MSCHF is no stranger to creating replicas of famous products (and it has court cases to prove it), so it comes as no surprise that its third handbag, the GSCTH, has some familiar features on it.
The bag, which MSCHF says has an adopted name akin to the beginning of a complex Wi-Fi password, has been Frankensteined together by a network of factories worldwide, each of which took elements from four different designer handbags.
This long-winded design process saw the MSCHF provide four separate factories with vague instructions on what bags they should take inspiration from, giving them the creative license to fill in the gaps.
First, MSCHF asked a factory in Peru to replicate a Hermes Birkin, then it showed the knockoff bag to a factory in Portugal and asked for it to be turned into something more similar to a CELINE Luggage Bag. The resulting design then went to a factory in India with instructions to be more like the Dior Saddle bag and then, finally to China where a factory made it look more like the Balenciaga Hourglass Handbag.
Having gone through the hands of each factory and borrowed elements from four famous handbags, the final product was created: the MSCHF Global Supply Chain Telephone Handbag (catchy name, right?).
Some quality edits were done in-house by MSCHF and then it was time for a photo shoot with Dani Levi, Kim Kardashian’s stylist, and to put the product out into the world — the handbag is available to shop from February 21 via a custom website.
The reason behind the art collective leaving most of the designing to factories is to highlight the important role they play behind the scenes. The problem-solving done by factories in the sampling process is a big part of what turns concepts into tangible products, and it often goes unnoticed.
Here, the hidden creative work of factories is on full display, with cumulative factory labor being responsible for the design.
This is not the first time that MSCHF has played a factory-based trick with its handbags. Its first-ever handbag was titled the Made in Italy bag and was made in a completely different Italy than most luxury bags: Italy, Texas.
Since then, it has also launched the tiny Microscope Bag, which is as small as a speck of dirt, making the Global Supply Chain Telephone Handbag its third bag release.
As with every product that MSCHF creates, whether that be sneakers, Fabuloso-scented perfume, or an AI tool to rank your hotness, the concept behind it is as important as the final product. The resident art world prankster holds up a mirror to society with every absurd idea that it brings to production.
The Global Supply Chain Telephone Handbag isn't just a wacky idea for a handbag design but a comment on the hidden creative labor in the global supply chain.
