What can $18,000 get you at Miu Miu? TikTok creator Wisdom Kaye (@wisdm8) has an answer from personal experience: a jacket whose zipper gives up the ghost on its very first outing, a vest with a button that has a mind of its own, and a public relations disaster of epic proportions.
It all started when Kaye, a prominent fashion influencer, brought home two new Miu Miu pieces totaling a staggering $18,000. He was ready to enjoy the luxury unboxing experience, but that joy proved more fragile than a soap bubble. The zipper on the first garment broke upon its first use. The button on the second piece popped right off, as if cleanly severing ties with its own price tag.
With his 13.8 million followers on TikTok, Kaye filmed his deeply frustrating shopping experience. The video immediately went viral. Viewers were torn between gawking at the price and roasting the quality. Miu Miu was quickly christened with a new nickname: “Temiu Temiu,” a portmanteau comparing the luxury house to the low-cost e-commerce platform, Temu. “Proof that luxury goods only scam the rich,” read one of the countless mocking comments.
As the situation escalated, Miu Miu’s PR department stepped in. They contacted Kaye and sent him two brand-new replacements. This should have been a standard crisis-management playbook move—a chance to restore the brand’s reputation.
Just to be safe, Kaye decided to film the second unboxing as well, inviting his audience to witness whether Miu Miu had learned its lesson. A sense of tension built as Kaye carefully approached the button that now carried the weight of a brand’s honor on its threads. He demonstrated its functionality for the camera…
And then, in a moment of almost defiant comedy, it happened again. The button dramatically fell off.
Seriously. It fell off. Again. And with it, so did Miu Miu’s dignity as a top-tier luxury brand.
In an attempt to extinguish a small flame, Miu Miu had managed to start a forest fire. The incident left many questioning the brand’s quality control and crisis management, and raised a more fundamental question for luxury consumers: What are we actually paying for?
In theory, the price tag includes a promise of superior craftsmanship, lasting quality, and the aura of the brand itself. It’s the story and the design you buy into. Miu Miu has always sold a vision of quirky, rebellious, and sophisticated youthfulness. But when a garment can’t even hold itself together for a single wear, the only thing it seems to be rebelling against is the person who paid $18,000 for it.
More importantly, this tiny button has pulled back the curtain on an unspoken rule in the luxury industry. Once, brands held all the power. A poor customer experience was, at worst, a private dispute between a consumer and a service representative, while the brand remained untouchable on its pedestal. But social media has given creators like Kaye a global megaphone, turning a single shopping story into a public trial of a brand’s credibility.
In a follow-up video, Wisdom Kaye confirmed this was not a collaboration (imagine this was a collaboration to begin with…), and that Miu Miu had even asked if he wanted yet another replacement (the pressure on their PR team must be immense). The whole saga makes the world of high fashion feel a bit difficult to comprehend. But for the rest of us, it offers a simple comfort: sometimes, an empty wallet is the most reliable quality inspector you can have.
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