On May 16, the topic of #Balenciaga ragged shoes sold for 12,000 yuan was on the hot search. Recently, French luxury brand Balenciaga launched limited edition sneakers aimed at promoting environmental protection activities.

Reporter Sun Yuanming

On May 16, the topic of # Balenciaga ragged shoes sold for 12,000 yuan# became a hot search.

Recently, French luxury brand Balenciaga launched limited edition sneakers aimed at promoting environmental protection activities. Some parts of the sneakers themselves are scratched, flawed and dirty. They are limited to 100 pairs for sale, priced at US$1,850 (about 12,000 yuan), which has attracted the attention of netizens.

For this limited edition sneaker, the customer service responded, "the creative idea of ​​"experience the ancient style of from a new perspective and surprisingly winning."

In fact, this is not the first time that the confusing design series launched by luxury brands. Gucci and Adid have jointly launched a "waterproof umbrella", LV has launched a straw hat, and Tiffany has launched a steel wool ball priced at 81,000 yuan... Are these amazing products considered IQ tax? Some designers in the industry believe that this is "a trendy and super profitable land that cannot be understood."

A "bragged shoes" actually sold for 12,000 yuan?

Recently, French luxury brand Balenciaga launched limited edition sneakers aimed at promoting environmental protection activities. Some parts of the sneakers themselves are scratched, flawed and dirty. They are limited to 100 pairs for sale, priced at $1,850 (about 12,000 yuan).

On the official website of Balenciaga American version, this shoe is called a limited edition, completely destroying PARIS high-top sneakers. The introduction clearly marked, "fully destroyed cotton and rubber", "teared fabric" and other words. It is worth noting that according to the official website, this sneaker is made in China.

According to the official website, the limited edition of this sneaker will be available in 100 pairs. Photographer Leopold Duchemin took these photos for the brand, with shoes that were worn, marked, and dirty, indicating that “PARIS sneakers mean to wear them for a lifetime”. The official website page of

shows that the "undestroyed" version of this sneaker has also been launched. The name is shown as PARIS high-top sneakers, priced at only $625, less than half the price of the "completely destroyed" version.

According to reports, "Balenciaga.com will be sold worldwide on May 9, 2022 through balenciaga.com and European stores, on May 16 in the United States and Middle East stores, on May 23, in Japan stores, and will be sold worldwide later."

At present, on the official website of Balenciaga China, the limited edition completely destroys PARIS high-top sneakers only have promotional pictures and no purchase entrances, but the products that are only displayed as PARIS high-top sneakers are priced at 4,800 yuan.

Customer Service: A creative idea that interprets the medieval style from a new perspective and wins surprisingly

16, at the official flagship store of a certain e-commerce platform, the reporter found that there is currently no limited edition for sale in the store. The product position of "the first place in the store's high-top shoes collection" is the "slightly worn" version of PARIS sneakers. The product information shows that it is "washed old-fashioned casual high-top canvas shoes", which are available in black and red, and are priced at 4,800 yuan. The page shows that the sale will be held at 0:00 on May 18, but orders can be submitted at present.

customer service responded: "I'm sorry, it's not available for sale yet, because each work has a unique style of washing and old style, you can take a photo and experience it... Because the inventory is shallow, if you like it, you can lock in the inventory by placing an order." Can an old shoe like

be worn or collected? In response, the customer service said, "You can wear it. Balenciaga Paris sneakers interpret the 'middle style' and surprisingly winning creativity from a new perspective. The upper is made of old canvas and is treated with burrs to deliberately create an old-fashioned appearance and interpret your interpretation of fashion."

Is it "IQ tax" to buy "ragged shoes"?

Spend 4,800 yuan to buy a "slightly worn" version of shoes, or even spend 12,000 yuan to buy "ragged shoes" as netizens said to collect "IQ tax"?

In fact, this is not the first time that Balenciaga has launched an unexpected luxury item.

In the official flagship store of Balenciaga, in addition to the "slightly worn" version of shoes, there are also green round-toed boots for sale, priced at 6,200 yuan.

In addition, as early as 2017, Balenciaga launched a handbag priced at $2,145, but it is too similar to IKEA's "Frakta", which only costs 99 cents.

In fact, similar operations for luxury brands are no longer new.

Recently, a new co-branded product with Adidas was launched on the official website of Gucci (Gucci) has a new product with Adidas. One of the co-branded series umbrellas priced at 11,100 yuan is marked as "not waterproof" in the details of the product, which has attracted attention.

htmlOn May 12, Gucci official customer service responded that this umbrella "has collection value" and is also suitable for creating fashionable styles. It is not recommended to be used as a daily sunny umbrella.

In 2020, Louis Vuitton ( Louis Vuitton ) launched the retro style men's straw hat product LV GARDENING hat at the spring and summer men's fashion show. The product introduction shows that the hat is made of 100% straw, with the rope buckle and rope end headed with LV logo. The official website was priced at 8,200 yuan at that time.

In addition, Tiffany's steel wool balls priced at 81,000 yuan, LV kites priced at 70,000 yuan, Fendi masks priced at 1,000 yuan have also been criticized by many netizens for "the use value does not match the price."

Someone was "lost" after buying it: Behind the personality is the controversial

When buying such "unexpected" luxury goods, what do buyers consider?

On a second-hand trading platform, the reporter saw a blue shopping bag from Balenciaga that was sold for 3,000 yuan. As of around 16:00 p.m. on May 16, 26 people wanted it, with 1,775 views. In the message area, some customers bargained for a price and asked, "Is it still possible to lose it?" The seller said that two of the shopping bags have been sold and are currently in stock.

On a certain content e-commerce platform, some netizens posted their experience of purchasing Balenciaga "woven bags". The blogger said, "I have been buying this shopping bag for a while, and I dared to take it out today. I have been struggling with what bag to buy before, wanting to be different from others, not those who are bullshit, and then I have always had a good impression of Balenciaga. Finally, one day I found a different one and was stinking to them." The blogger also gave three examples, some of whom said, "Can you recite the style of someone else?" Someone suggested that she, "Get out quickly."

In the message area, the blogger said in response to netizens' comments that he felt that he had personality at that time, but the result was that behind his personality was controversial.

Designer: The trendy and super profitable local

Similar to the "dirty shoes" of Balenciaga and the "waterproof umbrella" jointly created by Gucci Adidas, the price is over 10,000 yuan. Why did the brand design such a product that is "no practical value" in the eyes of netizens, and it has been tried and tested?

In this regard, the reporter interviewed Shi Wei, the answerer of Zhihu in design. Shi Wei has been engaged in the design industry for seven or eight years. In his opinion, Balenciaga is "really too special" at the moment. This brand is the bridgehead for the coolness of the earth. Balenciaga is a strange flower, and all the local men and women love it."

Shi Wei defined some "unexpected" designs of Balenciaga as "uncomprehensible trendy and super profitable land." Regarding this type of design, Shi Wei said that in the design circle, local customs are common and elegant and rare, so luxury goods that have always been known for their expensive and scarce are all played with in the category of elegance and beauty. Over time, this design style has a bit of a rigid taste. In terms of design, luxury brands, as the top of the trend transmission chain, will inevitably lose their guidance and will easily be caught up by other brands. This is an important reason why Balencia is emerging at the moment: the aesthetic concept of traditional luxury goods has become rigid, so the pioneers in this category have taken some more vital design elements from other fields to maintain the pioneering nature of this fashion bridgehead.

Shi Wei said that it can be seen from some of Balencia's clothing products that designers will add some designs of different styles to the luxury field, and inject a new pioneering nature. Declare that true nobility is spiritual freedom, a courage to express itself differently, and clothing is also an important channel for individuals to show their personality.Regarding the "ragged shoes" of Balenciaga, Shi Wei believes: "This is the inevitable behavior of Balenciaga to lead the current trend."

Shi Wei gave an example. For example, Balencia's triple-s dad shoes have triggered the imitation of many brands.

Shi Wei also said that from a consumer perspective, the current decision of a mature luxury brand is not actually durable quality, but more about design. "Can you buy it and post it to show off on social media?" From a design perspective, the co-branded fashion model at the beginning had extremely high collection value, but later it seemed to be aimed at fans.

Expert: If you want to become mainstream, you must make a transformation

For the "unexpected" design products of luxury brands such as "ragged shoes", Dean of the Regional Economics Research Institute of Shandong University of Finance and Economics , Dong Yanling , analyzed it from the field of economics.

Dong Yanling said that the first thing this type of product brings is the advertising effect, which is a way to attract attention. Secondly, existence is valuable, and having such designs in the fashion industry will definitely have advantages. "Some beauty is recognized by the public, while others are just average, and sometimes the fashion industry will set off a trend of strange styles." Furthermore, merchants will give products certain cultural significance. Dong Yanling explained that, for example, "dashed shoes" are given environmentally friendly meaning, merchants do not have to make money by this, and consumers do not necessarily regard it as mainstream.

Will this type of product become popular? In this regard, Dong Yanling said that in a diversified modern society, products similar to "ripped jeans" will also appear in the subculture circle. They represent a symbol and represent the vitality and character of young people, but this type of product has also been transformed when sold. The so-called "subculture", also known as subculture and cultural , are non-mainstream and local cultural phenomena corresponding to the main culture, and belong to the concepts and lifestyles unique to a certain region or a certain collective. In addition, some clothing similar to the catwalks use exaggerated design techniques. If this type of product is implemented in real life, if it wants to become mainstream, it must be transformed.

focuses on the "ragged shoes" of Balenciaga. Dong Yanling said, "Film and TV stars may wear them, but business people generally don't wear them. Because, he doesn't want to attract attention through a shoe."