MSCHF launches leather handbag that combines designs of Hermès, dior, balenciaga & celine

MSCHF’s Global Supply Chain Telephone leather handbag

MSCHF unveils a leather handbag named Global Supply Chain Telephone, designed by creatives and workers from four leather factories around the world. They combine the design elements from the existing purse designs of Hermès, Dior, Balenciaga and Celine into a single leather handbag. The accessory becomes MSCHF’s platform to spotlight the hidden creative labor coming from the leather-working factories which fashion brands may tap for their clothing lines and accessories. The art collective hands the design power and process to these factories, leading them to the fruition of a leather handbag collectively designed by people working in the supply chain.

images courtesy of MSCHF

MSCHF’s Global Supply Chain Telephone is the culmination of a relay production process. The leather handbag goes through four leather-working factories that combine the design elements Hermès, Dior, Balenciaga, and Celine employed in a piece from their collection, with each of them adding a new element and/or redesigning the leather handbag to fit the design brief. ‘We deliberately gave vague, incomplete, and ‘bad’ instructions to these factories to leave as much of the decision-making as possible out of our hands,’ says MSCHF.

MSCHF unveils its new creative stunt: a leather handbag named Global Supply Chain Telephone

Hermès, Dior, Balenciaga, and Celine DESIGNS for MSCHF

A leather factory in Peru was the first to receive the brief for the leather handbag after MSCHF asked them to ‘knock off a Birkin bag’ of any kind. The knockoff Hermès Birkin bag produced by the factory was then passed on to a leather factory in Portugal. Here, MSCHF requested the factory team to turn or redesign the knockoff Birkin bag to make it look like Celine’s Luggage bag. MSCHF received the leather handbag with a combined design from the Birkin and Luggage bags and shipped it to India so their chosen factory could make it look more like Dior’s Saddle Bag. With the design elements of the three brands added to the leather handbag, the factory in China was the last stop, asked to tweak the handbag’s design to mirror Balenciaga’s Hourglass Handbag.

the leather handbag becomes MSCHF’s platform to spotlight the hidden creative labor

The Global Supply Chain Telephone is the result of the hard work of these factories, with MSCHF conducting a final design cleanup pass themselves, which included designing custom hardware to go with the final shape of the bag, selecting quality materials, and validating sound construction. ‘Except for the hardware, our involvement was limited to quality edits, not design edits,’ says MSCHF.

MSCHF’s Global Supply Chain Telephone is the culmination of a relay production process

MSCHF looks into production process with leather handbag

MSCHF’s leather handbag provides insight into the problem-solving that happens in the global supply chain, including the leather factories that may also work for fashion brands and their collections. As the art collective explains, there are aspects that producers didn’t anticipate or solutions that the factories themselves offer the producers after their oversight, yet the giant brands and names still overshadow their efforts.

the leather handbag goes through four factories around the world

‘Anyone seriously engaged with manufacturing understands the factory is not a computer, taking in perfect instructions and outputting perfect execution. The factory performs tremendous amounts of invisible creative labor. It is found in processes, mechanisms, or techniques that succeed when they cannot be spotted by the end consumer. It is creativity only evident, for example, in the way you cannot see a parting line. It happens in places where the designer doesn’t even know to provide instructions,’ says MSCHF.

factory in Peru was the first to receive the brief for a Hermès knock-off handbag

With the Global Supply Chain Telephone, MSCHF hopes that viewers are afforded a glimpse of what can happen inside the production process and the forces that may help influence the overall product. The leather handbag also features a twill interior, detachable shoulder straps, and back, interior card, and zippered front pockets. As of publishing the story, MSCHF’s leather handbag retails at 650 USD and is set to be released on February 21st, 2024.