What Is Coachtopia? Introducing Coach’s Circular Sub-Brand

Client: CoachCoachtopia
Launch: 20 April 2023Two days before Earth Day
Shoot: 17 March 2023Long Island City, Queens
Coachtopians: NineOn the East River
Cameras: RED and LeicaPlus GoPro and Canon R5
Turnaround: 30 daysFrom shoot to launch

Coachtopia is Coach’s circular sub-brand: bags, clothes and shoes crafted from waste and designed to be remade, launched on 20 April 2023 with a community of Gen Z creatives at its heart. RIOT made the films that introduced them.

Nine Coachtopians.
One morning on the East River.
Thirty days to launch.

Lola Tung in a This Is Coachtopia T-shirt by the East River

RIOT has made work for Coach since 2014. Just before Coachtopia we made the stop-motion films for its (Re)Loved ReMade line, the Remade Bear and the Rexy puzzle, and when Coach set out to build a circular brand with its own community, we were there from the first film to the launch.

What is Coachtopia?

Coachtopia is a sub-brand of Coach, built on circular design. Coach calls it a discovery lab: a place to work out how luxury can be made from what already exists, and kept in use for longer. Its launch collection of bags, accessories, clothes and shoes was all-gender and crafted with waste, from leather scraps to recycled materials, and Coach promised to take every piece back at the end of its life to be reused, remade or recycled.

Every piece carries a digital passport, read by tapping a phone to the NFC chip inside it. The passport tells the piece’s story: what it is made of, where it was made, its carbon and waste impact, and how to care for it, repair it or trade it in. We made the film that explains it, drawn by hand by our art director, Rose Hidalgo.

The digital passport, from our NFC chip explainer

The idea underneath it all fits in a single loop. We drew it for Coachtopia’s first community film in 2022: minimize virgin raw materials, make to remake, sell, resell, restore and remake, and around again.

Circular design, from the 2022 Beta Community film

Hand-drawn Coachtopia A Beta Community title card with hills, clouds and a rainbow

“Coachtopia is the starting point
to a never-ending loop.”

Caulin, climate activist and creator, in his Coachtopia launch film

Meet the nine

Coachtopia was built with its community: Gen Z activists, designers, upcyclers and makers, hundreds of them talking on the brand’s Slack. Nine came to the launch shoot, each with their own reason for being there. Trey Denis designs Coachtopia’s handbags. Tyler McGillivary was making a series of pieces from deadstock and recycled materials. Sabrina Lau drew the graphics on the totes and the clothes.

All nine, from the all-talent film

Lola Tung in red boots and a black leather skirt with a checkered bag on the lawn — Lola Tung, actor.

Maya smiling on a curved bench on the East River boardwalk — Maya, climate activist and designer.

Caulin in a denim bucket hat and green Coachtopia hoodie beside a film light — Caulin, climate activist and creator.

Sabrina Lau in black overalls and a blue T-shirt holding a bag by the river rail — Sabrina Lau, graphic designer.

Tyler McGillivary in a red T-shirt leaning on the river rail — Tyler McGillivary, fashion designer and upcycler.

Sinn Chhin in a green striped sweater by the river rail — Sinn Chhin, makeup artist and designer.

Rahmir Megget in a pink hoodie and patchwork shorts with the Manhattan skyline behind — Rahmir Megget, entrepreneur and model.

Trey Denis in a black hoodie by the East River — Trey Denis, Coachtopia’s handbag designer.

Natalia Spotts in a brown leather coat with a checkered bag on the waterfront — Natalia Spotts, secondhand boutique owner.

With them came Mauricio Alvarado, Coach’s master craftsman, who sat on a cloud under the old Pepsi-Cola sign as if he had always lived there.

Coach master craftsman Mauricio Alvarado sitting on a cloud of cotton under the Pepsi-Cola sign — Mauricio Alvarado, Coach’s master craftsman, on a cloud of cotton under the Pepsi-Cola sign.

“A company of this size
and of this legacy
is implementing circularity
in a really unique way.”

Maya, climate activist and designer, in her Coachtopia launch film

One morning on the East River

We shot on 17 March 2023, inside Coach’s own campaign shoot at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City, with Manhattan laid out across the water. The day began before six, in hair and makeup at Culture Lab, an arts space a few blocks inland, and moved out to sets strung along the waterfront: clouds of cotton on bright green benches, a painted mountain range, a pink bicycle, a garden of bags under the Pepsi-Cola sign.

A cotton cloud set on a green bench under the Pepsi-Cola sign in Long Island City — A cloud set under the Pepsi-Cola sign, a Long Island City landmark.

Rahmir, Sinn and Sabrina sitting on a set of cotton clouds — Rahmir, Sinn and Sabrina, on the clouds.

Caulin in a Coachtopia hoodie holding an orange woven prop — Caulin, in a Coachtopia hoodie, with an orange woven prop.

We ran two units. The first gave each Coachtopian time of their own on a RED Komodo, for the interviews that became their films. The second roamed the sets for everything in between: vertical video for social on a Leica Q2, 360-degree footage on a GoPro Max, and stills on a Canon R5.

RIOT interviewing Lola Tung on the Long Island City waterfront, camera on a gimbal and a boom mic overhead — Interviewing Lola Tung on the waterfront.

Lola Tung inspecting a purple jacket rigged on a stand, Caulin behind — Lola Tung looks over a jacket rigged on a stand for the camera, Caulin behind.

Trey Denis sitting on an orange ladder with Sabrina Lau beside him — Trey Denis up the ladder, Sabrina Lau beside him.

Lola Tung beside a film light and stands on the lawn — Lola Tung under the lights on the lawn.

Crew carrying a bench of cotton clouds across the lawn at Gantry Plaza State Park

Thirty days to launch

From the shoot to launch we had thirty days. Out of one morning came three films built around Lola, Maya and Caulin, two group films for the designers and the activists, an all-talent sizzle and a behind-the-scenes sizzle, each cut for 16:9, 1:1 and 9:16 with captions for TikTok and Instagram, plus press edits, ad versions and twenty retouched photographs. The talent films have a page of their own.

The collection did its part. Coachtopia’s first drop sold out on Coach.com within 48 hours, and a second drop later that week sold out too.

Coachtopia Ergo bags arranged on a round mirror on the boardwalk — Coachtopia Ergo bags on the boardwalk.

Sabrina Lau sitting on the waterfront wall with the Manhattan skyline behind — Sabrina Lau on the waterfront wall.

The film crew on the boardwalk with the Manhattan skyline behind — The crew on the boardwalk, Manhattan behind.

The cloud in the logo

Coachtopia’s wordmark has a cloud living in it. In the weeks before launch we animated it into a run of logo stings, with a new batch every Monday for Coach to choose from: the cloud bounces in and becomes the O, the letters wiggle through the rainbow, a globe turns beneath the name.

Cloud Hop

Rainbow Wiggle

Globe

Color End: the clouds part on Coachtopia’s world

From the Beta to Alter/Ego

Coachtopia, as we made it

Jun 2022The Beta CommunityA recruitment film for Coachtopia’s first community, voiced at our studio and drawn by hand.
Early 2023The passportThe NFC chip explainer, from voiceover to animation.
Mar 2023The stingsA new batch of logo animations every Monday.
17 MarThe shootNine Coachtopians on the Queens waterfront.
20 AprLaunchCoachtopia goes live in the US, Canada and the UK, and at Selfridges London.
Sep 2024Alter/EgoBack in the workshop, as a nature documentary.

Coachtopia, in short

Coachtopia and RIOT →Fashion creative agency →

What is Coachtopia?

Coachtopia is Coach’s circular sub-brand, launched in April 2023. It makes bags, accessories, clothes and shoes with waste and recycled materials, designs them to be repaired, remade and recycled, and builds the brand with a community of young creatives.

What does Coachtopia mean?

The name joins Coach and utopia: Coach’s picture of a better, circular future for fashion, built together with its community.

Is Coachtopia part of Coach?

Yes. Coachtopia is a sub-brand of Coach, the New York fashion house owned by Tapestry. At launch it was led by Joon Silverstein, Coach’s SVP of Global Marketing, Creative and Sustainability.

When did Coachtopia launch?

On 20 April 2023, on Coach.com in the US, Canada and the UK and at Selfridges in London, with Asia to follow later that year.

How does Coachtopia support circular fashion?

It starts with what already exists. Pieces are crafted with waste, designed to be remade, tracked by a digital passport through care, repair and trade-in, and taken back by Coach at the end of their life to be reused, remade or recycled.

What is Coachtopia made from?

Recycled, repurposed and renewable materials, including leather from production waste and recycled scraps, with every piece designed to be repaired, remade or recycled when it wears out.

What is the Coachtopia digital passport?

Every Coachtopia piece has an NFC chip inside. Tap it with a phone and its passport opens: what it is made of, where it was made, its carbon and waste impact, and how to care for it, repair it or trade it in. RIOT animated the film that explains it.

What does the Coachtopia logo look like?

A soft, hand-drawn wordmark from a world of hand-drawn clouds, flowers and rainbows. For the launch we animated it into a set of logo stings, including the Cloud Hop, where a cloud bounces in and becomes the O.

Who made the Coachtopia launch films?

RIOT, the New York creative agency. We have made films for Coachtopia since its Beta Community in 2022, and for Coach since 2014.

Credits