Balenciaga Called Out by IKEA for Copying Their Bag Design!

It’s funny when the tables turn and designer companies are seen knocking off (either purposefully or not) lesser known brands, or in this case a very famous brand – IKEA. If you have ever shopped in IKEA you have probably spotted the FRATKA bag – it is a blue tarpaulin inspired bag that can hold all the things you didn’t need (but ended up picking up anyways) at IKEA during your shopping trip. Balenciaga recently released their Arena Extra-Large Shopper Tote bag which costs $2144 USD. The bags look shockingly similar to the point where if you were to walk into IKEA with the Balenciaga bag, I guarantee it would 100% be mistaken for the FRATKA. Whether Balenciaga was “inspired” (or “replicated”) by the FRATKA bag is unknown, but I think it’s safe to say that they look identical.

Taking notice of the similarities, IKEA created a funny poster in which they guide shoppers on how to identify an original IKEA FRATKA bag. This is quite funny as we are all used to seeing the tables turned (a.k.a major designers going after other companies that knock off their designs), and quite ironic in that sense.

Of course IKEA’s message was simply in jest, and the company fired off this official statement regarding Balenciaga’s homage to their iconic bag: “We are deeply flattered that the Balenciaga tote bag resembles the Ikea iconic sustainable blue bag for 99 cents. Nothing beats the versatility of a great big blue bag!”

What do you think of Balenciaga’s purposeful (or accidental) copying of IKEA’s FRATKA bag? Should IKEA have been more stern with Balenciaga and pursued legal action? … Just kidding about that one, but it was hard not to ask ;-P … As I have mentioned before I personally think copy or no-copy the bag looks utterly hideous and I definitely cannot imagine myself spending over two grand to carry this EVER. The original IKEA FRATKA however sounds like a delightful and super useful tote (according to IKEA’s ad it can even carry water) which is worth the $0.99. Of course in cases like these we are reminded that high fashion can be ridiculous in terms of cost, and this is one of those time where it glaringly shows.  Sound off with your opinion in the comments below to let me know what you think!