MSCHF Cfounder Talks ONLYBAGS,’ Lil Nas, Grimes – WWD

As usual with its decline, the latest version of the MSCHF hit consumerism with a dose of irony.

A range of $40 empty shopping bags from Hermès, Prada, Supreme and others are offered as “OnlyBags”. As the name suggests, the initiative was “a breeze” and it sold out in less than a minute as well, according to Daniel Greenberg, co-founder of MSCHF.

While millions of people first heard of MSCHF after last year’s media frenzy, controversy and lawsuits over two-time Grammy Award winner Lil Nas X’s “Satan Shoes” – Nike The Air Max 97 sneakers are said to contain drops of blood – the Brooklyn-based team has been doing it for several years. In Greenberg’s view, MSCHF is “an art collective that does many different things in different spaces. Some people see us more like this fashion space and call us the next Off-White. Others see us as preferring this postmodern Pop Art brand. They compare us to a [Andy] Warhol or a Banksy. It’s amazing that everything that we create whether digital, physical, whatever, is on this line – art, luxury, fashion, hype, capitalism, commentary society. ”

Without sorting by a category, MSCHF delves into fashion, sneakers, collectibles and more. Two years after the weekly drop, the MSCHF is now a group of 30. The boiling early days were “a bunch of us working together to make things fun, get creative, and just see what happened,” says Greenberg. While many brands start with a mission or attempt to solve a world problem, the MSCHF approach is more about a few friends agreeing to “do some internet projects and see what happens.” will happen,” he said.

Noting how they were able to create work that “just went viral without spending on marketing or advertising or anything,” says Rosenberg, “Our brands, our projects. I have been viewed by hundreds of millions of people.”

As for whether investors will knock on the door, it really depends. Although a little money has been set aside to keep it afloat, “it’s not something we’re really focused on. Again, our pursuit is really just doing cool, quirky things,” Greenberg said.

Like other projects, “OnlyBags” is meant to democratize inaccessible things, like cutting colorful spots from a Damien Hirst painting and selling them. [“Severed Spots” in April 2020], or cut the clothes and put them together, which it also did. Being well aware of how people and celebrities use designer shopping bags “as a versatile item, it’s extremely difficult to access because you have to go to these stores and spend ‘x’ money on expensive stuff,” Greenberg said. “For us, it was just the idea of ​​whether you could sell status bags basically for $40. Incredibly cheap, compared to what you have to spend there, right? ”

How do you steal from the rich to give to everyone is often mulled over by MSCHF. Another project, “Stolen Stories,” for example, involved extracting Instagram Stories from the top 100 restaurants in the country, including those with Michelin stars. “Anyone can download Instagram content for free and then post them to their Instagram Story. You basically look like you’re eating at French Laundry or Eleven Madison Park, or wherever you might be. But in reality, you’re just at home in your bed. Again, it’s another way to be flexible without actually spending money,” says Greenberg.

Comparing MSCHF to performance art on the Internet, he highlights how each person can view its projects differently, just as they might look at a painting or a sculpture. Media posts regarding “OnlyBags” today suggest as much, with some saying that spending $40 on a shopping bag is “incredibly unbelievable,” while “ others consider it an absolute genius — $40 for flexibility,” he said.

Hesitant to be too specific about any upcoming weekly drops, Greenberg said what app users can quickly update. Going forward, the plan is to do bigger things than life itself, as was the case with MSCHF making the sword Grimes brought to the Met Gala last fall, Greenberg said. The sword was made from an automatic weapon that was melted down as part of a gun buyback program led by MSCHF, designed to take guns off the streets to turn them into swords.

Frequently asked how MSCHF views the success or metrics of a project, Greenberg says, “Actually, the truth is we don’t. We create what we think is great and conceptual. If it takes off, it just happens. We are very [focused] in terms of quality versus quantity. We create what we create and let the Internet digest it and shape it however they want. “

As for whether MSCHF will ever work with Lil Nas X again, Greenberg said, “You never know. That’s obviously huge, and it could be as big – not just anything we’ve ever made – but possibly the biggest sneaker launch of all time. Obviously, we’re still friendly with him and his team. But who knows. Obviously, we’re not going to force anything that doesn’t make sense,” he said. “But we wanted to do something where we could be on top. It was an incredible moment that was almost impossible to beat.”

Looking back, Greenberg said he expected the Satanic Shoe to be big, but not to that extent. “It’s us. That’s Nas. It’s a sports shoe. It’s controversial,” he said. “We made ‘God’s Shoe’ in 2019 [repurposed Nike sneakers that were filled with holy water, which were worn by Drake, Bad Bunny and all these celebrities. It was selling for like five grand…the [Satan Shoes] somehow eclipsed that and just got bigger than ever.”