Most people prefer to buy their shoes clean and undamaged, then mess them up in the course of everyday wear. But life in the designer world is different. Spanish luxury fashion house Balenciaga is now selling a line of “full destroyed” shoes, and you’ll pay extra for the privilege of wearing a shoe that looks like it’s already been run through a muddy shredder.
The designer sells a regular shoe called the Paris High Top Sneaker for $625 (£510, AU$901) — out of most people’s shoe price range, anyway. But on Monday, Balenciaga released a limited-edition “full destroyed” version of the shoe. These shoes appear to be caked with dirt and to be torn and scuffed. And you’re going to pay extra for the, uh, broken-in version of the shoe: These sell for $1,850 (£1510, AU$2,668).
“Rippings all over the fabric,” the website notes.
One version of the shoe, the one shown above, seems to have been taken out into a muddy field or sunk into a swamp, though the site does not note if that’s real dirt or some kind of artificial coating.
Social media enjoyed messing around with the messy shoes.
“Balenciaga is releasing a new pair of shoes, and I have to assume they are just trolling people at this point,” wrote one Twitter user.
Said another, “If you bought the $1,850 Balenciaga sneaker that looks like it was run over by a lawnmower please seek help but also please reach out to me because I would like to understand where your mind was at in that moment.”
If you bought the $1,850 Balenciaga sneaker that looks like it was run over by a lawnmower please seek help but also please reach out to me because I would like to understand where your mind was at in that moment.
— brendandunne (@brendandunne) May 10, 2022
Representatives for Balenciaga did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
