Balenciaga sells US$2000 tote bag that looks like IKEA's 99¢ bag, IKEA pokes fun at them - Sensationalist Headlines

[img]http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2017/04/19/bag.jpg?itok=LawLSm0_[/img] [quote]Market stalls the world over have long been stacked with cheap knock-offs of designer brands. But sometimes it goes the other way - and designer brands take inspiration from the cheaper things in life. And sometimes a bag that looks like something you can pick up in your local shop can go on sale for more than half the average monthly income in the US. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Take a bow, the new Balenciaga bag. It looks strikingly like the oversized Frakta bag you can pick up in Ikea furniture shops all over Europe - costing some loose change. But Balenciaga's Arena Extra-Large Shopper Tote Bag will set you back $2,145 (£1,670; €2,015). It isn't a straight copy, of course - the Balenciaga bag is made of leather, not plastic, and the Swedish shop's branding is missing too. But Ikea seem to be chalking it up as a win. They told Teen Vogue: "We are deeply flattered that the Balenciaga tote bag resembles the Ikea iconic sustainable blue bag for 99 cents. Nothing beats the versatility of a great big blue bag!"[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-39640754[/url] IKEA's response: [img]http://i.imgur.com/3RpWhVZ.jpg[/img]

:zing:

Don't people usually buy these super-expensive products mostly for brand value anyway?

:10bux: the Ikea bag will also last a hell of a lot longer than the Balenciaga bag.

[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;52129601]Don't people usually buy these super-expensive products mostly for brand value anyway?[/QUOTE] P much. If you've got $2000 to spend on tote bags you've probably bought everything else you want too

2000 FOR A FUCKING TOTE BAG:why:

[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;52129601]Don't people usually buy these super-expensive products mostly for brand value anyway?[/QUOTE] Status is part of it but expensive products like these also have excellent build quality. There's this brand of flip flops called Rainbow and they are pricey but my sister and other women buy them because the build quality is top-tier, you can walk around in them all day and be fine, they last a long time, and if they do ever break, they replace them for free. I've heard similar things about Gucci too.

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52129618]Status is part of it but expensive products like these also have excellent build quality. There's this brand of flip flops called Rainbow and they are pricey but my sister and other women buy them because the build quality is top-tier, you can walk around in them all day and be fine, they last a long time, and if they do ever break, they replace them for free. I've heard similar things about Gucci too.[/QUOTE] Sometimes. But at a certain point you get diminishing returns on higher quality for higher price. The only people you should trust to make a high quality bag for a high price is fucking NASA.

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52129618]Status is part of it but expensive products like these also have excellent build quality. There's this brand of flip flops called Rainbow and they are pricey but my sister and other women buy them because the build quality is top-tier, you can walk around in them all day and be fine, they last a long time, and if they do ever break, they replace them for free. I've heard similar things about Gucci too.[/QUOTE] That sounds like a feasible justification of a $200 tote bag, but that's still an order off

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52129618]Status is part of it but expensive products like these also have excellent build quality. There's this brand of flip flops called Rainbow and they are pricey but my sister and other women buy them because the build quality is top-tier, you can walk around in them all day and be fine, they last a long time, and if they do ever break, they replace them for free. I've heard similar things about Gucci too.[/QUOTE] Would be nice if apple did the same thing but nah

Reminds me of the £185 vetements DHL tshirt which sold out within minutes.

fashion brand pricing is a scam

[QUOTE=Ishwoo;52130878]Reminds me of the £185 vetements DHL tshirt which sold out within minutes.[/QUOTE] honestly fuck that shirt, I totally gave up on vetements after that.

[QUOTE=Araknid;52130933]fashion brand pricing is a scam[/QUOTE] Most of that stuff comes from factories in India, Vietnam and Bangladesh. There's this place down in South India where you can by shirts by weight. So I could order a kilo of some really high quality, Indian cotton shirts which don't run color for what is peanuts compared to what they'd cost the moment the Nike logo gets slapped on them. There's also factory outlet near where I live, where some of the misprint ones go to as well - So because of a small stitching error or a label misprint, the entire shirt gets discarded for a tenth of its price. I used to have a few like this and the shirt quality was great.

[QUOTE=Plaster;52130706]Would be nice if apple did the same thing but nah[/QUOTE] dude they do it all the time i came in for dust getting into my camera, walked out that day with a refurbished iPhone in better condition than my old one.

Ikea UK's homepage is also updated [url]http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/[/url]

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52129618]Status is part of it but expensive products like these also have excellent build quality. There's this brand of flip flops called Rainbow and they are pricey but my sister and other women buy them because the build quality is top-tier, you can walk around in them all day and be fine, they last a long time, and if they do ever break, they replace them for free. I've heard similar things about Gucci too.[/QUOTE] Footwear naturally falls apart over time due to the nature of its use, so that's understandable. This is just a bag.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;52131884]Footwear naturally falls apart over time due to the nature of its use, so that's understandable. This is just a bag.[/QUOTE] To us it's just a bag since we're all dudes and don't need or use them but women always carry them and use them to hold their everyday items. They're not going to carry a purse they think is ugly or cheap since our society encourages women to buy stuff like this instead of carrying their stuff in backpacks and wearing pants with functional pockets. I wouldn't spend this much money on a bag but other people wouldn't spend the money I've spent on video games, models, computer, and car parts

guys the relationship between the low-end and the fashion houses is really strange and fascinating. this headline warms my heart. an item reaching icon-status is a super cool thing.

The $2,000 price tag is mostly because it's a high fashion brand, but the bag [I]is[/I] made of quality leather, so even without the branding on it, it would have cost a couple hundred at least.

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52129618]Status is part of it but expensive products like these also have excellent build quality. There's this brand of flip flops called Rainbow and they are pricey but my sister and other women buy them because the build quality is top-tier, you can walk around in them all day and be fine, they last a long time, and if they do ever break, they replace them for free. I've heard similar things about Gucci too.[/QUOTE] This reminds me, ever see those cheap rubber flip-flops at Wal-Mart? The black/green/blue/brown ones that are literally just a slab of textured rubber with cheap rubber straps? They're really cheap at $2-3 a pair. Was in a JCPenny's some time ago and saw [I]literally the exact same pair[/I], same construction, same textures, same materials, [I]everything[/I]. $20, because it was hanging on an "Arizona Jean Co." hanger.

It depends on the brand, really. There's stuff like Cav Empt and Rick Owens that make silhouettes and designs that a lot of brands either don't have or just make a shitty copy of them, and they're expensive due to those reasons. But then you have shit like ASSC and BAPE that just ride off the coat-tails of hypebeasts.

Tune in for the next episode of: Facepunch doesn't get luxury goods

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52132304]To us it's just a bag since we're all dudes and don't need or use them but women always carry them and use them to hold their everyday items. They're not going to carry a purse they think is ugly or cheap since our society encourages women to buy stuff like this instead of carrying their stuff in backpacks and wearing pants with functional pockets. I wouldn't spend this much money on a bag but other people wouldn't spend the money I've spent on video games, models, computer, and car parts[/QUOTE] Yeah, no, that bag is fucking ugly. Target has cuter bags for far cheaper. The one I currently use is one I got for free for buying a certain amount of stuff from Victoria's Secret. Besides, my books tend to wear holes in leather fast (and why would I want a leather bag anyway? Leather's fucking gross.)

if you buy the $2000 one you don't deserve the Ikea one

I have one of those Ikea bags, holds a ton of shit and it's lasted a while, I mainly use it for transferring massive piles of laundry.

The Ikea bag can also be converted into a chest rig [t]http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/YYN2vq0.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;52129601]Don't people usually buy these super-expensive products mostly for brand value anyway?[/QUOTE] Yeah. Nothing special about Coach but 90% of girls will admit they're ugly as fuck but "it's Coach though" Same idea with cars. Maserati, for example. Congrats, you spent $70k on a car that's not even impressive

[QUOTE=Noob4life;52136364]Tune in for the next episode of: Facepunch doesn't get luxury goods[/QUOTE] Okay then, if you're going to be a smug asshole, explain luxury items to us in a way that [I]doesn't[/I] make you sound like a pretentious twit.

[QUOTE=DarklytheGreat;52138091]Okay then, if you're going to be a smug asshole, explain luxury items to us in a way that [I]doesn't[/I] make you sound like a pretentious twit.[/QUOTE] Prestige over quality and/or great value.