It’s a rip-off: now bootleg logos are a fashion must-have

Forget cocktail dresses and crocodile “It bags” – among key style trends now are T-shirts that wouldn’t look out of place on a market stall.

Earlier this month the buzzy catwalk brand Balenciaga released its spring/summer advertising campaign. The key reference point? Not the rarified inspiration that could be expected for such a storied fashion house but a humble carrier bag for German supermarket chain Edeka. The yellow and blue colours of the store’s branding was reworked with the phrase “The Power of Dreams” and a Balenciaga logo.

This is just the latest example of the trend for fashion labels to use existing branding in their designs to make something that has the look of a bootleg. Balenciaga designer Demna Gvasalia has advocated this idea, first with his own brand Vetements. The label produced a much-discussed T-shirt in 2016 with the DHL logo on it which sold for £185. Gvasalia followed it up this year with a $2,150 (£1,606) bag for Balenciaga that looked remarkably like Ikea’s 50p Frakta bag.

Others are also playing with this idea. Menswear designer Christopher Shannon produced a collection for autumn/winter using well-known sports brands. The Timberland logo was reworked to say “Tumbleweed” while in previous collections Shannon changed the Sports Direct logo to “Lovers Direct”. Off-White, the label by trendsetter Virgil Abloh, repurposed Nike’s iconic tick on T-shirts with the word “logo” above it, as well as using the logo for People magazine as a handbag. Fashion powerhouse Gucci even parodies its own bootlegs. A sweater that resembles a bad counterfeit, with Gucci replaced by “Guccy”, is now for sale on the site for £950.

Source: theguardian