The grocery bags of Mexico, a new fashion for Zara

The multinational fashion store Zara has put on sale a shopping bag that clearly resembles the traditional grocery bags that are used in Mexico to go shopping in markets or street markets. But with a significant difference: these bags cost thirteen times more than in these places with a value of 649 pesos (about $ 28). These types of bags are sold between 20 and 50 pesos (between less than a dollar and two at most) in the markets of Mexico, and are slightly larger than the ones that Zara offers in its online store, which measure just over 30 centimeters long by 25 wide.

On Twitter, the discovery of this bag has caused several jokes among users, referring to the fact that it can be found at a much lower price or thinking about what other traditional accessories could become a fashion.

Shopper bag JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA $ 649 !!! The grocery bag, you blew it up Zara JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA pic.twitter.com/8JRwuACnd5

The importance of comparing:

• Striped Shopper Bag (Zara) $ 649.00 pesos

• Large Mexican Market Bag: $ 37.50 pza pic.twitter.com/yEePrI0GIO

The good thing that my mom already had her bags before Zara went overboard: pic.twitter.com/hbwabGDBT4

Are you wearing the #Zara Striped Shopper bag? pic.twitter.com/LAhlPk1dR4

Will it match my new Zara Shopper bag? pic.twitter.com/m8AAHi9KF1

-Pass me the task, amix.
-Have, but change something so that it is not evident that I passed it to you. #Zara pic.twitter.com/qUe5e8ricC

#Zara Ready to go to the errand for my tortillas. pic.twitter.com/D06yQNvu9v

Magdiel Montalvo, director of the Network of Artisans and Producers Manos Creativas considers that although a traditional market bag is not an artisan object, it is a marketing movement by the company. "You can't talk about plagiarism, but you can talk about a sale at very high prices of something traditional," he tells Verne by telephone. "Those bags are historical, they have a historical and cultural context, which has been diluted over the years, but whose tradition remains in Mexico," says Montalvo.

Screenshot of the Zara online store.

Zara and other multinational companies have already replicated handbag models that are often used for purchases at other times, with much higher prices. In 2016, the Balenciaga firm showed several models of bags very similar to those used in Thai markets on its catwalks. In October 2006, Marc Jacobs showed on his Louis Vuitton spring-summer 2007 catwalk plaid handbags that only differed from shopping bags thanks to the company's highly visible logo and a much higher price .

"It is a marketing strategy, but it becomes a problem when these brands present it as if it were their own design," says Montalvo.

The traditional Mexican bags at the Central de Abasto .. Getty Images

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