.
Several questions there. First, on the gross margin and the negative impact, I think on a consolidated basis for Kate. Did I get that right?
Yes.
I think we've not given specific gross margin rate, but it will be call it probably in the [170 to 200 million] or 200 basis points range net for the year. As I said earlier, it will be uneven by quarter as we do some of the actions, but you would expect it to have that kind of level as the gross profit is lower than the traditional or legacy Coach and Stuart business. The other question I know was the gross margin for the year for the Coach brands. Again, we've not given specific, but you should think about the Coach brand legacy businesses having modest gross margin rate expansion for the year. Then-
Thank you. That's helpful.
Okay. Anything else?
The operating margins, maybe talk about reaching the low 20s and the puts and takes there for the Coach brand. Thanks so much.
As we said earlier, the operating guidance that we have previously provided is no longer operable as we've moved to a house of brands, and we'll be providing annual operating guidance during fourth quarter each year as we're looking at it on the total business.
Got it. Okay, got it. Thanks so much, and best of luck.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Lindsay Drucker Mann with Goldman Sachs.
Thanks. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask about the comment on Kate and the outlet stores. Could you talk about, first of all, the split of where you expect to be opening outlet stores, maybe even just a little more detail on the overall Kate store expectation for next year. Where and what kinds of stores are those? Second, as you think about the potential competition with Coach brand in outlet stores with more competition from Kate and maybe customers cross-shopping, how you plan to mitigate any potential pressure on the legacy Coach brand business? Thanks.
Hi, Lindsay. I'll take the second half of your question first in terms of potential competition or overlap. I couldn't be more excited with the results that we just got back, in fact, no more than a month ago in post-purchase and combining our databases. As you know, we have a very large Coach database. We actually combined Coach, Stuart Weitzman, and Kate Spade databases and did a little bit of cross-shopping analysis, and the results came back at less than 10%. In fact, it was slightly above 10% between Stuart Weitzman and Kate, which was really the highest crossover that we saw, and that was just above 10. Very exciting news.
I think speaks to our initial views and assumptions going into this, which is, of course, that we're adding an incremental business, given the very unique brand attitude that Kate has, a much stronger leaning in towards a millennial consumer at over 60%, which compares to basically just over 30 for the Coach brand and a very differentiated brand attitude and positioning globally, not just here in the U.S., although nascent in international markets. In conclusion, we're not worried at all about crossover or competition, if you will. We see ourselves, obviously, growing total market share with a combined house of brands. In terms of distribution, very excited about the opportunities globally. As I talked earlier, I believe it was the first question in terms of just the number of opportunities ahead of us, both from a digital and brick-and-mortar perspective.
I think on the outlet side, the opportunities are really two. One is definitely distribution. The outlet channel provides great opportunity for those more value-conscious consumers that we see globally and visit probably of the brick-and-mortar channels, the one that we're still seeing development in a rather global aggressive pace compared to full price. Secondly, is the opportunity for just us to support that team. There's a great team in place, but we believe we can support them in managing it much more efficiently and better, whether that be, of course, through innovation and product and handbags, leveraging our supply chain, increasing and improving quality and gross margin overall. All opportunities that are ahead of us in differentiating between the channels as well. Exciting work still very much ahead of us on that front. We look forward to keeping you updated on it.
Great. Just on the outlet openings, U.S. versus Japan or overall store openings, the net store openings, where we should expect that to be for Kate?
I think you'll see it globally. We're still very much in the process of Look, we've owned the business for a month. We have plans to really drive the business globally. We're still in the process of negotiating with our partners and landlord partners globally. I think you'll see some growth in our opening here in the U.S. as well as internationally with the focus especially on Japan and China. Of course, China remains a business which is a joint venture with a third-party distributor, we will certainly fill you in on that and are very excited about the opportunity across all markets.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Mark Altschwager with Robert W. Baird.
Great. Good morning, thanks for all the details today. Just wanted to follow up regarding the new reporting. I think you mentioned plans for a low single-digit % increase in Coach brand global comps. Can you just give us a sense of how the comp growth has been tracking in the international segment, just to add some context to that guide? Then just directionally in North America, how are you thinking about the comp growth in fiscal 2018 versus fiscal 2017 for Coach brand? Thank you.
Yeah. On the international question, we have not provided comps on that. On the North America, we have historically, but as we said, going forward, we're going to provide global comps. As you indicated, we're expecting basically low single-digit growth in the Coach brand in fiscal 2018.
Okay. Thanks.
Thank you, Mark.
Our next question comes from Omar Saad with Evercore ISI.
Thanks for taking my question. I thought you made some interesting comments around the outlet consumers' response to some of the new products going through there. The fact that maybe you had to be a little bit more promotional than you expected. I think you also made some comments around not having enough logo product. Where do you see that cycle shifting back and forth? Help us understand what's going on in that channel because the product seems so much better. Thanks.
It is. Thank you, Omar. Very good question. I'll let Josh jump in on that.
Good morning. One of my early observations was really how this team has driven the outlet channel through innovation and how that has been resonating with our customers these past few quarters. I think what we saw different at the end of Q4 was that there was a resurgence in demand for some of our logo product that has traditionally occupied a higher margin within our mix. We had a higher turn on the logo product in the fourth quarter, and we're actually working hard now to position ourselves to be in business in that product. My observation are that is somewhat related to the overall logo trend. I also see it as a terrific sign for the brand's health that this heritage product that is so iconic to Coach is seeing resurgent demand wherever we have it.
Got it. You think it's a little bit of a trend, logos, and also just a reflection of the brand health and the demand for it.
Yeah, we see it as positive, and we're actively chasing now, and we anticipate to be in a more complete stock position for Q2.
Thank you very much. Best of luck.
Omar, I would just add that I think you'll see us developing into that across channels go forward, which is an exciting sign for us. It really is.
Full price, too.
Our next question.
Yes. Full price, too.
Thank you. Best of luck.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Michael Binetti with UBS.
Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions here. I just want to clarify one thing on the guidance really quickly. The Jimlar consolidation sounds like it's contributing to the gross margin guidance that you talked about for the year. Is there any way you could help us dimensionalize what that adds to the revenue or the EBIT line for the year, EBIT dollar line?
Michael, it's Kevin. To be clear, it's a negative to the gross margin rate for the year.
Correct
The last business, effectively 100% margin, now we take it in-house and obviously it's less than 100% because you got a cost. It's actually a modest headwind on the gross margin rate for the year. Overall, it will be small dollars in the big picture. It's not a material impact, but it's modestly or very slightly negative for the year if we're taking it back.
Okay. It does contribute to the upside of the revenue line, though. I just want to make sure that's in there, right?
We've not disclosed that, but again, it's a very tiny number in relation to basically a [$16 business].
Yeah. Michael, as you heard in my speaker's notes, we're really taking a very deliberate approach to the start here in year one. We've got a business that was starting with about 100 SKUs. That compares to anywhere north of 500, 600 SKUs under Jimlar. We're starting with about 120 wholesale doors, which from a department store to department store channel and wholesale, for example, would compare to 500 to 600 doors under Jimlar. If we were to include the disposition channel, they were at over thousands of doors. We're really starting with, I would say, a very focused and deliberate launch. Very excited about the opportunity long term, given the fact that it's a $28 billion opportunity for us that is growing. Of course, we're leveraging a lot of the know-how, specifically around fit, that we're getting from the Stuart Weitzman team.
Okay. Then, most of our other questions have been answered, but I may have a little curiosity. Can you give us a little language around the promotional environment? I know you have some competitors that are planning to close doors or may start closing doors. Maybe you could talk about what you're seeing in some of the local markets as that happens, and how you feel about your market share opportunity as you look ahead. Obviously, you'll be pulling back on one of your other brands, Kate Spade. How you think about the Coach market share opportunity into those competitive dynamics.
Sure. Look, overall, I would say that we don't see dramatic shifts across channels from a promotional perspective. Of course, the department store channel has specifically seen the most substantial pullback across brands, and there the impact of Kate Spade is truly minimal. One of the most positive surprises for us actually, and we knew this through our due diligence prior to the acquisition, has been just how clean that brand has been and how well it's been managed from a promotional perspective as it relates to the department store channel. So we're excited about that. There's not much cleaning to do there. As it relates to the online channel, again, we see most of the impact from our own actions, and what we see from Kate Spade as being very difficult to read in terms of impact across brands or across channels.
For us, this is really not as much about reducing it to gain market share in one channel or another, but really about managing brand health for the long term. That's the strategy, that's what we're focused on. In so doing, of course, allow for a much more sustainable growth, both top and bottom line for our brands.
Okay. Thanks a lot. Best of luck.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Paul Trussell with Deutsche Bank.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. You certainly touched on this already, maybe just a little bit more detail on the comp, especially in North America. You obviously comped the comp, which was impressive this quarter. Maybe just elaborate on your confidence to be able to continue to do so over the coming quarters and the particular factors and drivers that you're most excited about.
Look, we wouldn't add anything to what Josh already shared with you, which is obviously incredibly pleased with the fact that it's our fifth consecutive positive comp here in North America. Very focused on continuing to drive engagement across channels, both, of course, our brick and mortar full price outlet and digital channel. You'll see, of course, as Josh mentioned, digital continuing to be increasingly important for him and for the brands under his leadership. Globally, I wouldn't add anything to what we've just guided, which of course is the low single digit comp for the brand across markets, which we're excited about. Brand is increasingly global, as you know, with growth coming especially out of Europe and China, which has been a theme for a few quarters, and of course in China for a few years, that we're continuing to be very excited about.
Operator, we'll take one last question.
Our final question this morning will come from the line of Simeon Siegel with Nomura.
Yes. Anything you can elaborate on your comment to refocus Kate Spade's licensing? I believe they license a broader assortment of products. How much flexibility do you have there? Would that comment pertain to the geographic JV you have in Asia as well? Thanks.
Yes. The discussion about licenses are product-based licenses, not distribution-based licenses. As I mentioned, we do have a JV with China that, of course, we will be focusing on. As it relates to the product-based licenses, there is no intent to end anything early. A lot of these licenses do have short terms. We will be reevaluating them on a case-by-case basis. I think our objective is to truly focus on the core fashion categories, especially, and certain home licenses. You will definitely see us reduce the number and leverage talent much more fully within the handbag and accessories business, where we believe the greatest opportunity lies.
Great. Thanks. Just a random question if I can. When you talk about the promotional levels of outlet, do you find you're impacted by promotional levels across all outlet retailers, or it's specifically promotional levels of your peers?
I would say in general, when we talk about promotion levels, of course, we're most focused on what is happening, I would say, in the premium branded space and those domestic and European players that are closest to us across the distribution channels, whether that be especially, of course, in wholesale and in the outlet channel, which of course by nature is a promotional channel.
Great. Thanks a lot, guys. Best of luck for the year.
Thank you all. I'll turn it back over to Victor for some brief concluding remarks. Victor?
Thank you, Andrea. Just want to close by first and foremost welcoming the Kate Spade team. I know there's quite a few of those folks listening in and welcoming them to the Coach family. We're incredibly excited to have them as a part of the team and very much looking forward to supporting them and their growth as a brand, not only here in the U.S., but globally. Also want to thank and congratulate the Coach and Stuart Weitzman teams on a fantastic fiscal year 2017 as we continue to drive results in our brand transformation and as the Stuart Weitzman team moves under the direction of Wendy and Giovanni Morelli in its new chapter as well.
Obviously could not be more excited about our evolution corporately as a house of brands and bringing our vision to markets across the globe. Looking forward to continuing to connect with all of you as we share the work that we're doing, not only in driving our brands, but of course in integrating the Kate Spade brand in the quarters ahead. Thank you all.
This does conclude the Coach earnings conference call. We thank you for your participation in today's call. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful afternoon