(From left) Idol group BLACKPINK Jennie and Red Velvet Joy. Wearing a necklace made with the Chanel logo caught the attention of 3040 women. /SNS Capture
“What is the name of this Chanel necklace? This is what BLACKPINK Jennie is doing.”
“It looks like a necklace made of Chanel vintage buttons.”
These are the questions and answers posted on an online luxury information sharing site. After Corona 19 (novel coronavirus infection), Chanel raised its price eight times in the domestic market. At the same time, the price of Chanel accessories skyrocketed. The market for accessories reform using Chanel buttons was born.
In fashion and luxury-related internet communities and social networking services (SNS), the number of people who authenticate necklaces and earrings made using buttons removed from Chanel clothes has increased significantly. There are even companies that specialize in making accessories using Chanel buttons.
Accessories designer Park Ga-yeon (31) also makes necklaces, earrings, brooches, and headbands using Chanel buttons that are either removed from old clothes or attached. The price is 100,000~400,000 won, so it can’t be considered cheap, but there are many maniacs who already have word of mouth. It is said that about 70 customers purchased two or more remodeled products from Mr. Park’s shopping mall.
Park said, “Each button of Chanel is delicately engraved with the brand engraving, so it can be seen as a work of art in itself. Most of the materials are metal, so they do not wear out easily.” He pointed out, “Customers say that if you collect buttons that are too good to keep or throw away and make them into accessories, you will feel like you are buying an expensive Chanel product.”
Chanel accessories. /Chanel homepage capture
Official accessory products such as earrings, necklaces, and rings from Chanel are priced from as low as 600,000 to 700,000 won and as high as 2 to 3 million won. Park explains that it can be purchased at a price of one-fifth or one-tenth the price of genuine accessories, but the satisfaction is great.
How much money can you make by making one necklace? An old Chanel button can be traded for 30,000 to 100,000 won on second-hand online platforms such as Jung-Nara or Carrot Market. If it’s a limited edition or depends on a premium product, you can often buy it for over 200,000 won. For example, if you buy a button for 30,000 won and sell it for about 200,000 won, you will have a profit of about 130,000 to 150,000 won, excluding the cost of subsidiary materials.
Hanmo (40), who often sells Chanel buttons at the carrot market, said, “When you buy Chanel clothes, there are always one or two extra buttons left, or the clothes are worn and cannot be worn, but only buttons are left. They often sweep away the items put out by the people who do it or the people involved in the workshop,” he said.
Before Corona 19, we also bought materials from overseas luxury vintage markets. Overseas, luxury second-hand stores called ‘vintage shops’ form an independent market and sell a lot of unique second-hand products. If you make a product with a button with a highly rarity design, the premium (premium) goes up that much.
The buttons themselves have so many different designs that they sometimes create products with unique designs that aren’t usually available as genuine accessories. Red Velvet’s Joy and Black Pink’s Jennie, who are famous for leading fashion trends in the entertainment industry, also became a hot topic by releasing pictures of them wearing the reformed necklaces.
A jacket from Chanel designed with various buttons. /Chanel homepage capture
It seems that it is mostly women in their 30s and 40s who are trending. They are posting certifications on the Internet community introducing the process of making accessories, such as luxury button necklaces and earrings, and the products they have purchased.
Of course, there are also negative views. In the end, there is a perception that reform is not damaging luxury goods and making so-called ‘fakes’. Even at an online cafe sharing information on luxury goods with over 500,000 subscribers, if a post is posted with a material such as ‘Chanel button necklace’, criticism or doubts such as ‘a fake that has no genuine value’ or ‘how can you believe that a button is removed from genuine clothes’ Revealing comments often run.
However, there are many people who respond positively to the fact that they tried new things with scraps of luxury products that were not used as a kind of recycling. A brand designer said, “Even luxury brands such as Hermes and Prada make dolls, key chains, and key chains by collecting leftover leather, cloth, and metal subsidiary materials left after making bags. It seems that making new products every year can also be seen as a form of recycling.”
Ahn Hye-won, reporter at Hankyung.com anhw@hankyung.com
