If you’ve ever wanted to own a 99 cent IKEA bag for over $2,000, you’re in luck, because Balenciaga is now selling a calfskin version of the nearly free bag that anyone who has ever made a run to the Swedish furniture giant already owns.
The bright blue menswear bag has come under fire for its exorbitant price, especially when you compare it to the less than $1 price tag of its inspiration. Additionally, the hideous bag is awkward and oversized, which would make it difficult to use as an everyday way to carry your wares.
Barneys New York, the high-end department store, gives a run down of the bag’s “amazing” features and qualities, as though it really is something different from the blue plastic bag even the less-than-wealthy can procure at IKEA.
“Balenciaga’s Arena extra-large shopper tote bag is constructed of blue wrinkled, glazed leather.”
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Gold-stamped logo at topline.
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Lined with black fabric. Zip pocket and key-ring lanyard at interior.
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Flat leather handles. Flat leather straps.
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Top zip closure.
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14.5? height x 32.0? topline width/20.0? baseline width x 14.0? depth (approximately).
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6? handle drop, 11? strap drop (approximately).
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Available in Blue.
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Made in Italy,” it reads.
Although the store only lists it in signature blue, according to Instagram, the Balenciaga overpriced monstrosity can also be purchased in yellow, which is the same color that the totes one uses to shop in IKEA are.
Fans of the brand roasted the bag underneath the Instagram image.
“I have one of those, I got it from Ikea. Man, @balenciaga bags are meh…,” one wrote.
Others were disappointed by the bag’s cheap straps, which look to be nearly the same material as IKEA’s iconic carrier bag straps.
“They want to play on contrast between rich leather and cheap straps? But this is not work this time. It is just a ugly cheap bag,” another user wrote.
A user from the United Kingdom also remarked that the bag looked very similar to the UK grocery store’s Co-Op’s “bag for life,” a reusable bag one can purchase at the store from less than £2.
Still, there were some giving the IKEA look-a-like positive comments, stating that they were “obsessed” with the bag or already owned it.
This isn’t the first time Balenciaga has been blasted for creating bags that look like high-end imitations of the original cheap and everyday versions.
Last season, Balenciaga debuted the Bazar Bag , which many thought looked like a cheap laundry bag that one often gets for free after having their laundry done for them.
An editor of Vogue Magazine posted a picture of Balenciaga’s Bazar Bag to her Twitter, with a scathing caption.
“I HAVE THIS EXACT BAG AND I USE IT FOR LAUNDRY. So many feeling$$$ about Balenciaga……………” she wrote.
Similar jokes occurred earlier this year when Balenciaga released a “Blanket Tote” that retails for $3,670 but resembles a plastic duvet cover that one gets when they purchase a new duvet or comforter at any homeware store.
Siya Beyile, founder of The Threaded Man, joked about Balenciaga’s creation and its similarity to the plastic duvet covers on his Twitter. The fashionable guy posted a photo of Balenciaga’s bag juxtaposed next to his own collection of plastic duvet covers.
“I must be balling then, didn’t know these were Balenciaga,” he joked
I must be balling then , didn’t know these were Balenciaga ? pic.twitter.com/0OmY9tmpL1
— Siyabonga Beyile (@SiyaBeyile) March 21, 2017
The hideous IKEA knockoff bags have not necessarily been seen on a ton of celebrities, meaning it probably will not become an “It” bag of the season like some of the bags it has debuted previously.
The sooner Balenciaga let’s this one die and goes back to creating its iconic and beautiful bags, the better.
[Featured Image by andersphoto/Shutterstock]
