is coachtopia lowkey fr fr switching up on us?

so i've been thinking a lot about coachtopia lately, specifically their alter/ego bag collection, and there's something kinda fishy going on that we need to talk about. when coachtopia first launched the alter/ego line, the whole selling point was super clear: they were taking leftover leather scraps from retail coach icons, like the iconic tabby and brooklyn bags, and reusing them to make these cool, unique patchwork bags. it felt like a win-win because you were getting actual retail-quality leather repurposed into a new bag for a much more accessible price point. but people started noticing a shift in the drops over the last few months. some of the newer colorways and prints being released don't actually line up with any retail tabby or brooklyn styles at all. for instance, that brown cow print patch bag? there is no retail brown cow print tabby or brooklyn... but guess what there is? a coach outlet bag in that exact same cow print (the teri shoulder bag). on top of that, if you look at the website text now, the language around how these bags are made seems to have changed or dropped the specific mention of retail-only scraps. so it really raises the question: are we now getting outlet-quality leather scraps instead of retail scraps while still paying for what was originally marketed as premium repurposed leather? at the end of the day, it's super interesting to see how brand messaging evolves and whether shoppers actually care about the background origin of the leather scraps. if you just love the patchwork aesthetic and cool designs, maybe it's not a dealbreaker for you! but if you bought into the hype thinking you were snagging retail-grade leather scraps, this switch-up definitely is something considering the price....