We’ve been seeing Virgil Abloh’s street smart offerings on many of our favourite style icons and celebrities. Beyoncé, Celine Dion and Bella Hadid are just a few among scores of other style savants who have been photographed favouring the Milan-based brand recently. Casually out and about their day, walking up to a fashion show, or just posing for Instagram, Off–White is everywhere.
One of the brand’s best-sellers is the Binder Clip bag. It came out as part of their SS17 collection and was an instant hit. It was only a matter of time before a high street brand brought out a more wallet-friendly version of the sold-out bag. Enter ASOS. It’s red Hero Crossbody has a similar boxy structure, albeit with a chain, but it’s the red and white webbing strap that makes us want to “add to cart” right away.
Off—White’s Binder Clip Bag comes in a variety of colours and finishes, however the red one is the most popular with its vivid yellow industrial belt strap standing out. It’s sold out, of course, as are the other colours, unless you want to hunt it down on other e-tailers. It is priced at over CAD 1200.
Meanwhile ASOS has come out with its iteration of the popular bag and it costs a very reasonable CAD 50, including shipping. There are differences of course. Unlike Off—White’s original that is in saffron leather, ASOS has it in faux leather. ASOS’ Hero has a zippered opening instead of the front flap with Off—White’s signature binder clip to secure everything in place. The chain strap is also a clunky change, but at this price, we are certain it is going to sell out on ASOS just as quickly as the original.
Will you buy the budget version? Or will you wait and splurge on the original?