The Facebook pages "Origjinale" and "Autochthonous Shqipe" have published today (January 11) an article titled "Would you dare to wear them? The next wonder from Balenciaga, flip-flops with plastic bottle-shaped toes."
This article posted by these pages was published in September 2020 by the dubious portal "goandwatch.com". (see here).
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the fashion house "Balenciaga" did not create "flip-flops shaped like plastic bottles." Therefore, this claim is incorrect.
The creator of this photo, Russian designer Max Arnautov, has stated that this funny idea was born based on the continuation of other Balenciaga creations, produced as unique fashion items such as bags in the shape of garbage bags, earrings made of laces and destroyed sneakers.
"When I had this idea, I thought: 'How ridiculous! But... I wouldn't be surprised if Balenciaga actually did something like this,'" Arnautov said, writes “DailyCapsule.com”. (see here)
The Russian stylist on his Instagram profile with the name "neondazer" has published his creation dated August 25, 2022. (see here)
Links to the article published on Facebook by the pages "Origjinale" and "Autochthonous Shqipe":
In the photo published by this dubious portal, there is also world-famous singer Justin Bieber, who is shown allegedly wearing these "flip-flops" from Balenciaga.
After research conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this photo is edited. In the real photo, Bieber is wearing sneakers. (see here)
To further prove that these "flip-flops" are not a creation of the fashion house "Balenciaga", no such creation has been found on the official website of this company. (see here)
This article, claiming that "Balenciaga" created these types of "shoes", was also published in September by several online media in the Albanian language. (see here, here, here, here and here)
Analyze:
Several Facebook pages have published an article claiming that "Balenciaga" has produced some "flip-flops" in the shape of plastic bottles.
This article was published in September by several Albanian-language online media outlets, which presented this claim as fact.
However, after fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been proven that this is not true and that this image is just a creation of Russian stylist, Max Arnautov, who has stated that this is just a funny idea of his.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info rates this article as "Unverified Content".
Reasoning:
The “Unverified” rating is given to those media reports that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which have not been able to confirm the same due to the lack or non-possession of reliable sources.