Inside The World Of Hermès' Birkin Bag, The Ultimate Grail

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Complex Original

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A couple weeks back, it came to light just how Hermès sells so well despite its bare-bones, archaic approach to luxury. While we recognize Hermès as one of the most renown and upscale houses in the industry, it has become known in some circles for being the maker of the ultimate "it bag," the Birkin, that you see many a rich celeb clutching as they walk from their limo to their 5-star hotel where presumably a masked orgy is about to commence. The bag, which routinely fetches prices around $20,000, isn't easy to get your hands on even if you have the money to blow, according to Bloomberg.

Styles of the bags sell out instantly and the only way to get one is to put yourself on an insanely long wait list. The fact that people still want them after waiting a lengthy period of time is really something to behold in an industry that passes on trends every six months or so. While the company doesn't tell anyone how many Birkins are sold each year, their overall leather category does rake in about $2 billion, a testament to just how attractive the brand has made its wares. Meanwhile, you can't just waltz into a Hermès store and cop a Birkin from the stock room. You have to either hop on the aforementioned list or have a connect to help finesse one, which show up in Hermès retail locations sporadically. See, even the super rich sometimes have to wait. Hermès also doesn't advertise the bag in a typical way, instead simply leaving it to the likes of celebrities to flaunt theirs and drum up interest.

Demand is so high, however, that Hermès has brought on 200 new craftspeople for the past few years to learn the leather working methods to make Birkins and up production, while still keeping supply relatively limtied. Talk about a fucking grail.

[Photo via Portero]

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