Russian influencers cut up Chanel bags in protest of ‘Russophobic’ sales ban
These Russian influencers have been taking out their anger on Chanel in a drastic way.
Many Russian influencers have caught the eye of netizens after they posted videos of themselves cutting up their bags from the luxury fashion house, Chanel, in protest of its “Russophobic” sales ban.
This comes after the French luxury brand closed down its stores in Russia and restricted the sales of its products to those who plan to sell them to the country amid the Ukraine invasion.
Russian model Victoria Bonya called out Chanel for being “disrespectful” to its customers in an Instagram reel on Wednesday, April 6. The video showed the model holding the brand’s classic flap bag before cutting it up with industrial scissors.
“Never seen any brand acting so disrespectful towards their clients as @chanelofficial #byebyeCHANEL,” Bonya wrote in the caption.
Meanwhile, Russian TV personality Marina Ermoshkina accused the brand of “Russophobia” before chopping her quilted bag with a pair of garden shears.
“Not a single bag and not a single thing are worth my love for my motherland. It is not worth my respect for myself. I am against Russophobia. I am against a brand that supports Russophobia,” Ermoshkina wrote.
“Chanel is just an accessory that at some point decided to humiliate people, my compatriots, decided to discriminate against people on the basis of nationality, which I will not tolerate,” Ermoshkina added.
DJ Katya Guseva, on the other hand, revealed that while she dreamed of having a Chanel handbag, she chose to “remove these bags from my daily life” until the “situation changes.”
“After I found out about the brand’s policy towards Russians, I decided to remove these bags from my daily life until the situation changes. I am against Russophobia, I am against the brand, which supports Russophobia and discrimination against women based on nationality,” Guseva added.
In a report from Business Insider, Chanel said the brand acted in accordance with “all laws” when it comes to imposing trade sanctions on its partners.
“This is why we have rolled out a process to ask clients for whom we do not know the main residency to confirm that the items they are purchasing will not be used in Russia. We recognize that this process of walking through the law has caused disappointment to some of our clients,” Chanel said.
The luxury brand also apologized for the “misunderstanding,” saying it’s “currently working on improving this approach” to be more welcoming to its customers.
