Coach used to be an exclusive brand. It was expensive and generally not on sale. They had limited "Coach Factory" locations selling closeouts and overstocks, and these weren't in outlet malls but in upscale shopping areas like Carmel, Napa Valley, etc.
It's not bad, but it's no longer what they used to be. There was a time when they took pride that their manufacturing was primarily in the US and they had a lifetime warranty that they actually backed with service. They had no external logos, and the quality of the leather was supposed to indicate that it was a Coach product. I don't think I've seen anything recently from them that has the heavy "baseball glove" style leather that used to be their signature. They have a difference between "Factory" styles that go straight to outlet malls and others, although I can't really tell the difference in terms of quality. Honestly - the brand doesn't represent what it used to. It's a mass-market brand that falls back on its history. The transition seemed to start around the time they became a publicly traded company and had to answer to shareholders.
My wife likes MK, but then again they also make the bulk of the revenue through outlet sales these days.