“A social experiment at this point”: Balenciaga Lay's Chips Bag sold at $1,800 sparks memefest online

Balenciaga debuted yet another bizarre accessory on the Spring/Summer 23 "The Mud Show" runway earlier this month during Paris Fashion Week. The luxury Spanish label is known for selling unusual items such as 'trash bags' for $1,750 and destroyed shoes for $1,850 (the less-tattered version went for $625) in the past.

Their most recent offering, however, caught fashion enthusiasts off-guard, as the brand collaborated with FritoLay to launch the Lay's Potato Chip Clutch bag. The leather bag has the brand's iconic packaging and a simple silver zip closure. It costs $1,800, which is 450 times the price of a regular packet of Lay's chips.

The bag is available in two 'flavors,' one original and the other spicy 'balenciaga.' It has brand text on both sides and is lined with silver metallic material to look like the inside of a chip bag.

The launch comes as no surprise to anyone who knows Demna Gvasalia, the current creative director of Balenciaga, who has drawn inspiration from a variety of random, yet iconic, everyday items.

Demna may have hinted at the arrival of this product a few months ago when she was photographed holding a packet of Lays like a "gorgeous pochette" at a graduation fashion event in Antwerp in June 2022.

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Memefest sparked by Balenciaga's Chip Bag

Following the buzz generated by fashion week, the internet was quick to criticize the brand for its outrageous creation. Twitter and Instagram reacted in the best way they know, i.e., with memes.

Some chastised the brand for using its products on customers as a "social experiment," even referring to them as the "leader of this funky a** simulation we are living in." "Don't eat this bag of chips'', one user wrote.

Netizens have also been quick to also point out that a similar bag is available on sites like AliExpress for less than $4. Furthermore, many times, small businesses have created purses out of other brands of chip bags, causing people to cancel their orders. Customers also feel irritated when big brands steal ideas from small businesses.

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This is not the first time the luxury brand has launched an odd design like this under Demna's creative aegis. For the unversed, Demna previously debuted a trash bag purse inspired by the humble garbage bag in the Winter 2022 show. She launched an IKEA bag inspired by the iconic blue Frakta bag through Balenciaga in 2017, prompting IKEA to respond that the original bag was much cheaper.