Coach Expands Circular Strategy Through Coachtopia Growth

Coach is expanding its circular business model by integrating reuse, repair and recycled materials into its core growth strategy, positioning sustainability as both a revenue driver and a product design principle. Through its Coachtopia innovation platform and Coach (Re)Loved resale program, the brand is using circularity to attract younger consumers while reducing the environmental impact of its products.

The company said approximately 80% of its sustainability team's work is focused on advancing circular design principles. These include designing accessories that can be easily disassembled for material recovery and transforming leather scraps and other production waste into new commercial products.

"The message that resonates most loudly with Coach employees is that circular economy principles offer an opportunity to decouple revenue growth from environmental impacts," said Kim Matsoukas, Director of Sustainability, Coach.

Coach has made circularity a visible part of its consumer offering through Coach (Re)Loved, a resale program that offers repaired, restored, upcrafted and vintage products. The initiative sold more than 13,800 units in 2025, driven in part by growing demand from Generation Z consumers, who increasingly favor secondhand shopping over purchasing new products.

"We do not have tariffs on resale so there is some resilience there, and there is starting to be some recognition around that," Matsoukas said, highlighting an additional commercial advantage of the resale model amid changing US trade conditions.

The company's circular innovation efforts are led by Coachtopia, Coach's research and development platform for circular fashion. In fiscal 2025, Coachtopia launched the Alter/Ego collection, featuring bags made from leather scraps generated during the production of two of Coach's flagship designs, the Tabby and Brooklyn bags. The products have a 59% lower carbon footprint than comparable items, according to the company.

The Alter/Ego collection also marked a shift in Coach's approach to product development, moving beyond using existing waste toward designing future products to minimize waste generation from the outset. The initiative contributed to Coachtopia being recognized among Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2025 for advancing circular product design.

Coach also uses internal performance metrics to evaluate the business case for circularity. The company tracks the share of recycled or recovered materials incorporated into its products, revenue generated by its circular programs and the economic feasibility of recovering materials from existing products.

Another internal metric measures the effort required to disassemble a handbag relative to the value of the materials that can be recovered, helping guide future product design. "You want it to be greater than zero, because if it costs more to disassemble something than the output is valued at, you will never do it right,”  Matsoukas said.

By integrating circularity into product development, operations and customer engagement, Coach is positioning reuse and material recovery as business tools that support brand differentiation, operational efficiency and long-term growth, rather than standalone sustainability initiatives.