On the rarest of occasions, AOC wakes up to a significant new reality in fashion world, a radical process that turns everything upside down. Going foward, we will share the news by playing probably the most important marketing video ever to date ‘The Crazy Ones’.

Today, April 24, 2023 Anne of Carversville shares ‘The Crazy Ones’ worthy: COACHTOPIA.

We will also make an unpaid-for, informative video of the post for AOC’s Pinterest — and our Pinterest banner the entire month of May will support COACHTOPIA. It’s our way of saying ‘thank you’ for thinking different. Lastly, we will track the project regularly and report on its progress in a special section of the AOC landing page — THINK DIFFERENT — again without compensation.

This idea has been in the planning for some time, but the facts of the COACHTOPIA process as detailed by Vogue Business are downright inspiring for all business types to digest and take action on.

We will become a COACH affiliate —being already approved through the platform — but we will only promote COACHTOPIA and other Coach products that have sustainable credentials.

I was contacted by COACH earlier this year about a cashmere post and refused to take it. If COACHTOPIA can do recycled cashmere or a similar ethical cashmere in good standing with the community, Anne of Carversville will become a devoted advocate for the collection.

It’s our obligation as citizens of Mother Earth to move forward the global civilization destroying her. We want to give hope to the earnest, environmentally-conscious young people not bagging daily loot from Schein on TikTok that we are listening. And we are taking actions that match our words for them and the futures of all our children.

Yes, Governor DeSantis, we are The Wokes. And you are no Steve Jobs.

COACHTOPIA Community

A defining component of Coachtopia, Joon Silverstein, SVP, global marketing, creative and sustainability explained to Vogue Business, is that it is built as a “community” and has invited a “beta community” of Gen Z environmentally-conscious, individuals to collaborate and give feedback on Coachtopia concepts and products.

Emerging artists will be key players in future product drops and design collaborations.

“How consumers respond to the designs, and possibly to the entire sub-brand concept, will be its own question” Silverstein continued.

AOC can tell you how they have responded, because I just visited the website, credit card out and ready to buy almost any COACHTOPIA bag. Hopefully not a black one, but I arrived at Coach online with an unusually flexible mindset.

This is the beautiful — if frustrating — scene that greeted me at the Coach website. I hit every colorway and ALL are SOLD OUT. Of course, I gave COACH my treasured email addy.

COACHTOPIA AT SELFRIDGES&CO London

COACHTOPIA has opened a shop at Selfridges in London and the shop design carries the same circularity concepts:

- Bright signs made from neon leftover offcuts
- Fixtures made with pressed leather materials (created with leftover @coach bag scraps)
- Trays made from recycled textile offcuts
- Hangers made from recycled 98% cardboard
- Modular furniture that can be taken apart and used elsewhere

Now think of all the recent American popups that come to mind. Did a certain fashion princess promoting sustanability [and I use the word loosely] use materials like these in her popup shops? It’s doubtful, as there’s little evidence of a any sustainability plan at work with her until now.

Unlike Instagram, where COACHTOPIA has 8,474 followers, the post of the Selfridge shop has 7,6,24 in 2 days. Right now, the Europeans are enthused — which it to be expected. When you see the proverbial comment that says “checking airfare’, the IG needs a popup that gives the train schedule from her city.

Then again, maybe it’s a rich American flying to London. I’d love to know if the Coach website is sold out in American purchases or oveseas ones.

Alright, America and friends around the world. Can we please give COACHTOPIA a bloody IG like!!!

True Love with Kind Criticism

I’ve been thinking about LOEWE Paula’s all week, after reading more about the history of Ibiza with the new 2023 campaign post. And I adore the heck out of LOEWE, doing fantastic sustainability work in their fragrances and home accessories.

But AOC notes that in the first three items listed under ‘New’ on the Selfridges website, COACHTOPIA’s Ergo, grained leather shoulder bag and MARINE SERRE’s Moon-print V-neck cotton-blend blazer carry the PROJECT EARTH designation. The LOEWE Oaula’s Ibiza Fringe Square leather bucket bag does not. Do we care?

Vogue Business notes that the reason COACHTOPIA is so important is that it acknowledges the reality that employing circularity concepts at scale is really challengng.

Most ‘green’ bloggers have no experience dealing with the real challenges involved in mass production — even when the brand wants to be a good environmental citizen. And they are changing the rules every time they review big brands — adding to their requirements lists that have spun into a total life of the worker list of must-dos.

The negative social media blast against brands can be terrifying. Just ask Coach.

Having acknowledged this truth, all of us have an obligation to separate brands that are truly innovating to ‘think different’ compared to those who are not.

Call it “tough love” because I truly like — or love — brands that I may criticize — LOEWE being today’s example.

With COACHTOPIA:

Coach flipped its traditional production process on its head. Rather than a vision and a sketch, designers started with scraps on a cutting room floor. The handbags are made almost entirely from materials that were destined for landfill, with excess leather fragments arranged into vibrant floral patterns and zipper tracks repurposed into embellishments. The waste-forward products are a bid to transform the supply chain and move toward a circular industry, Coach says to all press.

Meet the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The New York Times took up the COACHTOPIA case last Thursday. The headline was a dose of elite cynicism: Can Coach Get Shoppers to Buy Bags Made From Waste Scraps? At least it didn’t say “decayed mushrooms”.

Jules Lennon, fashion lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity that focuses on the circular economy, told the Times that Coachtopia was a great starting point. She called it a “major step forwards on Coach’s pathway” to better business practices.

Corporate owner Tapestry in April, 2023 joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Network and Fashion Initiative Advisory Board, a dedicated group of leading fashion brands across the globe that are committed to redesigning the future of fashion.

Lennon was also clear that others are doing even better, citing Timberland. The company’s goal is for all products to be designed for circularity and all its natural materials to be sourced by regenerative agriculture by 2030.

AOC shares an Ellen MacArthur Foundation video on the circular economy. This is not the first time AOC has written about the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The point is that the fashion industry is not meeting our targets. We ALL must do better, and that includes AOC, in promoting and free marketing companies who are truly trying to breakthrough towards a circular economy. This video breaks the concept down in very easy to understand terms. ~ Anne