July 15 (Reuters) - Coach and Kate Spade parent Tapestry

will invest $15 million in eco-leather producer Gen

Phoenix as part of an effort to make more sustainable leather

goods, the companies told Reuters.

Tapestry's investment will bring its stake in Gen Phoenix to

9.9%. Tapestry said the partnership will bolster its efforts to

attract younger Generation Z consumers - those born from 1997 to

2012 - who have an appetite for sustainable leather goods.

The companies' partnership began in 2022 with the launch of

Coach's Gen-Z oriented Coachtopia line, which makes products

designed with at least 50% recycled leather fibers from waste

that are supplied by Gen Phoenix, according to its website.

Scott Roe, who is both chief financial and chief operating

officer at Tapestry, said Coachtopia is a bellwether for younger

consumers' spending habits.

"It's not that Coachtopia is so commercially massive, but it

is helping us understand what's important to this really

critical demographic," he said.

Roe would not say how much Coachtopia accounts for in Tapestry's

total earnings, only that it is "relatively small." Gen Phoenix

estimates that its materials have an 80% lower carbon footprint

than virgin leather.

The brands previously collaborated on an uncoated lining

material that Coachtopia brought to market in under a year, said

Elyse Winer, chief marketing officer at Gen Phoenix.

As part of the investment, Gen Phoenix, which sources waste

materials from European tanneries and factories, will supply

recycled leather to Tapestry for three years.

Gen Phoenix CEO John Kennedy said the company is eager to work

with all of Tapestry's brands.

Roe said it remains to be seen how the recycled material

could be used in other product lines.

"There's a lot of opportunities to redirect a lot of that

waste stream," he said.