Balenciaga is selling ‘destroyed’ sneakers with tattered fabric, holes, and dirty soles for $1,850
- Balenciaga is turning heads with its latest product, and not for a good reason.
- The fashion company is selling “destroyed” sneakers for as much as $1,850.
- People are roasting the kicks on social media, calling out their worn-out look and hefty price tag and equating them to “beat-up Converse.”
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Take your old Converse out of the closet and they probably look a lot like Balenciaga’s newest sneakers.
At least that’s what some social media users are saying about the fashion company’s new kicks. Balenciaga is releasing a new collection of distressed shoes called the Paris Sneaker, and some are going for nearly $2,000. The shoes are “extremely worn, marked up, and dirtied,” in Balenciaga’s own words, and they’re already being roasted online.
The priciest pair in the collection is an $1,850 limited edition of women’s high-tops that have “destroyed cotton and rubber” and “rippings all over the fabric,” according to the product listing. They also have dark smudges and marks dirtying the rubber soles and the brand name written in what resembles Sharpie marker. These shoes are available in black and white. Balenciaga says it’ll only sell 100 pairs of these “extra destroyed” shoes.
The collection also includes a pair of less-distressed high-tops available in red, black, and white for $625. Unlike the more expensive pair, these come without slashes in the fabric and have much less prominent smudging on the soles, but they do have scuff marks.
Mules in red, black, and white round out the collection with some fraying and light smudges on the soles. They’ll set you back $495.
In a press release, Balenciaga said the shoes’ worn-out appearance suggests they are “meant to be worn for a lifetime.” The shoes are available for pre-order.
The collection is drawing plenty of attention and criticism online, with one Twitter user posting a picture of the shoes and saying, “Balenciaga is releasing a new pair of shoes, and I have to assume they are just trolling people at this point.”
“Balenciaga is now selling beat-up Converse for $1850,” another Twitter user commented.
“Balenciaga gotta be a social experiment,” a third Twitter user said.
The fashion house is no stranger to controversy and ridicule. Last summer, the brand caught heat for $1,200 sweatpants that some people said “gentrified sagging” and were “tremendously racist.” In 2017, the company debuted a $2,145 tote bag strongly resembling Ikea’s 99-cent blue Frakta bag.
