Coach launches new sub-brand focused on ‘circular crafts’

Luxury brand Coach has unveiled a new sub-brand which it said will be focused on “circular craft and collaborative creativity”.

Entitled ‘Coachtopia’, the label comes with its own Made Circular design philosophy, which centres around three principles informing how it designs, crafts and reuses products.

In a release, Coach said the concept looks to reimagine the product lifecycle, with the goal of reducing the creation of new materials by utilising waste and creating products that can be reimagined and recycled.

Alongside this ethos, Coachtopia also looks to bridge the gap between brand and consumer through co-creation, with plans to implement collaborative programmes that will showcase new talent and involve Gen Z consumers in the creation process.

In a release, Josh Silverstein, SVP, global marketing, creative and sustainability at Coach and the new head of Coachtopia, called the brand “an agile start-up” and “discovery lab” that offers a “more open-source approach to creativity”.

Silverstein added: “We’re building [Coachtopia] 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 centre stage in our content and campaigns – and reimagine our future together.”

Coachtopia launches with genderless collection in US, Canada and UK

The brand has launched with an all-gender collection of bags, accessories, ready-to-wear and footwear “made with recycled, repurposed and renewable materials”.

Over its lifespan, Coach said it looks to continue innovating with limited drops of “experimental” items that “push circular craft even further”, with the additional commitment to take back each product at its end-of-life to reuse, remake or recycle.

Each item sold via Coachtopia also comes with a digital passport, which can be accessed via an embedded NFC chip giving customers an insight into the materials used and the impact it has.

The brand is already available in the US, Canada and the UK on Coach’s e-commerce site, and has also been integrated into Selfridges’ Worn Again scheme. At a later date, the concept will launch in select Coach stores and further locations throughout the US, as well as in Asia later this year.

Coachtopia builds on the efforts of Coach as a whole, which has been making a series of investments in recent years to improve the end-to-end sustainability of its business. This has seen the Tapestry-owned brand launch and expand the likes of Coach (Re)Loved, a programme dedicated to repurposing and rehoming pre-loved Coach products.