COACH X MADE CIRCULAR: “A More Open-Source Approach to Creativity.”
Coachtopia was developed from the bottom up with circularity in mind, with its Made CircularTM design philosophy serving as the bedrock for the sub-approach brand’s to product design, production, and reuse. Coachtopia draws on the company’s 80-plus years of experience working with leather to reinvent the entire product lifetime, from concept to disposal, in an effort to cut down on the need for new raw materials by making use of scraps and producing durable goods that can be reused and recycled. In doing so, it contributes to the development of aesthetically pleasing objects that have a much smaller ecological footprint than typical luxury goods.
“Circularity is about reimagining not just the product lifecycle, but the relationship between brand, planet and consumer. That’s why we’ve created Coachtopia as both a discovery lab to pioneer circularity in fashion and a collaborative platform for change,” says Joon Silverstein, SVP, Global Marketing, Creative and Sustainability at Coach and Head of Coachtopia. “We know that to transform our impacts, we need to fundamentally shift mindsets—from seeing opportunity in waste to designing backwards to taking a more open-source approach to creativity. We’ve built Coachtopia as an entirely new world within Coach—an agile start-up with a mission to reimagine the end-to-end system. We’re building it not just for our consumers, but with them, inviting a growing community of hundreds of Gen Z individuals to join us on our Slack channel, collaborate with us on products, take center stage in our content and campaigns—and reimagine our future together.”
Coachtopia is resetting the paradigm between brand and consumer by co-creating a new brand with a growing community of Gen Z individuals, ranging from climate activists, designers, and upcyclers to journalists, film makers, entrepreneurs, and fashion enthusiasts, all of whom share a passion for addressing the climate crisis and a desire to drive change. Members of the Coachtopian community have been contributing to Coachtopia since its inception, discussing their thoughts on cyclical fashion, developing new ideas, and establishing benchmarks for the kind of change they hope to see. Coachtopia’s goal is to find solutions to the issues plaguing the fashion industry, so the company is investing in the future generation of talent through collaborative programmes.
“We were inspired by our shared desire to do better for the planet by inventing new circular ways of dreaming, designing and creating,” said Coach Creative Director Stuart Vevers. “It’s a bigger, bolder step forward in realizing our vision for sustainability at Coach, where we prioritize experimenting and learning, and ethical design intentions over cookie cutter perfection. Coachtopia takes this to a new level by challenging us to ‘design in reverse,’ with the end goal of circularity top of mind, in collaboration with the next generation and their optimistic vision for tomorrow.”
Coachtopia is a developing community with a vision of circularity that is being refined over time. It expands on the brand’s prior work with Coach (Re)Loved and the investments Coach is making to enhance the end-to-end sustainability of its company. Since its introduction in April 2021, Coach (Re)Loved has repurposed over 20,000 Coach products, shedding light on the components of traditional luxury workmanship that make circularity problematic and, by extension, the need to design for circularity from the outset in order to achieve it at scale. Coachtopia rises to the challenge by rapidly designing solutions and establishing a constant feedback loop with Coach to foster growth in both parties.
Coachtopia is an all-inclusive line of bags, accessories, ready-to-wear and footwear designed with our Made CircularTM principles in mind, and made from recycled, repurposed and renewable materials. Coachtopia has pledged to accept back every product at the end of its life for reuse, recreating, or recycling, and as the company expands, it will continue to innovate through limited drops of experimental products that push circular craft ever further. Each handbag, wallet, pair of shoes, and piece of ready-to-wear comes with its own digital passport, accessible via an NFC chip, that details the product’s materials, Made CircularTM design, and affects. With this digital passport in hand, it will be possible to track the product while it through several iterations of maintenance, refurbishment, reuse, and reinvention.