Brooklyn Entrepreneurs Sell Ironic $350 Hobo Bindles

Screenshot via BindleBros.com

What’s more Williamsburg than selling $350 bindle sticks at a pop-up shop near the Bedford stop while dressed head-to-toe lumbersexual?

Doing so ironically, of course.

The New York Times profiles the Bindle Bros. — two bearded Brooklynites selling ”locally-grown, naturally-fallen, artisanal bindle bags” — in a gleeful story for the style section that reluctantly admits, halfway through, that the brothers are in fact local actors reading a script by freelance comedy writer Kemp Baldwin.

According to his impeccably designed website, Baldwin’s nine bindle varieties include an $80 “starter bindle,” a $265 ”twindle in pink” and the deluxe, $350 “Teddy Roosevelt” model.

“There’s a lot of R and D that goes into constructing one of these gems,” one of his actors tells the Times. ”You can’t just tie a bandanna to the end of a stick.”

From the story:

“Mr. Baldwin, who lives in Williamsburg, said that by marketing bindles to urbanites he is poking fun at a culture he himself is part of. ’I’m two steps away from buying one,’ he said, adding that elements of the actors’ hobo costumes are ’straight from my closet.’

Like all good satire, the Bindle Brothers idea works because it skirts the edge of believability. Is an artisanal bindle all that different from the cheeseboards made from fallen trees sold at the Brooklyn Flea? Or the actual Hobo Sticks sold on Etsy by a shop called BagsOnSticks, seemingly without irony? (If it’s a joke, it’s a dry one.)”

But perhaps the best part of the joke is that the Baldwin-led Bindle Bros. appear to actually be selling some bindles.

While manning their Bedford Avenue pop-up shop, the actors reportedly accepted $20 from a Canarsie chef for ”a full-size bindle with purple fabric.” When asked by a Times reporter why he’d made the purchase, the chef replied: “I like that it’s different. How many people did you see today with a bindle?”

BindleBros.com is also fully capable of processing credit card purchases, according to the Times. We reached out to the Williamsburg comedy writer for his sale count — if he has one — and will update when we hear back.