"Is This Really Luxury?"... $950 Ragged Jacket Sells Out in a Day

Balenciaga's Experimental Designs
Criticism Mounts: "A $950 Rag"

The French luxury brand Balenciaga's new 'Destroyed' model jacket sold out within a day of its release. Despite its worn and torn design reminiscent of rags, the hooded jacket is priced at $950 (approximately 1.36 million KRW).

Balenciaga's new product, the 'Destroyed' model jacket. X (formerly Twitter)

Ken Kuang, a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, recently posted a video featuring the product on social media, reporting that "the first batch of Balenciaga's Destroyed model jacket has completely sold out."

This jacket maintains only the basic form of a hoodie, with a design that is torn in various places. Upon encountering Balenciaga's perplexing new product, online users criticized it as "an excessively destructive design" and called it a "950-dollar rag."

The Destroyed model jacket is interpreted as Balenciaga's attempt to push the boundaries of fashion through intentionally damaged and provocative design. Previously, Balenciaga has also drawn attention for products such as sneakers with seemingly stained and scratched finishes, as well as hoodies featuring fake stains and holes.

Balenciaga has showcased experimental designs under the banner of 'high fashion.' In 2022, the brand sold a hoodie with ripped details throughout for 950 pounds (approximately 1.79 million KRW). At the time, Balenciaga described the garment as featuring tears and holes across the fabric, but consumers responded with ridicule, saying, "It looks like something Bob the Builder (a carpenter character from the British BBC children's animation) would wear."

Bracelet in the shape of transparent tape unveiled by Balenciaga in 2024. Online community

In March of last year, Balenciaga also sparked controversy by introducing a bracelet shaped like transparent tape. Although it closely resembled ordinary transparent tape sold at Daiso, the presence of the Balenciaga logo pushed the price up to 3,000 euros (approximately 4.95 million KRW). During the 2022 winter collection, Balenciaga unveiled a trash pouch in the shape of a garbage bag, which was met with incredulous reactions.

As controversy continues to surround Balenciaga's products, some analysts suggest that the debate over luxury goods itself serves as effective publicity. One online user commented, "When people post angry messages on social media, Balenciaga receives enormous advertising benefits," describing it as "a strategy that leverages controversy for marketing."