Thirteen facts you probably didn’t know about the Birkin bag.
While you may already know that the Hermès Birkin bag was named after the French-British style icon Jane Birkin, and that waiting lists to buy the luxury handcrafted bags can be years long, there is much more to these handbags than meets the eye.
It takes 48 hours to make a Birkin.
All Birkins are crafted by a single artisan in one of the brand’s workshops in France. It takes each artisan 48 hours of work to create a single bag. The bag is then marked with an identifying code that includes the year of creation, the artisan who made it, and the workshop where it was produced.
There are around 200,000 Birkins in circulation.
Hermès no longer takes special orders for the bag, and customers must wait for Birkins in the shades they desire to arrive in stores.
You can rent one for the week.
If you’re commitment-phobic (or want to test one out before you pay over a small fortune), the e-commerce site VillageLuxe, which launched last year, lets you try before you buy. You can now rent a Birkin for around 300 Euros per week, and then either send it back, or pull the trigger.
The most expensive Birkin in the world sold for 450,000 Euros.
In 2022, Sotheby’s set a world record when they sold a diamond Himalaya Birkin 30 with diamond-encrusted hardware at an auction for 450,000 Euros.
It was designed on an airplane sick bag.
The Birkin bag was famously created for Jane Birkin by the CEO of Hermès in 1981 after he sat next to her on an Air France flight and saw all of her belongings fall out of her handbag. When he offered to create a new handbag for her, Jane Birkin sketched her ideal design on the back on an airplane sick bag. She wanted a bag which would hold all of her “stuff!”
Jane Birkin only ever had five of her namesake bags.
She only uses one Birkin at a time and carries her bags until they wear out. She is also known for decorating the pricy purses with stickers, pins, and strands of beads.
A Birkin is a better investmant than shares of the stock market.
Studies have shown that rare Birkin bags have averaged a 14.2% annual return over the past few decades—an average return that beats out both the S&P 500 index and the price of gold. Hermès bags gain in value if they are kept in pristine condition. This is why Hermès is considered the most exclusive luxury brand by connoisseurs.
The Birkin wasn’t always popular.
Handbag specialists have noted that the bag didn’t take off until the “It Bag” craze of the 1990’s. Since then, they have garnered many devoted fans. Victoria Beckham is rumored to own over 100 Birkins.
Birkin bags start at around 8,000 Euros in price.
8,000 Euros will get you a leather Birkin with plain hardware. In 2001, when Samantha tried to purchase one in an episode of Sex and the City, a leather Birkin cost 4,000 Euros.
An empty Birkin can weigh one to five kilos or more.
It might not seem like a lot, but when you throw in a phone, wallet, keys, and a makeup bag, it adds up! Jane Birkin stopped carrying her Birkin bag, stating it was too heavy!
Birkins are named according to size, colour, and texture.
For example, an Hermés 25 Birkin Bag Togo refers to a Birkin with a length of 25 centimetres, and crafted in the brand’s signature grainy togo leather (togo, epsom, clemence, and chèvre are all different types of leathers that the brand uses).
Jane Birkin asked for her name to be removed!
Well known for her activism, Jane Birkin asked the luxury manufacturer Hermès to remove her name from the crocodile skin handbag after learning of the cruel methods used to make the iconic accessory.
Not only does a customer have to buy a Birkin, they have to “deserve” a Birkin.
There are all kinds of criteria and secrets of the trade to seduce a Hermès sales associate into allowing you to buy a Birkin! Being a loyal customer is not enough, Hermès will also expect the buyer to be an ambassador of the Birkin. One customer can only buy a very limited number of Birkin bags per year.
Sources: Town & Country, Hermès
