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There’s something about an It bag that makes people go wild. It might have to do with the fact that these bags are often equal parts practical and ornamental. You can justify the purchase by wearing it every single day. Recently, the Dior saddle bag has been selling out like hotcakes on sites like the RealReal. Prada’s reissued nylon mini bags have been a hit among top models too. But one style outdoes them all: Telfar’s shopping bags.
Introduced by the New York label back in 2014, the sleek mini bags from Telfar Clemens are designed in vegan leather, branded with a signature “T” logo, priced from $150 to $257, and are famously difficult to get. The appetite for them has remained strong and steady, and it’s easy to understand why. They are the perfect bags in terms of striking the right balance between fashun and function. Their roomy, top-handle shape makes them functional for everyday wear, but the logo makes them instantly recognizable status items. They’ve even become known as the Bushwick Birkin, as all of the cool Brooklyn kids would much rather score one of them versus, say, a $300,000 Himalayan Birkin. It’s not only about price or quality here—it’s about carrying around something that’s hard to get your hands on. It’s a perfect storm of price, quality, and rarity. And unlike past It bags, which fizzle out after a year, Telfar’s bags do what many others can’t: continue to stay relevant.
Yesterday, the brand did a surprise restock of it on its website. In the past the drops occurred roughly every month, and sold out within nanoseconds. This one was no different. It didn’t take long for shoppers to take to Twitter to express their discontent about missing out. Many, it seems, did not secure the bag. In fact, the word Telfar even began trending on Twitter as a result, where customers began spreading memes about being too slow on the draw. “The bag was literally in my cart,” wrote one disappointed shopper, sharing a GIF of Denzel Washington slamming his hand against a desk. Some, however, were glad to see the hype Telfar bags got yesterday (and continue to get), even if they missed out on the latest release. “Give Telfar the same energy you give Chanel,” wrote one user. Another wrote, “I’m happy Telfar has this popular status though. I hope more Black fashion creators can achieve this status as well.” When asked about this ongoing craze for his creations, Clemens simply wrote Vogue, “It’s beautiful.”
On Twitter, a less-beautiful question arose around why the bags seem to be selling out so fast. Fans are getting suspicious. Turns out, many of them have noticed a pattern where the new drops will appear on resell sites for prices much higher than the standard $100 to 300 range that they typically go for. Inflating the prices is an issue that many feel counteracts the original accessible intention of the bag.
Telfar representatives acknowledged the issue of reselling bots possibly taking over their e-commerce website in an Instagram Story today. “Telfar is for the people, not bots. Store on ice while we root them out,” the statement read. The site is temporarily closed as they look into the problem. So for fans awaiting their very own Telfar, the next drop may just have improved odds that fall in your favor.