IKEA Has a Tongue-in-Cheek Response to Balenciaga’s Look-alike $2,145 Bag

Balenciaga may call their new giant blue bag the “Arena Extra-Large Shopper Tote Bag,” but there’s no mistaking their imitation of IKEA bags’ oversize trapezoidal shape and glossy blue veneer — and now the Scandinavian superstore has a tongue-in-cheek response to the “look-alike” bag, the New York Post reported.

The company released a hilarious poster that shows four steps to identify the true FRAKTA bag, which only costs $.99 compared to Balenciaga’s $2,145 iteration. While the luxury brand’s iteration is made out of glazed leather rather than polypropylene, all that is really missing to make it the spitting image of the home goods brand’s bag is their name printed in yellow repeatedly across the handles.

First, “Shake it. If it rustles, it’s the real deal,” the poster instructs. Other tips include checking the bag is multifunctional (“It can carry hockey gear, bricks and even water”) and to throw it in the dirt, since a “true FRAKTA is simply rinsed off with a garden hose when dirty.”

Acne Collective/Instagram

The company has also teasingly took to Twitter, writing, “Inspiring catwalk fashion est 1996, the timeless IKEA FRAKTA bag fits any outfit, in fact, 25kg worth #balenciaga.”

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After Alexander Wang parted ways with the house in 2015, Balenciaga has continued to court a luxe millennial audience, hiring the designer behind cult-favorite Vetements, Demna Gvasalia, to give his tongue-in-cheek take on the French label’s traditional aesthetic, and this very expensive take on a shopping bag follows Gvasalia’s Bernie Sanders-inspired jackets and neon spandex boots-cum-pants on the runway.