Over the years, labels fitting under the title of being a “designer brand” have changed, but there have been a few constants. Among these, the brand Coach, founded in 1941, has remained in the spotlight, idolized by the masses.
In recent weeks, it has come to light that Coach, who claims to be environmentally aware, has been using a loophole in order to pay less in taxes.
A TikTok posted on October 8th by the user @thetrashwalker that has since gone viral (As of the writing of this, it sits at 923k likes and more than 10.5k comments) shows the ripped and damaged merchandise, including shoes and bags, that have been purposefully destroyed by employees at the order of the company. This is so that the company can write them off as if they were accidentally damaged and thus are able to avoid paying taxes on those unsold items.
Coach claims to be working towards a “circular economy” by coming out with collections made from repurposed items, as well as offering a “Coach Repair Workshop” in which you can bring in or ship your items, where they will then be repaired. This is another instance of them trying to prove that they are trying “to keep [our] bags out of landfill and reduce [our] impact on the planet”, as stated on their website.
Another video, posted by the user @dumpsterdivingmama, of whom the damaged merchandise was purchased from by Anna (@thetrashwalker), features them finding piles of the intentionally damaged product in a dumpster outside of a Dallas mall.
So, as Coach claims to be working towards a less wasteful, more sustainable future and economy, they are intentionally slashing and destroying their own products, and creating more waste in order to get tax write-offs. Large corporations such as Coach will do everything in their power to appear environmentally conscious and zero waste, when in reality, they are huge contributors to the landfills that they claim to hate.
For more content like this, you can follow Anna on Instagram and TikTok under the username @thetrashwalker, as well as following @dumpsterdivingmama on the same platforms.