Coachtopia x Everywhere: Project Case Study
WORDS: ALYSSA KNOWLING
PRODUCT PHOTOS: COACH
COACHTOPIA NYC POP UP PHOTOS: SEAN FUNCIK
The Story of Coachtopia’s Recycled Cotton Apparel, Made by Everywhere
In 2022, Coach invited us to become an apparel partner in the creation of their circular sub-brand, Coachtopia.
What followed was a year-long project that showcased the full range of Everywhere’s capabilities, from waste sourcing to fabric development to custom garment creation.
Here’s how we transformed landfill-destined waste into Coachtopia’s sustainable t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants.
Creating a Sustainable, Closed Loop Fashion Ecosystem with Coachtopia
Over the last few years, Coach’s SVP of Marketing + Head of Coachtopia Joon Silverstein and Creative Director Stuart Vevers have been integrating sustainable design into the brand, paving the way for more circular approaches in fashion. The creation of Coachtopia was an extension of this work. Geared towards a younger, more eco-conscious consumer, the brand aimed to create a closed loop ecosystem by making the line from scraps and waste.
While Coach worked within their own supply chain to create many of Coachtopia’s pieces, they turned to us to develop the line’s recycled cotton apparel and fabrics. We embarked on a multi-step process to turn post-industrial waste into the finished Coachtopia garments.
Along the way, we used our closed loop system as a model to help faciliate future recycling solutions for Coachtopia pieces at end-of-life. Our ability to provide circularity as a service is a major reason Coach chose to work with us.
The Start of the Project: Collaborative Planning, Color Selection + Waste Sourcing
The project began with conversations between Everywhere and Coach’s development team to discuss their needs and wants in developing custom fabrics for the cotton apparel. Coach’s team wanted sustainably made, recycled fabrics that matched the Pantone colors chosen for the collection.
We also spent time looking at fabric qualities from Coach’s retail brand to help us replicate the look and feel of those virgin materials as closely as possible.
Using post-industrial waste streams readily available in the Everywhere supply chain, we custom sourced specific colors of scraps of the Pantone colors Coach selected for the fabrics. This process allowed us to match the colors without having to dye most of the line’s garments, saving water and adding to the overall sustainability of the project.
Fabric Development + Compliance Testing
The selected waste was shredded into fiber and turned into GRS-certified cotton yarn in Mexico, then knit into fabrics in Los Angeles. All stages of this process happened within our environmentally-friendly and ethical supply chain.
Our materials passed the Tapestry group’s rigorous lab and compliance testing for global distribution in the US, Europe, Singapore, Japan, and China.
We then sent samples to Coach’s product development team, and landed on 4 custom fabrics that were put into final production.
Garment Creation: Body Development, Cut + Sew, Fittings, and Decoration Testing
With fabrics ready to go, garment development began. We created patterns for garments based on direction from Coach’s design team. After multiple fittings and market research, we landed on 5 core garment bodies that appealed to Gen Z customers and became the foundation of the Coachtopia cotton apparel collection.
All of the final t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants were cut and sewn in our Los Angeles headquarters. Fun fact: our COO and Co-founder Irys Kornbluth had her (literal, as pictured) hand in all phases of production, especially during the rigorous testing we did for garment decoration.
Coach’s team and artist partners created poppy, colorful graphics in many styles to print on the Everywhere pieces. We leaned on our deep knowledge of apparel decoration during the trial and error process of finding the right printing techniques, sizes, and placements that best showcased both linear and modern, digital styles of artwork.
By the end of the project, over 25 rounds of decoration tests were done to land on printing techniques that made the artwork look great and used as sustainable decoration methods as possible.
Final Artwork Printing
Coach partnered with artists Sabrina Lau and Mikey Poster to create many of the graphics found on the apparel we created for Coachtopia. It was crucial for us to find decoration techniques that brought their art to life on the garments.
For the Spring and Summer ‘23 lines, we chose direct-to-film printing, using water-based inks with PU adhesive. The Fall ‘23 line was screenprinted using PVC-free inks.
Meet Sabrina Lau:
Instagram
Website
Meet Mikey Poster:
Instagram
Website
“It was an honor to be a partner in building the Coachtopia world and work closely with Coach’s incredible creative teams to bring this circular product line to life.” - Irys Kornbluth, Everywhere COO + Co-founder
The Finished Work: How Sustainable Success Benefits the Future of Fashion
Stuart Vevers looked at every collection and made final decisions for which styles went into production. Over 40 styles of hoodies, short and long sleeve t-shirts, and sweatpants made by Everywhere were commercially produced for Coachtopia in 2023. The line has been distributed in Singapore, UK, USA, Japan, China + online.
Everywhere’s partnership with Coachtopia will continue to expand in the future. We are now the primary raw materials supplier for their knitwear line, and are end-of-life recycling partners for post-consumer Coachtopia garments. Together, we’re building more circular futures in fashion.
Learn more about Coachtopia:
The World of Coachtopia
Press Feature: Vogue
Press Feature: The New York Times
Everywhere x Coachtopia Partnership Press Feature: The Apparelist
