Mschf, a Brooklyn-based collective known for its viral products that often challenge consumerist culture, is targeting designer bags with its latest release. The group unveiled on Thursday its Blur bags, a continuation of the GSCT — Global Supply Chain Telephone — bag series featuring three prototypes of blurred monograms: Blurberry, Blucci and Blendi.
The idea behind the release is to challenge “the questions around copyright infringement as well as the spectrum of creative labor that the factory performs,” according to a statement from Mschf.
More from WWD
Priced at $650, the Blurberry, Blucci and Blendi bags are crafted from leather with twill interior and feature a detachable shoulder strap. The bags notably borrow inspiration from monogrammed patterns of Burberry, Gucci and Fendi.
“I think we can safely say that fashion is referential, and it continues to be even in this factory, first creative process,” Kevin Wiesner, chief creative officer at Mschf, told WWD via email.
Mschf debuted the GSCT in 2024. The bag served as a social experiment for the collective, which highlighted the creative labor from four factories — in Peru, Portugal, India and China — as part of the design process, giving different prompts to each one, creating a telephone chain of labor.
“GSCT set out to protagonize that labor, to design a bag that uses solely factory decision-making as its design process,” Wiesner said. “We tried different types of prompts to the various factories, some quite abstract — ‘complicate’ the previous factory’s prototype, ‘feminize’ it, ‘masculinize’ it — and some much more concrete — we have this prototype, but we wish it was a little more like this other bag. That latter telephone chain in particular yielded the most compelling result, in that each of the stages of iteration are clearly evidenced in the final object.”
“You could read the final bag as a metaphor for how globalized design operates — but more than that, it’s just being honest about how the bag was made. It’s not about a design vision or name on the product. It’s about supply chain gymnastics. That’s what luxury really is now,” said Lukas Bentel, chief creative officer at Mschf.
The bags will be available for a limited time from Thursday throughout the weekend at Mschf’s pop-up installation at 48 Ludlow Street in New York City and at globalsupplychaintelephone.com.
Started in 2016 and reincorporated in 2019 by Gabriel Whaley, Daniel Greenberg, Stephen Tetreault, Wiesner and Bentel, Mschf has built its fame by releasing provocative products, including the “Jesus Shoes” and “Satan Shoes,” made from Nike Air Max 97s, and the cartoon-ish Big Red Boots. In 2023, Mschf released a 3D-printed, microscopic handbag, based on Louis Vuitton’s OnTheGo tote. The bag was made available through auction house Joopiter for an estimated $15,000.
Mschf Releases Blur Bags: Blurberry, Blucci and Blendi [PHOTOS]
Launch Gallery: Mschf Releases Blur Bags: Blurberry, Blucci and Blendi [PHOTOS]
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The post Mschf Challenges Copyright Norms With New Blurberry, Blucci and Blendi Bags appeared first on WWD.