Did Balenciaga Rip-off the Common Thai Plastic Bag?

If you’ve ever felt like a Thai plastic bag drifting through the monsoon winds, you might just be the next big thing on the runway. Much like a game of ‘Can you spot the fake?’, people are convinced that Balenciaga’s latest design is a blatant rip-off of the everyday plastic bag you see in Thailand. The fashion debuted their Fall/Winter 2016 collection at Paris Fashion Week and Thai netizens took notice right away.

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One costs USD3,000 and the other is free when you make a wholesale purchase in Thailand

Not everyone thinks so though. The Department of Intellectual Property Thailand said Tuesday in a press conference that the fashion house did not copy the design of the Thai plastic bag. To make a point, Director-General of the Department of Intellectual Property, Nantawan Sakunkarn, carried with her the plastic bag to the press conference. She said that the material used for both was obviously different and therefore was not considered a copyright violation.

She also added that Thai tourists in Europe need not worry their multi-coloured plastic bags being mistaken for counterfeit designer goods. Now can someone turn our beer singlets from Bali designer in time for Spring/Summer 2016?

Nomad, you’re a firework. 

Photo credits: Main and Bangkok Coconuts.

Diandra Soliano

Our resident Wander Woman with a passion for languages, big cities and bronzer. When she's not listening to The Smiths a little too loudly at the office (after hours!), she can be found singing along to the soundtrack of Les Miserables with her two cats for an audience.

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