Coach has adjusted its product design and business strategy to incorporate circular economy principles, focusing on reuse, repair, and recycled materials.
According to the company, 80 per cent of its sustainability team’s work is dedicated to advancing circular design, which includes manufacturing accessories that can be disassembled for material recovery and turning production scrap, such as leather scraps, into new products.
Data from the company shows that its resale initiative, Coach (Re)Loved, sold more than 13,800 repaired, restored, and vintage units last year.
Company representatives noted that the program has seen significant demand from Gen Z consumers who are embracing the practice of collecting pre-loved items rather than purchasing new 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 at Coach.
The company’s circular fashion research platform, Coachtopia, recently launched a collection made from leather scraps generated during the manufacturing of existing bag designs.
The company reports that these products carry a 59 per cent lower carbon footprint compared to standard items and earned the company a prize from ‘Fast Company‘s Most Innovative Companies of 2025’ for advancing circular product design.
To evaluate the financial feasibility of these programs, Coach tracks internal metrics such as the volume of recycled materials used, the revenue generated from circular lines, and the labour cost required to disassemble an old handbag relative to the market value of the recovered materials.
Coach uses reuse and material recovery as strategic tools that differentiate the brand’s identity from others and improve operational efficiency for the company’s long-term development, not just as sustainable initiatives.
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