It is the world’s most coveted wallet – and can only be purchased from the illustrious French manufacturer by invitation.
And now, fashion insiders have revealed the fascinating secrets of the coveted Hermès Birkin bags, which wealthy bag lovers are eager to buy.
Made from materials such as crocodile and alligator skins, as well as luxurious leathers with fancy names like Tadelakt and Monsieur Grainee, hand-making Birkin bags takes at least 18 hours. The ‘base’ model costs around $11,400 before tax if purchased directly from Hermès, while special editions can run into the hundreds of thousands.
But to make the expensive wallets, it only costs Hermès about $1,000, analysts told The Wall Street Journal.
Dedicated shoppers will do anything to get their hands on the wallets, and it is made in a limited edition and normally only offered to customers with an extensive purchasing history with the brand.
Insiders told the Journal that Hermès shoppers will have to spend $10,000 on other goods like shoes and scarves before being invited to buy a basic model.
To qualify for a rare, limited-edition wallet, Hermès regulars will have to spend around $200,000 on other items in the store, it is claimed.
Even if the coveted offer is made, shoppers are shown one bag they are invited to and are not allowed to specify its color.
Anyone lucky enough to get their hands on an Hermès Birkin can sell it to an online reseller for around $23,000, and that retailer will then list it for around $32,000.
Bag fans say this proves the purses are a good investment, but forget the thousands they had to spend on other items before getting their hands on a Birkin.
“Each piece is handmade in Pantin, France, in the Hermès atelier, by one expert craftsman,” Rachel Koffsky, international head of handbags and accessories at Christie’s, previously told DailyMail.com.
Koffsky explains that the bag was designed after a “chance meeting” with British film star, style icon and singer Jane Birkin in 1983.
Birkin became frustrated because she couldn’t find the perfect size handbag, so she and Jean-Louis Dumas, the CEO of Hermès, sat down on a flight to London and sketched out the bag they wanted.
In exchange for creating the now-famous wallet, Birkin, who died in 2023, received a royalty from Hermès every year.
The birth story of the luxury bag alone has attracted buyers around the world and capitalized on the bag’s hype.
“It’s a great story,” David Dubois, associate professor of marketing at the business school Insead, told WSJ.
The bag wasn’t always that hard to come by, as it was originally stocked in Hermès stores in the early 1990s.
The dramatic economic shift occurred between 2008 and 2009, during the financial crisis, says Matthew Rubinger, chief commercial officer at 1stDibs, an online marketplace.
“Once the limited edition versions started getting above $100,000, things got more serious,” Rubinger explained, adding that the idea of a logo-less bag was easily available to rock every season and would never go out of style .
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For many fashion lovers, these iconic accessories are an ultimate status symbol reserved only for celebrities, socialites and the ultra-wealthy.
Some of Hollywood’s most elite actors, singers and models, including Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez, have been spotted with a Birkin bag in hand.
Kim, a mega Birkin fan, is said to have a collection of bags ranging from $50,000 to $500,000.
The ‘it bag’ has caused such hysteria that people have done almost anything, including sucking up Hermès employees to get one.
Some people have gone so far as to bring in freshly baked cookies, offer tickets to see Beyoncé, offer a trip to the Cannes Film Festival on a private plane, and even hand over a bunch of money to the employees just to get a Birkin for themselves.
What’s more is that shoppers will spend thousands of dollars on other Hermès products just to prove how devoted they are to the French luxury brand.
Birkin collectors explained that serious buyers who want to “qualify” must invest in other items that are not as desirable as the handbag, including watches, shoes, silk scarves and even an $87,500 canoe.
When new shipments arrive, Hermès sales assistants refer to their specific lists of wealthy customers waiting for a bag.
That employee must then determine why the customer is worthy of the bag and get the manager’s approval before proceeding.
During the detailed trial, the company was sued by two customers who alleged that the company forced customers to jump through very expensive hoops for the chance to purchase one of the bags.
In March, two Californians, Tina Cavalleri and Mark Glinoga, gave the brand a blow class action lawsuit, alleging that they had to purchase other luxury items from the retailer to obtain a Birkin.
According to The Fashion Law, Hermès was accused of antitrust and unfair trade practices after taking advantage of the designer bags’ “unique desirability, incredible demand and low supply.”
Tina and Mark accused Hermès of using the hard-to-find bags to boost sales of other products. They claimed that shoppers are often told to build a close relationship with their sales associate and work their way up to ultimately purchasing the handbag by purchasing other items from the brand first.
In response, the company said in a recent lawsuit that it does not require its customers to purchase other products to get their hands on one of the famous bags.
But even after customers are presented with one of the coveted bags, they are often left with no choice about which color or size to take home, leaving them to seek out resellers to meet their specific needs.
Reselling a Birkin purchased from Hermès is considered a dirty secret and none of the women – or men – who do so would speak to the celebrity Journal for fear of being blacklisted by the brand.
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Some shoppers have even skipped the treacherous process of scoring a bag at a boutique and focused their attention solely on resellers.
Michelle Berk, the founder of Privé Porter, a “private collection store of fresh Hermès bags,” described the resale market on Birkin’s as a “buy now button.”
Although the company explicitly tells customers on receipts that they may not “directly or indirectly resell for commercial purposes” Hermès products purchased in our boutiques, they are aware of the trade because it ultimately helps the brand.
In January, the brand decided to increase the price of its exotic skin Birkin by 20 percent, something that many resellers believe was done to target their business.
Instead of being affected, resellers sold to their customers without the dramatic price increase.
Analysts say the number of other pristine Hermès items for sale on resale sites shows that people are spending thousands on goods whose bags they don’t want.
About 35 of the Hermès items listed on TheRealReal are in pristine condition, far more than the 20 percent of items from rivals like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada.
It is suggested that these shoes, scarves and other non-Birkin accessories were purchased solely in the hope of securing a bag.
And even if you end up spending enough to buy a Birkin, the retailer will only offer you a maximum of two of the bags per year, it is claimed.
Hermès reportedly has no plans to increase production of the bag. Keeping it exclusive preserves the cachet of the wallet – and also dramatically boosts sales of other Hermès items, bought by people desperate for an invitation to buy a Birkin.