They’re hitting Balenciaga right in their wallets, clothes and shoes.
Furious fashionistas are slicing up Balenciaga products to protest the fashion house’s controversial ads depicting children alongside bondage-inspired attire.
Videos of the inflammatory “trashin” statements are amassing millions of views as the hashtags #boycottbalenciaga and #cancelbalenciaga trend on TikTok.
“Stop wearing Balenciaga immediately,” reads the caption of one clip, uploaded by Chloé Hennessey to the tune of 1.1 million views. Accompanying footage shows the incensed influencer using scissors to cut up a hoodie reported to cost around $700, like a scorned partner with their ex’s favorite clothes.
She proceeds to toss a Balenciaga T-shirt, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of trainers that collectively appear to be worth more than $2,000.
Balenciaga came under fire this month for its problematic campaigns featuring children holding plush toys wearing bondage get-ups, as well as paperwork from a Supreme Court case that upheld part of a federal child pornography law. The fashion house has since apologized, pulled the ads, vowed internal and external investigations and filed a $25 million lawsuit against producers of one of the ads.
The Post reached out to Balenciaga for comment Tuesday on the social media protests.
After researching the company’s dirty laundry, Hennessey said she threw out her Balenciaga couture and pledged to never support the brand again. “I actually love Balenciaga. They used to be my favorite brand,” she told the Independent. “Obviously I’m not rich, so it was annoying to have to get rid of all of it, but taking a stand is so much more important in my opinion.”
She isn’t the only one making a fashion statement. In another clip, captioned “good riddance,” influencer Tegan Kline can be seen ditching a $260 Balenciaga AirPod case and a croc-embossed handbag selling for $3,000. “The rest of my Balenciaga will be tossed as soon as I get home,” Kline promised in the caption.
A follow-up clip shows the trashin-ista cutting up a pair of Balenciaga designer shoes and throwing them in the garbage.
The demonstrations came after the Paris-based luxury wear firm pulled the scandalous ads and apologized. A new apology was posted Monday to Instagram. “We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative,” the latest statement reads.
“Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children,” the label added. “This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone.”
The haute couture merchants said their legal complaint is related to the second campaign, which featured the court ruling. Balenciaga suspects the papers came from the filming of a TV drama.
“The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint,” the Monday statement continued. “We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently.”
