Birkin bags have been a recurring topic of conversation particularly within hip-hop culture, over the last year. And now, a creative brand has turned the coveted luxury purse into a wearable sandal owned by Future and a few others.
Future Hendrix's Instagram page now has a lone carousel of images featuring the Atlanta rapper donning a full-length black-and-grey fur coat with red $48,000 "Birkinstock" sandals on his feet made from a Hermès Porosus Birkin 35 bag.
He captioned the images, "If u see me fighting a crocodile help the crocodile #BIRKĪNSTOCK @mschf."
According to a report from the New York Post, MSCHF, the Brooklyn-based collective responsible for making the highly sought after Jesus Shoes for Nike, which had actual holy water in them, are now deconstructing the high-end bags and are turning them into Birkenstock-esque sandals.
The shoes are custom and made to order. There are also several colors to choose from including black and white. The Post reports that MSCHF has created a black harvested sandal from a $19,500 Clemence Birkin 35, a white sandal pulled from a destroyed $31,000 Porosus Birkin 35 Bag, a second black shoe from an Ostrich Birkin 35 bag worth $24,000 and of course there's the red version Future is rocking on the ’Gram.
As for MSCHF, they aren't referring to their "Birkinstocks" as a collaboration. Instead, they're deeming it a "transubstantiation."
The company said, "Historically we make luxury objects out of inherently valuable materials. We can look to the Birkin bag itself as the new luxury raw material par excellence. Birkinstocks, though, are no collaboration; perhaps we might more properly call them a transubstantiation."
Aside from Future, R&B singer Kehlani has a pair of the sandals as well as "multiple billionaire art collectors," whose identities have been withheld.
It's worth noting that it isn't easy to get your hands on a Birkin bag. The process entails getting placed on a waiting list at a Hermés boutique. Especially since the craftsmanship is so intricate.
According to The New York Times, the bags "are made by hand, take an artisan a minimum of 18 hours to make, and demand generally exceeds supply, meaning there are waiting lists in Hermès boutiques for the bags."
Rather than chancing with what can be presumed to be a lengthy wait list, the good folks at MSCHF bought four bags from resale sites for about $122,500. They bought some cheaper copies of the purse to help with figuring out how to turn the bags into sandals.
They were even reportedly turned down by two Brooklyn leather workshops, who were fearful of the idea of damaging a Birkin.
As far as how the sandal is made, it starts with "an individual Birkin, which is then disassembled, flattened and cut before the luxe leather is adorned with the golden 'Birkinstock' appliqué and paired with an actual Birkenstock cork footbed and rubber sole."
There aren't a ton of "Birkinstocks" available, but it's cool to see MSCHF's idea came to fruition and a pair of their sandals are being flexed by Future himself.
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