Are Hermes bags like legal tender?

@NeelyOHara that was exactly my experience as well. I was polite and said I’d always wanted one and that it was a big birthday. I’d never bought anything at all from Hermes.

6 months later I was offered to design my own bag through the Ateleirs in Paris.

I obviously chose the cheapest options but as a normal person it genuinely happened without making any purchases.

I know they are against multiple buys in case they end up on Bagalista and Love Luxury on Beauchamp Place for a profit.

I’m with @NeelyOHarain that I am completely normal but was polite and respectful to the staff and they delivered.

Will add that on pick up day there were lots of extremely rich people buying lots of items out of boredom daily.

The staff were so pleased to finally get someone inside the store who was actually excited to buy something

@Ihateboris have a look back over my other posts on this thread 😊

Where can one buy a really good genuine fake designer bag? I don't mean the obvious ones from Turkey 😍🤣

I think there are certain colours and leather types they won’t offer out on a waiting list, there are some pieces that are very rare.

Those videos pop up for me to occasionally, I actually enjoy watching them. But yes, luxury brands do this. They only produce X amount of those bags and if you get one it means you are very valued. It’s strategic to make the product 1. more desirable and 2. you can dictate the price because it’s so exclusive. Rolex do the same. You can’t just walk in to a Rolex shop and say ‘I want this one exclusive watch you’ve only made 50 of’ even if you have the type of money.

I have two Birkins and a Kelly, I’ve never bought anything else either, I was just polite to the staff and kept going back until they offered me one.

I’ve never bought anything from Hermes in my life. I went in store and asked to be put on a waiting list for a Birkin. Six months later I was offered one.

The whole ‘ you have to spend loads’ was certainly not true in my case.

Where can i get one of those? Asking for a friend obvs...

This reminds me of Madonna getting angry at her staff for not using the clubcard / vouchers.

Of course it hurts the brand. You can't have an air of exclusivity if any Tom, Dick or Harry is walking around with one that looks identical. People won't buy the expensive one even if they can afford it = hurting the brand.

Even Samantha from Sex and the city couldn't get a Birkin.

I recently became addicted to watching Tik Toks about people buying and selling these bags.

Women nonchalantly buying a 30,000 pound Birkin, Hermes etc. Maybe for a wedding, maybe for a gift. Really fascinating. They handle the bags with gloves. There's a "pricing team" , certificates and whatnot.

No idea why I find it so interesting.
My latest bag purchase was 8 euro in Primark and I think it's really cute😂

That's how it works.

Basically, you build a ' relationship' with a SA, how much you buy of other goods and when/ if you get offered a bag very much depends. You can make your preferences known for a style/ colour/ leather/ hardware/ size etc but no guarantees. Then you might be offered a bag but it might not be what you want or hoped for, you then have to decide whether to take it or not.

You really can't walk in a store, march up to the counter and say you want a Birkin - it's not unheard of for someone to score one that way, but it is unusual and not really the way to go about it.

I don’t think I supported the slave trade commissioning a Loewe puzzle bag tbh. A 9 year old didn’t make it that’s for sure. And I know the factory it was made in - have a google for that - it’s called Jipin. And it’s not ‘horrible,’ it is legitimately (ha!) identical to my authentic bag. Same lamb skin leather, same feel, same branding, identical stitching. and I deliberately chose a bag that’s not ‘ in your face’ - I wouldn’t get a LV for example

But yeah, it’s a moral wrangle I suppose

I stepped out of the branded bags a long time ago. I used to love Coach bags but their quality went to hell and then the logos took over. I still have mine from the 90’s but won’t even go into a store now. If I had stupid amounts of money I quite like the look of the Hermes bags.

My one ‘branded’ weakness is my eyeglasses. I tripped across a French brand years ago that are still family owned and handmade. They are my luxury item that nobody would ever guess at or know, but I do and I love their designs. (To be clear they aren’t Hermes/Rolex level luxury but they are say Louboutin-ish).

Oh, ok. That makes more sense.

I actually know this. They aren't the type of bag many people are faking and nobody would believe you anyway, because they simply are too expensive. Either you can afford one or you can't, having a fake would be... Humiliating, to say this least.

Getting the bags, and spending enough in the shop to even be offered one, is a bit of a game. Rich people get bored too, they can have anything and everything. So Hermes created this false scarcity mindset. For their brand they would rather sell a smaller amount of bags for an astonishing amount of money, than sell a lot of the item but lose perceived desirability, exclusivity and competition amongst the wealthy. Having a one of these bags is a statement and yes you absolutely don't turn one down even if it isn't to your taste because you may not be offered one ever again.

I don't personally own one, but I've seen people going crazy for them. I guess it's no different than people collecting the rarest trading card in a game or other perceived high value rare items. The only reason we see it as so odd is because the collectors market has historically not been really appealing or geared towards women, let alone very wealthy women.

When Trump started the tariff talks, there was an interesting trend on TikTok - “Chinese manufacturer Tok” where they tried to “expose” the high pricing of luxury brands like Hermes and that the rapid price rises since 2020 have been about maintaining the illusion of exclusivity and not raw material costs rising. One video claims that when you use the same thread, leather and hardware as Hermes, a $20k Birkin costs about $2k to make.

According to the trend, consumers in the West have been conned to think that all Chinese factories make Shein quality when there are trained workers who can make luxury brand quality as well as European workers. (Obviously there’s the issue that European factories don’t have suicide nets outside)

The trend lists some websites that Chinese people apparently buy direct from the factories but I can’t confirm quality.

Fakes are horrible, you are stealing someone’s designs and hard work, whilst supporting the slave trade.

Same here - I was interested to find out the answer to your query.

Could we have a recommendation please