Chinatown Market IKEA Baseball Hat

Form follows Function, right? Always. SATORI & SCOUT are now bending the rules, and circulating what the studio can only describe as a societal wake-up call. With IKEA's Frakta Bag recently re-designed, Los Angeles (USA) fashion brands Pleasures and Chinatown Market have made a 38 dollar baseball hat from the iconic tote carrier bag that can be alternatively purchased for little more than 40 pence.

Named the Fraka hat, the iconic blue and yellow bag has been deconstructed and restitched to create a 'fashionable' baseball cap. With crinkly material to create the various panels and peak, the IKEA logo is there to be seen and adorned. Complemented with advertising to reason the authenticity of an original Frakta Bag, the advice given to look for telltale signs of authenticity include wrinkliness and whether all dirt can be cleaned off with a hose.

Looking beyond the product for it's commercial and 'fashion' sense, is this IKEA inspired hat design not a wake-up call to the margins that some labels place on fashion items? With luxuriness controlling user demand, product margin often offsets the infrequency of any purchase, and SATORI & SCOUT proposes that some brands quite literally take the Michael. We doubt that this design has any intention of rivalling the great fashion houses and is little more than a societal discussion point, but what makes the difference between 40 pence and 38 dollars? Functionality - no, the tote bag is very useful; reconfiguration - no, scissors would help anyone convert a tote bag; user demand - no, the design is hideous; uniqueness - yes; why is unique creativity so expensive? Stakeholder margins, that is why.

Discover more about the design online at: TheChinatownMarket.com

Photography credit : Chinatown Market