Luxury fashion brand, Coach, brings its Spring 2024 collection to the metaverse in collaboration with Roblox and Zepeto. This digital initiative is in alignment with Coach’s “Find Your Courage” campaign, which fosters self-expression and aspires to make luxury fashion more accessible and interactive.

Coach’s virtual “Find Your Courage” campaign. Image: www.coach.com

Coach’s virtual “Find Your Courage” campaign stars Lil Nas X, Camila Mendes, Youngji Lee, Kōki and Wu Jinyan in addition to virtual character Imma. Directed by Valée Duhamel and photographed by Charlie Engman, the campaign was created using CGI and emphasises the brand message of embracing new ways for creative expression. Showcasing pieces from the collection in novel ways, the narrative follows Imma on her quest to develop courage while visiting each celebrity residing in their own virtual world.

The campaign’s theme of drawing courage to be authentic aligns with the luxury fashion brand’s foundation of embracing individuality and self- expression.

“We’ve been doing a lot of experiences in the physical space. Knowing that we launched the new campaign for spring, this felt like the right time,” said Giovanni Zaccariello, senior vice president, global visual experience at Coach, per WWD.

Players can purchase pieces from the Coach 2024 spring collection with in-game currency. Coach’s cross-experience scavenger hunt also offers the opportunity to win a virtual Coach piece by collecting hidden items and competing on the runways in Fashion Klossette and Fashion Famous 2. The brand has also launched an immersive experience on the social avatar app Zepeto, which includes a photo booth.

In a release, Coach Global CMO and chief growth officer, Sandeep Seth, said: “Entering immersive platforms with ‘Find Your Courage’ represents an exciting moment for Coach, marking our innovative leap into connecting with a younger, digital-first audience. It’s about creating a space where people can express their individuality and style in an environment where they feel most at home.”

This initiative reflects a broader trend of luxury fashion brands combining physical and virtual retail, to fuel their growth trajectory. Per Forbes, ‘2.5 billion people are currently active in the virtual world (L’Atelier) and trading in NFTs totaled over USD 17.7 billion in 2021 (Nonfungible) – a 21,000% spike. Analysts anticipate that the market for virtual luxury goods could reach USD 50 billion by 2030.’

It’s not the first time Coach has experimented with technology, though. The luxury brand continuously explores partnerships to bring fresh ideas, innovative designs and technological elements to its products, enhancing the overall customer experience. Following its successful tech collaborations with Apple, Rodarte and Disney, Selena Gomez and Google, and BAPE, the American brand explored augmented reality with a unique in-store experience at its outlet in Prince Street, Soho, New York, encouraging shoppers to try on digital versions of its cult Tabby Bag. For the activation, Coach collaborated with AR fashion platform Zero10, which then developed an AR Mirror and AR Storefront.

Coach combines physical and virtual retail to fuel growth trajectory. Image: www.coach.com

Coach: Building on heritage craftsmanship and American style

Since 1941, global fashion house Coach has built on its heritage of craftsmanship and New York style to deliver a complete lifestyle brand for modern lives. Per the website, ‘inspired by the spirit of our hometown, New York City, we’ve built a legacy of craft and a community that champions the courage to live authentically. Today, the same way we care about every stitch that goes into our product, we care about the impact we have on people, communities and the planet. Everything we make, we craft to last with the belief that better-made things create a better made future for all.’

Founded in New York in 1941 by six artisans, the fashion brand grew under the vision of Lillian and Miles Cahn to become the Original American House of Leather. Bonnie Cashin was hired in 1962 to be Coach’s first lead designer. During her tenure, with her aesthetic of color, proportion and quirk, Coach transformed into a modern fashion brand. And, in the decades that followed, opened its first store on Madison Avenue and transformed from a family-run leather-goods company into a fashion house committed, in everything it does, to celebrating craft and authentic American style.

Today, Tapestry-owned Coach is helmed by CEO and Brand President Todd Kahn and Creative Director Stuart Vevers, and retails artisanal leather bags and accessories, ready to wear, watches, footwear, jewellery, eyewear and fragrance. The collections are sold worldwide in 939 Directly Operated Stores, select department and specialty stores, through the Coach catalog in the U.S. and on its official website. 

“Tapestry Inc.’s second-quarter 2024 revenue exceeded its own estimates with $2.1 billion in revenue, a 3% year-over-year increase… The Coach brand was Tapestry’s strongest earner, with $1.5 billion in revenue, a 6% increase from the prior year”, per Statistica. 

Pushing circular craft and collaborative creativity

Coachtopia pushes circular craft and collaborative creativity

Entrenched in sustainability, Coach launched sub-brand ‘Coachtopia’, which pushes circular craft and collaborative creativity. 

“Circularity is about reimagining not just the product life cycle, but the relationship between brand, planet, and consumer,” Joon Silverstein, SVP, Global Marketing, Creative and Sustainability at Coach and Head of Coachtopia, said in a statement. “That’s why we’ve created Coachtopia as both a discovery lab to pioneer circularity in fashion and a collaborative platform for change.”

Aspiring to advance a circular fashion system, Coachtopia commits to reducing product destruction and its waste footprint, as well as increasing its capacity for product repair and responsible material sourcing. Coachtopia crafts shoulder bags, cross-bodies, small leather goods, accessories and ready-to-wear, made from up-cycled, ‘up-crafted’ patchwork, appliqué, scrap-binding et al.

“We’ve built Coachtopia as an entirely new world within Coach—an agile start-up with a mission to reimagine the end-to-end system,” Joon Silverstein shared in a press release. “We’re building it not just for our consumers, but with them, inviting a growing community of hundreds of Gen Z individuals to join us on our Slack channel, collaborate with us on products, take center stage in our content and campaigns—and reimagine our future together.”

Since the early days of Coachtopia, the design team has been inspired by the passion of its Beta Community—a global network of diverse Generation Z individuals who are continually sharing ideas about Coach products, messages and concepts as the brand develops them.