Bots Swarm Telfar’s Latest Shopping Bag Restock: The Designer & His Fans Aren’t Happy

When fans excitedly logged on to try and scoop up one of Telfar Clemens’ highly-coveted Shopping Bags during today’s restock, they noticed the styles sold out even more quickly than normal. Soon, the tweets were coming fast and furious— with the chatter reaching sneaker-drop levels.

Many people were upset that they couldn’t score the bags, and soon, the designer took to Instagram stories with a striking statement: “Telfar is for the people. Not Bots. Store on ice while we root them out.”

The it bag, also known as the “Bushwick Birkin”, retails between $150 and $257 — and has become a powerful success story that’s a rarity in the fashion world. First embraced by a group of cool kids, mostly people of color and queer people, Telfar’s fan base grew rapidly in a short time.

“There was nothing like it in that category before and the customer didn’t exist, so I decided to make the shopping bag that everyone carries but put my name on it,” the Black designer told FN in January at Pitti Uomo.

Now everyone wants to carry Telfar’s bags — as evidenced by today’s outcry over the restock.

While some of the tweets were light-hearted, others took a more serious tone, noting the impact the resale market could have on both the designer and his fans.