Hermès Handbags: The Height of Luxury
Iconic bags, exquisite craftsmanship and limited availability have made the Hermès bag a coveted status symbol and a hot commodity on the auction block. In fact, between 2016 and late 2020, several Hermès favorites—Crocodile Himalaya Birkin bags and a rare Crocodile Himalaya Kelly—made handbag history, successively earning the title of the most expensive handbag ever sold at auction.
What makes this crocodile bag so valuable speaks to Hermès reputation for quality and exclusivity. First, the material: crocodile. Lightening the hide of a Nile Crocodile and then dyeing it is a time-consuming process, particularly when you add in the gradation effect, which is named Himalaya because it evokes the snow-capped Himalayan mountains. Then there’s the exclusivity. This Hermès bag was first created as a special order for a VIP client and immediately became a holy grail item for collectors.
While the exclusive crocodile Birkin and Kelly bags fetch exorbitant prices, other versions of those classic bags, along with other Hermès handbag designs, can be had for a fraction of those six-figure sales. They’re a good investment, too. The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, a report that ranks luxury assets, showed Hermès prices rising 17% in 2020, with a decade-long 108% increase. In 2020, Hermès outperformed luxury assets like fine wine, colored diamonds, watches and even rare whisky. While some might think the Hermès bag is just a frivolous purse, it may be an even better investment than an index fund on the stock market.
Hermès: A Quick History of a Storied Fashion House
From its origins in 19th century Paris as a saddlery, Hermès has always catered to the well-to-do. Founder Thierry Hermès produced custom saddles and harnesses for wealthy noble families, even reportedly holding up coronations so royals could have the best of the best. The Hermès logo of a Duc Carriage honors this past, as does the company’s enduring leather craftsmanship and equestrian sensibilities.
In the 20th century, the family—because it has always been a family business—expanded with clothing, watches, gloves and handbags as the automobile replaced the horse and buggy. Hermès introduced the zipper to Europe after a trip to America and used it in the company’s first handbag, the Bolide, in 1923. In the 1930s, they added the iconic silk scarf, a sumptuous and artistic creation that often serves as an entry point for Hermès collectors, along with their most recognized handbag, the Kelly.
While the Kelly bag has a similar design as it did back in the 1930s, it wasn’t called that until the 1950s, when Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco was photographed holding the classic Hermès bag in front of her pregnant belly.
Each handbag and product in the Hermès collection has its own charming origin story. The Birkin was born when Executive Chairman Jean-Louis Dumas happened to sit next to British actress Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London in 1984. With diapers and bottles stuffed into a straw tote, the young mother complained about how hard it was to find a bag to hold everything she needed. By the end of the flight, Dumas had sketched a large rectangular bag with space enough for baby bottles and a fold-over flap to keep everything inside.
By the end of the 20th century, Hermès was a full-blown Paris fashion house, with jewelry, perfume, watches and ready-to-wear clothing joining the saddles, handbags and scarves they had become known for. By sticking to classic design and staying true to their origin, Hermès has become an enduring symbol of high luxury.
Materials and Craftsmanship of Hermès Handbags
As an equestrian-based company, Hermès uses only the finest raw materials for its products and employs hundreds of highly trained leather artisans to produce each product by hand. One artisan takes one handbag through the entire production process, from cutting and dyeing the leather to stitching the last stitch. The hallmark of a Hermès handbag is the saddle stitch, executed by hand at a perfect 45-degree angle. A painstaking process, making a Hermès handbag can take as long as 20 hours. Special orders, which usually require custom leather and colors, can take years.
A Hermès bag's hardware can range from gold-plated and palladium to black ruthenium and diamond-encrusted white gold. A telling sign of a Hermès bag is the heft and luxuriousness of the hardware—locks, keys, buckles, zippers, feet studs—that does not tarnish.
Hermès handbags are made to last many lifetimes, and the company will refurbish bags for as long as they live. Only the best artisans are elevated to the so-called Hermès Spa, where repairing older bags can be a challenging process, depending on the amount of wear and damage it may have.
The hides used for handbags are sourced from across the world and come in a boggling array of options. For the lucky few VIP customers who are invited to create a special-order handbag, the choices can overwhelm. There’s natural grained calfskin, processed grained calfskin, smooth calfskin, goatskin, buffalo leather, crocodile, ostrich and lizard, all of which come in a variety of finishes. But not every leather is available every season.
Colors are similarly limited from season to season, but there are still always a ton of available colors. From classic black to a variety of browns, pinks, reds, greens, orange, white and everything in between, each color behaves differently on the leather that’s chosen.
Hermès Bags Value and Collectibility
Birkin bags and Kelly bags are the most highly sought-after of all the Hermès handbags. However, on the secondhand market, condition and rarity play a role in the Kelly bag’s value. Special order bags, indicated by a Horseshoe stamped on the inside of the bag next to the gold Hermès stamp, are usually the most valuable and can command equally special (read: high) prices. Pre-owned versions from regular seasonal releases offer more practical and palatable options for collectors pining for a Hermès Kelly handbag. In early 2021, the 28 cm beauties sold for, on average, more than $14,000.
As the most popular Hermès bag, the Birkin’s value is unmatched in the secondary market and varies depending on size, condition, rarity, leather, color and hardware. This bag’s investment value is on full display on the secondary market, where they fetch approximately $15,000.