In order to broaden its use of sustainable materials throughout its fashion line, Coach and Kate Spade’s parent company, Tapestry Inc., located in New York, plans to invest US $ 15 million in Gen Phoenix, a UK-based innovator in recycled leather. With the transaction, Tapestry’s ownership of Gen Phoenix increased to 9.9%, demonstrating a stronger dedication to circular fashion.
The investment is in line with the company’s larger sustainability goals and its strategy to draw in Generation Z, or people born between 1997 and 2012, who place a higher value on environmentally friendly design.
According to the company’s website, the collaboration started in 2022 with the introduction of Coach’s Coachtopia line, which caters to Generation Z and includes items created with at least 50% recycled leather fibres sourced from Gen Phoenix trash.
According to Tapestry’s chief financial and operational officer, Scott Roe, Coachtopia is a gauge of the purchasing habits of younger customers.
“It is helping us understand what’s important to this really critical demographic,” he said, adding that Coachtopia isn’t particularly commercially significant. Roe refused to provide Coachtopia’s portion of overall profits, stating only that it is still “relatively small.”
According to Gen Phoenix, the carbon footprint of their materials is 80% lower than that of virgin leather.
According to Elyse Winer, chief marketing officer of Gen Phoenix, the firms had previously worked together on an uncoated lining material that Coachtopia introduced to the market in less than a year.
As part of the investment, Tapestry will receive three years’ worth of recycled leather from Gen Phoenix, which sources waste materials from European companies and tanneries.
John Kennedy, CEO of Gen Phoenix, stated that the business is eager to collaborate with all Tapestry brands. Roe went on to say that there are still many possible uses for recycled materials throughout the company.
