An appetite for luxury goods in South Korea has been the norm for some time but Koreans are now willing to shell out hard-earned cash for brand-name paper shopping bags, according to news reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the resale of shopping bags from high-end retailers such as Burberry, Chanel and Louis Vuitton are fetching prices in the $20 to $30 range via Korean online auction sites.
Hwang Sang-min, a psychology professor at Yonsei University, said the phenomenon is similar to a willingness to buy counterfeit branded goods.
“But what is striking is that people actually spend money on mere paper bags,” he said.
The trend might yet be fleeting.
“Just like key rings or cell phone accessories from luxury brand names used to be popular, now the trend has moved to paper bags,” said Sung Young-shin, a professor of consumer psychology of Korea University.
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