UpcraftedLeather

At least 50% recycled leather fiber. 100% Coach.

We’ve made this material because we love leather—every bit of it. Reusing the scraps that can get lost during leather making is just one way we’re creating with waste and developing innovative materials to support our climate ambitions.

This evolution of UpcraftedLeather is created to offer the quality and functionality you would expect from a Coach leather product, including durability. Just as with conventional leather goods, a few simple care practices will help it to stay in its best condition for as long as possible.

The leather fibers in this evolution of UpcraftedLeather are hydroentangled through a 100% recycled polyester mesh made from post-consumer plastic waste. To do this, we use high-pressure water from a facility in which 95% of the water is recycled. We then retan the resulting material with natural and synthetic oils and other chemicals typically used in leather tanning, before finishing this base material with a coating. We use different types of coatings depending on the desired look.

Signature UpcraftedLeather is printed with our iconic pattern and finished with an embossed texture. Meanwhile, Smooth UpcraftedLeather is finished with a high-shine coating that gives it a subtle grain and the feel of a well-loved vintage piece.

We found a way to use the bits and pieces of leather that can be lost in the process of leather making. It is just one way that we’re creating with waste and developing innovative materials to support our climate ambitions. In addition, materials that use UpcraftedLeather as a base have a lower carbon footprint than their conventional virgin material counterparts. Smooth UpcraftedLeather has about an 80% lower carbon footprint than conventional leather; Signature UpcraftedLeather has about a 45% lower carbon footprint than conventional coated canvas made with virgin materials.

Note: Our Signature Coated Canvas, which is made with a recycled polyester base and PVC coating, has about a 33% lower carbon footprint than conventional coated canvas made with virgin materials.

For more on the carbon footprint reduction of Coachtopia products, please refer to their product pages.

Care for your UpcraftedLeather product by gently wiping it with a wet cloth.

Bonded leathers typically use glue to bind leather fibers together before adhering them to a textile backing, which then provides the structure of the material. In this evolution of UpcraftedLeather, we tangle leather fibers all the way through a textile mesh using water, not glue, resulting in a material with leather fibers running all the way through it.

Coachtopia leather was an early development in our recycled leather fiber journey. We have developed UpcraftedLeather to raise the bar in the category, combining innovative technology with our 85+ years of leather expertise.

No, we are not producing new styles in Coachtopia Leather—though you may find pre-loved products for sale on Coach (Re)Loved or third-party resale platforms. Instead, we’re leaning into UpcraftedLeather as our main source of recycled leather fiber material.

UpcraftedLeather is a composite material crafted with at least 50% recycled leather fibers; it is not leather. It’s entangled through a recycled textile mesh and is retanned and finished to give it the texture and durability you would expect from a Coach product.

Leather will always be core to Coach and our brand heritage. Yes, of course we will always offer leather within our product line. At the same time, we are actively working to identify, manage, and reduce waste associated with the creation of our leather products. Developing UpcraftedLeather is one way we’re doing this.