The fashion house Balenciaga has released a new pair of trainers. In itself this is nothing unusual — trainers are big business at Balenciaga, forming a sizeable chunk of a brand where turnover is now estimated at $2.3bn. But this new style — dubbed the “Paris” — has incited ire across the internet, as many things do today.
The anger hasn’t been elicited by the price of the trainers (which ranges from £350 to £1,290), nor scarcity (a relatively wide choice is available), but rather by a limited-edition version that has been customised to look annihilated, shredded, stained and graffitied by the artist Léopold Duchemin, and featured in imagery to promote the shoes. “[He] used a multitude of knives, scissors, punch paper for the texture,” said a Balenciaga representative. “For the colour, he used tea, wood filler, shoe polish and floor polish.” The result are dubbed “Full Destroyed”, and while the other “Paris” sneakers in the range are gently scuffed, 100 limited edition pairs have been heavily distressed.
“Part of me is totally offended,” wrote Livia Firth, founder of the Green Carpet Challenge and a champion for sustainability, below a picture of the shoes on her Instagram feed. “To buy something so destroyed is beyond offensive towards people I actually met who wore shoes like this because they couldn’t afford even basic meals. She followed it up with a query: “On the other side, what is Balenciaga trying to say?” Her comments reflect a wider discourse around these sneakers. “I can find these in the garbage for free,” read one. “Controversy. Goal is to spark a discussion”. A press release from Balenciaga suggested that the bashed up shoes are meant to look as if they will be worn for a lifetime.