Fashion News: Birkinstocks?

I absolutely love how fashion and art can combine to new concepts. But admittedly the reports of Birkinstocks--Birkenstock sandals made from purposely repurposed leather from Birkin bags--is not something I expected to read about recently.

With a twist of performance art, Birkinstocks were created by deconstructing a Birkin bag and turning it into the iconic, comfy sandals. Much as Banksy attempting to destroy his own "Love is in the Bin" painting right after it was sold at auction, these sandals are art in the sense of destroying something expensive and iconic to make something new.

But is it worth it? Especially with a price tag of $36k-76k per pair?

First, let's look at the value of the Birkin bag: the price itself is high due to scarcity of product versus demand. But after you adjust for that forced "inflation," Birkin bags DO have value. Made with high-quality materials and by skilled artisans, each piece is a work of art of its own. Each one is hand-stitched, and I read it takes an artisan about 18 hours of work to finish each one. The handiwork makes each bag unique, as the exact stitches aren't replicated from bag to bag. In addition, each bag is marked to identify who made it, and the details like having ID numbers to match the iconic lock to the key and to the bag also add to its value: another person might own a bag in the same size, style, color, and hardware--maybe the leather came from the same hide as yours!--but there are still identifiers to show that each bag was made one at a time with a master crafter's touch.

Birkin bags may be made slowly, but they are still being made. So it's not a matter of the scarcity of the materials. There was only the one Banksy "Love is in the Bin" painting up for sale when he shredded it. That put the half-shredded result into the art history books. There was only one "Ecce Homo" fresco of Jesus in the Sanctuary of Mercy church in Borja, Spain...and its questionable restoration also earned it a spot in art history. If someone was taking basic linen napkins and turning them into hairbows, the value would be for the artist's work...but if those linen napkins could be authenticated to have come from the Titanic, suddenly their value would increase due to the scarcity of materials.

To deconstruct all that work and make a sandals out of it removes the value of the work done by the original craftsman. With that value out of the equation, and the fact that the Birkin bags are still being made, means that the only reason these sandals are priced that high is due to the cost of getting the original bag at all.

So the artists at MSCHF making these sandals are essentially doing the same thing as getting some leather hides and making sandals...only paying more for the materials and using that as a marketing tactic to justify the cost of the sandals themselves. While I'm not questioning their art or skill in the craft or how solid the construction may be, it comes across more as a gimmick than standing by the quality of their brand...though there IS value in a brand name. (Which begs the question about IP and copyright laws. No doubt the actual Birkenstock company knows about these by now.)

In the end, I can't blame MSCHF for the hustle when people are willing to buy these sandals. It's a clever way to quickly elevate their brand into the high-end tier by offering a cost-prohibitive and exclusive item. And if they do end up having to halt production due to copyright lawsuits, then suddenly the few pairs that were already sold suddenly landed the "scarcity" label as well. Seems like a win-win for MSCHF.