Coach has been accused of destroying unsold bags to obtain tax exemptions

Slash unsold products to declare them as damaged goods and save on taxes. This is the accusation that the influencer/activist Anna Sacks made against Coach after buying bags torn to piecesand recovered in a landfill in Texas last August 31 by another activist named Tiffany She'ree. Both activists are dedicated to literally digging in the garbage of shopping malls to recover unsold products, thrown away still closed in their boxes and thus denounce the excesses and waste of society. In the case of Coach, which was brought to general attention by @diet_prada, the matter would be even more serious as according to Sacks bags, shoes and various luxury accessories would have been ruined with deep cuts by the store's own employees in order to obtain a tax exemption. Anna Sacks wrote on Instagram:

«I do think the IRS needs to investigate the common retail practice of deliberately destroying usable inventory and then writing it off as damaged to pay less tax. To me, this is a form of tax fraud, akin to burning down your own home and then claiming insurance for the damage».

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

@thetrashwalker

The incident takes on even more paradoxical contours considering both how Tapestry, the group that owns Coach together with Kate Spade and other brands, has been named among the most sustainable companies in Barron's annual ranking and how Coach has recently launched a secondhand sales program and offers its customers a repair service of its bags. In the comments there are many users who have denounced the existence of this policy to many of the main brands both luxury and fast fashion – shedding light on the motivations behind greenwashing that therefore would not only concern PR but also the fiscal side of production.

Shortly after the news was published on @diet_prada, which was followed by a shitstorm on the brand's social media, Coach published a long apology post on Instagram that reads: «We have now ceased destroying in-store returns of damaged or unsalable goods and are dedicated to maximalizing such products reuse in our Coach (Re)Loved and other circularity programs». This has been read by many users as an implicit admission of guilt – after which, however, the brand renewed its intention to «repurpose, recycle and reuse excess or damaged products».