Bermudian Ian Bickley has been appointed president of Coach International.

Coach, the largest luxury leather-goods maker in the US, is known for its signature Coach bags and a growing inventory of accessories.

In his new position, Mr. Bickley, 42, is in charge of all of Coach?s business outside of North America, which currently represents 28 percent of total business.

The graduate of Saltus Academy traces his rise through the retail sector to his youth in Bermuda.

He spent many weekends and summers helping out his late father, Walter, who owned The Outdoor Living Centre which is now The Living Centre.

Mr. Bickley furthered his experience in the apparel sector during his college years when he and a friend started a business manufacturing and selling hand-woven cotton shorts to the fraternities. The shorts were so popular that after he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Harvard University, the partners took up their sportswear business full-time.

?We didn?t know a lot about business but I learned alot during that time period,? he said.

After a stint as a consultant for a strategic management consulting firm and four years working for Germany?s Quick Response GMBH, Mr. Bickley joined Coach in 1993 as director of international planning and operations.

He rose to his new post after serving as president and CEO of Coach Japan where he engineered the transition from distributor relationships to the creation of subsidiary Coach Japan Inc. The business grew fourfold under his leadership over the last several years, elevating Coach from the number five to the number two imported handbag and accessory brand in Japan after Louis Vuitton.

Currently based in Japan, Mr. Bickley is responsible for assessing future opportunities for Coach?s geographical expansion around the world.

While the company is looking at expansion in the Caribbean and Bermuda ? Coach left Bermuda before Trimingham?s closed down ? Mr. Bickley said the major focus for Coach continues to be Asia because of the emerging consumer spending in those markets.

?China now is a country that everybody is watching and today we?re actually planning to grow using Hong Kong as a gateway for growing our business in greater China,? he said.

As for the Bermuda market, Mr. Bickley sees it as a ?very challenging? place for local retailers for the sheer reason that Bermudians have so many opportunities to travel abroad and shop.

?It is difficult for retailers here to effectively compete, especially with the pricing structures and import duties. That is a challenge and, certainly for a brand like Coach, if we were going to do business here we would have to carefully study what the pricing would be in a place like Bermuda,? he said.

While a number of Coach?s competitors have a presence here and new speciality stores have opened up he said: ?The big thing you see when you go down Front Street is an empty lot down near the bird-cage where Trimingham?s and Smith?s used to be.

?It kind of makes you wonder.?

The empty space is not, however, the reason that Coach has not reopened in Bermuda since its presence in Trimingham?s disappeared.

?We have many requests and inquiries for distribution opportunities all around the world at any one point in time and we look at every opportunity very seriously and, for us, it is really a matter of when is the right time and what?s the right way to do it,? Mr. Bickley said.

?It is certainly not about not considering opportunity at all.?

Mr. Bickley always holds the idea of returning to Bermuda with his family in the back of his mind, but he has no concrete plans to move back anytime soon since many opportunities lie ahead with his new promotion.

In the next several years, he wants to double the size of the Japanese business to 15 percent of the market and also focus on growth in Asia and around the world.