London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Fashion house in backlash over 'racist' $1,190 sweatpants

Fashion house in backlash over 'racist' $1,190 sweatpants

High end fashion label Balenciaga has been accused of cultural appropriation over a pair of $1,190 sweatpants that critics say rip off black culture.

The Trompe L'Oeil pants feature a built-in pair of boxer shorts peeking out from the waistband, mimicking the style popularised by hip hop musicians.

A TikTok post saying the pants "feel racist" was viewed 1.6m times and black culture experts raised concerns.

Balenciaga said it often combined wardrobe pieces into a single garment.

Examples include "jeans layered over tracksuit pants [and] button-up shirts layered over t-shirts", said chief marketing officer Ludivine Pont.

"These Trompe L'Oeil trousers were an extension of that vision," she said.

The trend for wearing low slung pants was popularised in the 1990s and 2000s

The trend of wearing "sagging" pants, allowing your boxer shorts to be seen, was popularised by skaters and hip hop artists in the 1990s.

However, during the 2000s some US states passed laws banning the practice, which critics say unfairly discriminated against black people.

Some have since been repealed, such as an order in Shreveport, Louisiana, which turned local law enforcement into "fashion police who used saggy pants as a pretext to target, search, and imprison black people", according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

'Feels racist'


TikTok user Mr200m saw Balenciaga's sweatpants on sale in London and posted a video in which someone is heard saying: "This feels very racist... They have woven the boxers inside the trousers."

It has had 243,000 likes, with one user quipping: "They've gentrified sagging."


Some social media users said the pants amounted to double standards, but others said the design was not racist. One pointed out that boxers sown into pants was "a really common thing in the 90s".

Marquita Gammage, an associate professor of Africana Studies at California State University, told CNN the pants had "cultural appropriation written all over them."

"Sagging attire has been consequential for African Americans; yet companies like Balenciaga seek to capitalise off of blacks and black cultural styles while failing to challenge systematic racism that criminalises blacks and black clothing trends."

In 2018, Balenciaga apologised after a video posted online appeared to show a Chinese customer being assaulted at the Balenciaga shop in the Printemps department store in Paris.

It sparked a backlash on Chinese social media where the hashtag #BoycottBalenciagaDiscriminatesAgainstChinese was viewed at least 29 million times.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×