IKEA's Frakta Tote to Get the Virgil Abloh Treatment

Forget the cobblestone side streets of SoHo. The next favorite hangout for your local hypebeast might be Pier 11 waiting in line for the IKEA ferry. The Swedish design company that you love to curse out as you try to assemble their minimalist furniture is teaming with Off White designer Virgil Abloh to update one of the most iconic shopping bags (and repurposed laundry holders) of all time.

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The classic "Frakta" bag that Demna Gvasalia controversially ripped off for $2,145 at Vetements is getting the Abloh treatment without the ridiculous price tag. Now that IKEA has clapped back at Gvasalia, they've turned to Abloh to bring his architecture background and creative genius to everyone's favorite blue polypropylene bag.

Some of you guessed it! @virgilabloh @off____white prototyping a fresh take on the FRAKTA bag in IKEA's very own prototype shop in Almhult. "We're in a moment where IKEA is transcending, and people are bringing this "do it yourself" culture" to the blue bag. What I'm most interested in is doing that process in partnership with the brand. It's allowing me to put my opinion on a classic. It's unique, and distinctly as much of off-white as it's IKEA". Photo @piotrniepsuj . #IKEAtoday #Collaborationpartner

A post shared by IKEA Today (@ikeatoday) on Jun 7, 2017 at 7:11am PDT

In the Instagram post announcing the year's strangest collab, Abloh explains what he's bringing to the project: "We're in a moment where IKEA is transcending, and people are bringing this 'do it yourself' culture to the blue bag. What I'm most interested in is doing that process in partnership with the brand. It's allowing me to put my opinion on a classic. It's unique, and distinctly as much of off-white as it's IKEA."

Abloh's magic touch may not start and end with the "Frakta," though. The designer sat down with Marcus Engman, IKEA's head of design, during the "IKEA Democratic Design Days" on Wednesday to talk about his focus on creating solutions for young people in small places and even mused about designing college dormitories. As long as there's a hidden storage bin to hide your contraband toaster oven and Fireball bottles, he'll be set.

You can check out Engman and Abloh's talk in the video, below, by jumping to the 19-minute mark.