Balenciaga’s next It bag costs $1,790 and looks like a bin liner

The price of everything is going up, but now it looks like bin bags are next on the list. Say hello to the $1,790 (£1,500) Balenciaga bin liner.

The luxury fashion house is selling a drawstring calfskin pouch in the shape of a trash bag for nearly $2,000. The brand’s “trash pouch” comes in four different colorways: black, white and red, blue and black, or yellow and black.

And it’s not the first time they’ve tried to turn trash into treasure. Demna Gvasalia, Balenciaga’s creative director, turned up to Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts’ graduate fashion show using an empty bag of Lays as a purse.

But on the new $1,790 trash bag, he told WWD, “I couldn’t miss an opportunity to make the most expensive trash bag in the world, because who doesn’t love a fashion scandal?”

The piece made its debut as part of the opening look from Balenciaga’s Fall 22 show where  Gvasalia, a Georgian ex child refugee, paid homage to the victims of the Ukraine war.

Models strutted down a runway filled with artificial snow, recalling the refugee experience.

The website labels the bag as “the trash pouch”. And as expected, the reception on Instagram reflected the confusion and even annoyance, which is nothing new for Balenciaga.

“They’re definitely a social experiment,” an Instagram user commented.

“Balenciaga is a meme designer,” another remarked.

“They’re really trying to make a joke out of the consumers at this point,” someone said.

Other Instagrammers made jabs at Balenciaga, highlighting the irony of a luxury bin bag in a cost of living crisis.

But, Demna has a message for all those confused, and has said in the past, his work is not intended “to be ‘understood’ by the average social media critique” – nor does he care.