It is the exclusivity that makes part of the value of the Hermès Birkin bag.
When mentioning classy handbags in the fashion world, it is impossible not to mention Hermès – the brand that has become a symbol of luxury and timeless beauty. From Birkin to Kelly, every Hermès bag is a smart and sustainable investment. But to own the precious gems of the world’s leading fashion houses, you need to determine: This is almost a relatively difficult task.
Vogue British has described finding an Hermès Birkin bag as the equivalent of “possibly having to wait months or years” . The famous magazine even warned customers that: “The waitlist is no longer applied at Hermès stores.”
The Birth of Birkin
The idea of the Birkin bag originated in 1981, when Jean-Louis Dumas, CEO of Hermes at that time, came up with the idea of creating a bag that could “contain the whole world” for women. busy. The bag was named after Jane Birkin, the late French star, singer and inspiration for Jean-Louis Dumas, when sitting next to him on an Air France flight.
However, it was not until 1984 that Birkin was officially launched. It wasn’t until the early 90s, after Chanel’s dominance in the luxury accessories industry, that the Birkin truly became an It bag – a product that any fashionista wants to own.
Legendary Fashion Icon Jane Birkin with her famous Hermès Birkin bag
What makes the Hermès Birkin bag so difficult to own?
First is the price, a standard Birkin can cost from $10,000 or more (about VND 250 million). However, this is not the highest price for a Birkin bag ever sold. The Birkin bag produced in 2008 made from albino Himalayan crocodile leather with hardware made of 18-karat white gold and diamonds was sold for 208,175 pounds (equivalent to more than 6.5 billion VND) in 2016 in Hong Kong (China). In 2021, a similar Birkin (born in 2014) was sold for more than 9 billion VND, and in 2022, Sotheby’s sold a Diamond Himalaya Birkin 30 for more than 11 billion VND.
In addition, product scarcity is also a major barrier. Although Hermes does not publicly disclose information about the number of Birkin bags produced each year, we know that this quantity is limited. Just walking into a Hermes store doesn’t mean you can immediately buy a Birkin bag.
Shopping demand far exceeds supply, which means each store will have different bag models at any given time. The process of creating a Birkin, takes about 18 to 20 hours and is said to be completed by a single craftsman.
The exclusivity of the Hermès Birkin has contributed a large part to the appeal of this bag model. According to Vogue British, the waiting list at Hermès stores no longer exists. To be on the “eligible” list to buy Birkin, each customer needs to have a shopping history of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars at the brand’s stores . “This makes the shopping experience fun and engaging,” Jacek Kozubek, owner of luxury watch sales website Tropical Watch, told The New York Times.
” Before I could get a Birkin, I had to spend $60,000 shopping at Hermès, ” he said, listing items that included shoes, scarves and home goods. To put it simply, you don’t have to have money to buy a Birkin, but you have to really love Hermès and be willing to put in the effort to “build it” to be able to DIRECTLY buy one to take home. Because of that hidden rule, many customers have to buy INDIRECTLY through sellers at higher prices to quickly get the masterpiece of a lifetime.
Not everyone accepts the rules
Like overcoming thousands of obstacles to climb to the top of the mountain, the difficult purchasing policy is one of the key factors that makes people want to conquer Birkin more than ever. The feeling of winning everything to buy the treasure that so many people desire makes many fashionistas accept the “obstacle” that Hermès offers. And in fact, this is a very normal thing for those who like to hunt for Hermès bags.
However, it seems that not all gods are willing to accept the “unwritten” rules of the French fashion house. Recently, Tina Cavalleri and Mark Glinoga, two customers living in San Francisco of Hermès, filed a lawsuit against the company regarding the Birkin bag purchasing process. In the lawsuit, they accused the French heritage brand of violating antitrust laws by only selling Birkin to customers with the highest spending history.
It is known that Tina Cavalleri currently owns a Birkin bag but she failed in her attempt to buy a second one. She said she “spent tens of thousands of dollars at Hermès” before having the opportunity to buy a Birkin bag. According to the lawsuit, Mark Glinoga said an Hermès sales associate instructed him to “purchase other items and accessories in the store” before he could be considered a potential buyer for the Birkin bag. expensive. Hermès has not yet responded to the above information.
Unlike the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Jacek Kozubek, who owns the website Tropical Watch, which sells luxury watches, said he believes nothing improper happened in the sale, as Birkin bags were traded. The current market price is much higher than the listed price. “Hermès is keeping prices low compared to market value,” Mr. Jacek said, “So when they distribute a bag, they want to sell it to people who love it and support them. You don’t get great stuff. in the world immediately. If a Birkin was too easily accessible, no one would care. No one would want them.”
Both price and scarcity contribute to the desirability of owning a Birkin bag. Clearly, Hermès has succeeded in turning the Birkin bag into a symbol of luxury and privilege reserved for its “gods”.
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