San Franciscans love transit merch (opens in new tab), from BART’s annual ugly sweaters (opens in new tab) to bucket hats, tees, and soccer jerseys with Muni’s iconic “worm” logo (opens in new tab). Getting in on the action, local fashion brand and cult-favorite Baggu (opens in new tab) created a custom line of hats and water bottles adorned with what looks like BART’s logo (opens in new tab) to celebrate the Friday launch of its store at 888 Valencia St.
There’s just one problem: BART had no idea it was happening.
“It is not a partnership, and we are surprised to see our logo,” BART communications director Alicia Trost told The Standard on Thursday. “We don’t blame them for wanting to associate with our awesome brand, and we are thrilled they love us this much. But it would be nice if they reached out to us and perhaps share some of the profit, since we are in a financial crisis.”
Indeed, Bay Area transit agencies, including BART, have been on the brink of insolvency since the pandemic decimated ridership. State officials have said that they’re working on adding a loan worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the budget by January to float BART and other transit agencies, which otherwise may be forced to severely cut services.
While BART has a trademark on its “BA” logo (opens in new tab), Trost did not say whether the agency would pursue legal action against the bag company.
Photos of the Baggu gear (opens in new tab) gained thousands of likes and drew comments describing the merch as “absolute fire” and the “collab of the year.” Anyone who spends more than $50 on Baggu products on opening day gets to choose one of the items as a gift, the store posted (opens in new tab) on social media.
“We’re amazed by the response to our free gifts at the store reopening and are already in touch with the BART team about an official collaboration,” a representative for Baggu wrote to The Standard on Friday afternoon.
The response was, indeed, overwhelming. Baggu is an obsession-worthy brand for fans who celebrate its functional colorful style in TikToks and make a point to wear the bags in nightlife hot spots. By 8 a.m. Friday morning, people had started queuing up ahead of the new Baggu store’s 11 a.m. opening. By 10:30, the line stretched around the block, down 20th Street nearly to Guerrero.
But most of the people waiting — who ran the gamut from Gen-Zers to to new parents with strollers to seniors — were shocked to learn of the nonconsensual nature of Baggu’s BART merch. When they did, they were not pleased.
“It really pisses me off,” said Sarah Kaminker, who had been deputized by her daughter, a student at UC Berkeley, to grab some gear on opening day. “It’s just rude that Baggu will get a lot of publicity, but BART won’t get any benefits.”
Laura Bargus, who took the day off and drove from Sacramento for the opening, was “very disappointed” with Baggu: “It would have been nice if they had at least reached out.”
Aaliyah D. and Gabriela N., friends in their late 20s who’d been waiting for about an hour, said the news tanked their excitement about the special hat, water bottle, and sticker.
“It doesn’t feel great to support that,” said Aaliyah. “It’s completely BART’s logo — and Baggu made it seem like a genuine collab. So it feels kind of weird.”
They considered getting one of the non-BART giveaway items, which included a sticker that said “I’d rather be at the SF Baggu store.”
Sam Myers, who was in line, was a perfect person to weigh in on the issue: He considers himself one of Baggu’s biggest fans and has about 24 of the brand’s products, including towels, socks, grocery bags, and purses. He also makes Muni “slut” clothing that unofficially uses the agency’s logo (opens in new tab) and admitted he felt relieved when he learned that BART hadn’t announced legal action against Baggu.
“It would be nice if BART got money from this, but on the flip side, I’m not giving Muni money,” he said. “Though I am thinking about doing a collection where I raise some money for them.”
Social media commenters put their frustrations more strongly. “I hope BART sues them,” one person wrote on Reddit (opens in new tab), adding that the situation is “pretty shameful.”
“Wild to steal the logo of an underfunded public transit system,” wrote one commenter on Instagram (opens in new tab), while another said, “Damn, I love that hat, but I can’t justify getting it without some support for BART.”
Outside the store Friday morning, Stephen Shanahan, Baggu’s director of retail, said he had not heard about the controversy, BART’s response to the situation, or criticism of Baggu’s decision-making process. But he was “bummed” about the transit agency’s disappointment: “It was with love and admiration that we referenced BART.”
Details about any official collaboration between the brands were not immediately available.
About an hour after the opening, people were still lined up for swag.
“I don’t love that Baggu did this unofficially,” said Madison Smith, who works on Valencia Street. “But I’m still going to get a water bottle.”