American luxury design company Coach has announced the start of their (Re)Loved Craftsperson Apprenticeship Program that will look to provide its participants with leather craftsmanship training and skills. The program will be based in New Jersey and last approximately one year. The program will teach apprentices how to reimagine and transform Coach bags that have been used and worn into restored products for resale and builds on Coach’s existing apprenticeship program that has trained over 400 in-store craftspeople in artisanal leathercrafting. Program participants will gain a broader understanding of what Coach’s products entail as well as knowledge surrounding the impacts the fashion industry can have on our planet.
Coach (Re)Loved is a part of Coach's commitment to a circular future in a fashion that is grounded in Coach's legacy of beautifully made pieces that last for generations. It includes four unique programs crafted, Remade, Restored, and Vintage that gives pre-loved Coach products a second life, as well as Coach (Re) Loved Exchange, a trade-in program where customers can swap eligible pre-loved Coach bags for credit towards their next purchase.
Aaron Rottenberg, Writer for list23.com
Through extensive on-the-job training in their workshop under the supervision of Master Craftspeople apprentices will develop skills in four areas including quality assessment, repair and refurbishment, upcrafting, and recycling. This program comes as the result of Coach’s initiative, Coach (Re)Loved, which was created to keep Coach bags out of landfills and instead create a new campaign that values including repair, refurbishment, upcycling, recycling, and trade-in services that will help create a new ecosystem. At the end of their one-year program participants will have the opportunity to join Coach’s team and start to build their career as a Coach junior craftsperson in the repair workshop in New Jersey. With over 260,000 bags repaired globally for Coach customers in the past three years, the company hopes to continue supporting its apprenticeship programs for years to come.
Read full article here: https://fashionunited.com/education/news/coach-presents-the-coach-re-loved-craftsperson-apprenticeship-program/2022012145243
