The brand behind Grace Kelly's iconic bag from 'Rear Window' has spent the last decade reviving its womenswear unit. Here's how it plans to conquer menswear next.

• Mark Cross, founded in 1845 and relaunched in 2011, is America's oldest accessories brand.
• The brand recently relaunched its menswear collection after focusing on its womenswear division for the last decade.
• CEO Ulrik Garde Due and Creative Director Sean Mathews told Business Insider about relaunching amid a pandemic and their quest to appeal to male shoppers — and the next generation of luxury consumers.

Luxury brand Mark Cross knows what young people want. In fact, it's all that CEO Ulrik Garde Due can think about, and everything Creative Director Sean Mathews has been prepping for.

"We are constantly trying to evolve this heritage brand to make sure that we are honoring our really amazing, unique past, while also being able to look forward and continue to evolve," Mathews told Business Insider.

This blend of honoring the past while looking to the future has been a hallmark of the brand since it relaunched around 2011.

Mark Cross was a midcentury fixture, with its little black box-shaped bag famously appearing with Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic "Rear Window." Today, the brand is sold throughout the world and it's once again producing its famous "Grace" bag, which has reemerged as its signature product. The "Grace" bag is adored by Taylor Swift, while other Mark Cross products have been worn by Rihanna and model Alexa Chung.

By the 1990s, however, Mark Cross' Coach stablemate, under the ownership of Sara Lee, was increasingly eating into its audience, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. Sara Lee shut down Mark Cross in 1997, and it stayed that way until its 2011 revival by businessman Neal J. Fox at the late Barneys New York.

Both Garde Due and Mathews hopped on a phone call with Business Insider to discuss this year's relaunch of Mark Cross' menswear collection and how the brand plans to court Gen Zers and young millennials, especially amid the pandemic.

Designing bags with a laptop fit in mind — something that wasn't necessary in the 1920s

After Mark Cross relaunched in 2011, it focused heavily on building up its womenswear line, with the menswear collection officially launching this month. Mathews told Business Insider that for the latest collection, he looked to bring back the more vintage elements of the brand while being mindful of modernizing.

"We've done pieces that are still quite modern, where they do fit modern technology, even though they might just be a classic style," Mathews said, adding that, especially for the menswear collection, the brand tries to balance traditionalism with "sporty chic."

Also with modernity in mind, for this latest collection Mark Cross launched TrueTwins, a service that creates a digital twin to the physical product which traces the eco-footprint of a specific product. It's a feature that will give consumers full transparency as to how their products were made and marketed via a Digital Passport.

Garde Due said "something positive" to come out of the pandemic is that the consumer is realizing they have to be "much more considerate when they buy products," and so Mark Cross as a brand needs to make sure the consumer is informed and has "the right level of transparency so that the consumer can make the right choices."

"It goes back to what are the pieces that the modern man needs," Mathews said. The brand looked at the "Mark Cross man" and decided he's a "traveler," constantly moving around. "He may have offices now at home and in the city, he may be traveling for work."

The question is what essentials will this man need, and that led to a collection including a backpack, giving customers more of a hands-free opportunity to move around, and a wallet, which Mathews called a "classic piece that can always be held onto."

For the most part, appealing to Gen Zers and young millennial consumers is occupying Mathews' thoughts, but he said the brand understands it can't possibly connect with every single person on the planet. Instead, he said, it's perhaps more realistic to appeal to different factions — the street style lovers, the casual wear connoisseurs, and the sporty customers.

"More dapper men will always love the art of dressing" and will always want "these more suited, these more tailored, heritage classic-type pieces" Mathews said.

In terms of marketing and production, both Mathews and Garde Due said they look at how to evolve the functionality of Mark Cross products over time, rather than how to specifically target consumers based on generation differences. This will help the products remain relevant over time.

"I feel that there's a real opportunity for us to really continuously stand for what we have always been representing in terms of having an exquisitely quality product, with great design, but also with that functionality and practicality element that is so important out there today," Garde Due told Business Insider.

Garde Due also said that he believes younger generations will come to appreciate the heritage aspect and investment value of the brand. To help with this, Garde Due said, the brand is looking to champion the individuality of both the brand itself and its customers, noting that consumers are still investing in beautiful products while they approach brands with a more "socially conscious mindset."

"We are creating the future of vintage," Mathews said. "We're always keeping that thought in mind when creating these pieces." The world is changing very fast, he said, making that concept of tomorrow's vintage more important than ever.