Coach is pioneering the use of digital identities in fashion resale through its recent partnership with Poshmark, which makes it easier for customers to sell Coachtopia products.
Coachtopia, the Gen Z-focused Coach off-spin featuring leather goods, apparel, and footwear, now integrates digital identity technology provided by Eon, allowing automatic uploads of product images, descriptions, and details to Poshmark. This innovation signals a shift toward enabling circular economies in fashion.
The collaboration between Coach and Poshmark allows customers easy resale of Coachtopia products. Through a near-field communication (NFC) chip embedded in new Coachtopia items, users can access product details by tapping a smartphone on the item’s emblem. This action brings up a digital passport with information on the product’s materials, place of manufacture, and environmental impact. The passport also provides options for resale, repair, and recycling.
Eon’s digital identity platform, which has been integrated with other resale platforms such as Vestiaire Collective and The RealReal, offers a layer of authentication for secondhand buyers. Coach’s implementation of this system is part of a broader trend toward product authentication and transparency. By 2027, all fashion products sold in the European Union will be required to include digital product passports (DPPs), detailing information about a product’s origin and composition.
Coach SVP of global marketing and sustainability, Joon Silverstein, emphasized the significance of this technology for the brand. “In a linear system, this tends to be more transactional and unidirectional: brands sell their products to the consumer and then, for the most part, lose visibility of what happens to those products out in the world. But in a circular system… a brand has a more lasting responsibility, regardless of who owns the product,” she explained to Vogue Business.
Resale made easier with Eon integration
Once Coachtopia items are listed on Poshmark, customers can quickly and automatically upload product information, reducing friction in the resale process. This also benefits the brand by allowing continued interaction with the customer long after the initial purchase. When an item changes hands, the new owner can scan the product to receive details and loyalty perks that were previously tied to the original owner.
Poshmark sees substantial potential in the collaboration, according to its CEO Manish Chandra. “The value of this tech is transcendent across all geographies,” Chandra said. “Even though the EU is pushing it, having this information integrated into software is valuable for sustainability, resale, inventory management, sourcing and supply chain — it will impact everything.”
The system not only simplifies resale but also provides Coach with valuable insights into the secondary market. “We can continue to upgrade the circular services associated with every digital passport. As we continue to grow our capabilities and gain more information about our products as they live multiple lives, we’ll be able to make new services available to all our customers, regardless of when they purchased their Coachtopia product,” Silverstein noted.
As Coach continues to develop circular business models, the company intends to expand these digital services across its entire product range. The Coachtopia collection already uses “upcrafted” and regenerative leather, which includes materials sourced from scraps that would otherwise be discarded, as well as leather from animals raised through regenerative agricultural practices. Customers can return Coachtopia products, regardless of condition, for store credit, fostering a more circular approach to fashion.
“Our ability to keep track of a product’s journey across multiple lives is critical to powering a circular economy — and engaging our community in that economy — so our hope and goal is to roll out digital passport technology across Coach in the future,” Silverstein said.
Other brands are exploring similar “instant resale” options through Eon’s platform. Chloé introduced this feature through Vestiaire Collective in 2023, while The RealReal has also integrated the technology. As digital identities become more common in the fashion industry, other companies are following suit. The Aura Blockchain Consortium, which is used by major luxury brands including LVMH, Prada, and Richemont, has attached digital IDs to at least 40 million luxury goods on its blockchain. Brands like Mugler and Tod’s are also leveraging Arianee for their digital identity solutions.
Secondhand shoppers may soon have another reason to opt for pre-loved items. A new petition backed by resale platforms like ThredUp and Vestiaire Collective aims to eliminate taxes on secondhand apparel to encourage a circular economy. Organized by American Circular Textiles, a coalition led by Circular Services Group, the petition calls for an end to “double taxation,” where secondhand items are taxed both when first sold as new and again when resold. The group argues that these taxes discourage sustainable shopping and hinder the growth of the secondhand market.
The petition highlights the growth of the secondhand apparel market, with ThredUp’s report showing that U.S. consumers now spend nearly half of their clothing budget on resale items. The global secondhand market grew by 18 percent last year, reaching a $197 billion valuation. The petition also emphasizes that removing taxes would help reduce the environmental impact of fashion and benefit lower-income families.
American Circular Textiles’ CEO Rachel Kibbe stated that ending double taxation would not only promote fairness but also stimulate economic growth and encourage the reuse of well-made clothing, reducing apparel waste. The petition has support from additional platforms like Fashionphile, Arrive Recommerce, Project Repat, Sortile, and Unspun. “Ending double taxation is not only the fair and just thing to do, it will also spur economic growth and strengthen the trend towards shopping for well-made clothing that can be reused and/or repaired rather than tossed into the ever-growing piles of apparel waste,” Kibbe said.
Related on Ethos:
