Some 20,000 designer bags priced at £5 sold out within an hour of going on sale this morning.
Shoppers queued outside Sainsbury's stores before opening time to snap up the Anya Hindmarch creations.
At the Cromwell Road store in west London, shoppers camped out from 2am to get their hands on the designer must-have - which bears the slogan "I'm not a plastic bag".
All of the 450 Sainsbury's branches selling the bag reported a brisk trade, with the entire stock flying off the shelves before 9am.
Sainsbury's spokeswoman Hannah Chance said tickets were handed out to those queuing for the bags before stores opened at 8am.
Ms Chance said the disappointed shoppers were generally "very calm about it", having been alerted by the ticketing system that they might be out of luck.
Although Sainsbury's is not expecting to get any more Anya Hindmarch bags, Ms Chance said stores would be offering a range of alternatives to plastic bags.
"Reusable bags are our focus at the moment," she said. On Friday the retailer will, for one day, ban plastic bags from its stores.
Ms Hindmarch developed the reusable cotton bags with the We Are What We Do movement to help cut the number of plastic carriers used in the UK. Currently we each use on average 167 carrier bags a year and only one in 200 is recycled.
The bags shot to fame after appearing on the arms of a host of celebrities and fashionistas, including actor Keira Knightley and singer Lily Allen.
Even models Twiggy and Erin O'Connor put in requests for one of the latest batch, Sainsbury's said.
In total, 30,000 bags were made, and some of the original 10,000 sold have attracted bids of up to £175 on eBay.
Eugenie Harvey, co-founder of We Are What We Do said she was "absolutely delighted" by the response to the bag going on sale.
"It took us nearly two years to get to the point where we found the right partners to bring the bag to the market," she said.
"It's been an overnight success but there was a long period of knocking on doors and trying to bring the project to life."
Ms Harvey said the scrum for the bags had brought an important issue into the spotlight and although "30,000 bags are not going to change the world" she hoped the project would have a lasting impact.
"I think as an action it will be totemic - people who have bought the bag will think 'what are the other things I can do when I'm shopping? What are the other things I can do at home?'" she said.
Ms Harvey said We Are What We Do had other projects in the pipeline, including a partnership with Virgin Atlantic later in the year and a third book.
· Gallery: Norwich's alternatives to plastic bags
