It beats me to know of this

I just got to know about how Louis Vuitton reproduced a design familiar to many of us as the Ghana Must Go bag.

Although this dates back to 2007¹, received a number of backlash and sparked debates², it also brings me to the topic of Geographical Indication (GI)

The Ghana Must Go bag is well known in Nigeria and west Africa as a whole for its usage and history behind it creation^{3 4}

Compared to the standard Ghana Must Go bag costs less than $10 (typically between N5,000 and N20,000), the main tote edition of the Louis Vuitton luxury handbag version showcased on runways retails for approximately $3,000 (roughly N 4.5 million to N6 million depending on exchange rate).

The Louis Vuitton version replicates the characteristic red-and-white or blue-red-and-white checkered plaid design of the original Ghana must go bag, but unlike the original bags made of cheap woven polypropylene plastic, the Louis Vuitton version features premium leather, monogrammed canvas, and brass hardware fittings.

I looked into it ,and the fact that the bag is associated with West African history does not automatically make it eligible for GI protection.

This presents a broader question about the protection of traditional cultural expressions and the limits of conventional intellectual property law.

And Yes, it is worth asking whether existing IP frameworks adequately protect cultural expressions and whether communities should have greater control over how their heritage is commercialised.

Acknowledging Ms Lilian Ugwu Esq for bringing this to my knowledge base.

Premium Law Students Community ROYALEGAL #iplawchallenge #premiumlawstudentscommunity.

Day24 of posting

1. Louis Vuitton sells “Ghana Must Go” ↩︎
2. Angela Johnson, ‘Internet Blasts Louis Vuitton’s New $3,000 Bag That Looks a Lot Like One With Dark, Painful African History‘ The Root (3 November 2025) ↩︎
3. Listen: Witness History
   Ghana Must Go – BBC ↩︎
4. Chimdindu Ken-Anaukwu, ‘The Story Behind “Ghana Must Go”: Lessons in History and UNITY’ https://www.nkenne.com/blog/the-story-behind-ghana-must-go-lessons-in-history-and-unity ↩︎

Read More:

The Most Unexpected Runway Inspiration? Checkered Polypropylene Bags, and They Come With a Hidden Meaning By Lauren Cunningham on Marie Claire