Can someone explain the appeal of expensive Hermès bags to me

[KellyK2026]

I don’t know how, but I recently got sucked into watching a bunch of Love Luxury videos on YouTube which features rich people buying expensive Hermes bags. Can someone please explain the obsession with Hermes bags? To me, they look very basic or just plain ugly. I cannot fathom why someone would pay £20,000-200k on a bag which costs a fraction of that price to produce and was mostly made in China. I’d rather get a good quality bag which has been handcrafted locally for £200 or less. Someone please explain it to me?!

If you're not personally considering buying a bag, then don't waste your time worrying about imaginary scenarios.

It’s all relative, isn’t it? £5k is unfathomable to spend on a bag to someone living in poverty, as is £20k to someone who is of middle class earnings.

I’m seriously into designer bags, and would love an Hermes bag. I’m not into the Birkin or Kelly, but would love a Picotin or a Kelly Pochette. No, I’m not going to drop £20k on one, because I’m not at that level of wealth, but if I was – sure, why not.

FYI, Hermes bags are not made in China. They are made in France.

Imagine if the OP had heard about an SO - now that would blow their mind. 😂

To echo @Dragonscaledaisy, if you buy an Hermes bag to use and enjoy, you don't worry about it getting a bit worn or scuffed up. You buy it to use - and you probably select one of the more hard-wearing leathers, which really is tough, rather than one of the more delicate ones. And, when it needs a touch up, you take it back to Hermes and have it sent to their repair studios. The Birkin bag was designed for Jane Birkin, who complained about needing a tough travel bag and was famous for carrying her very battered Birkin everywhere.
And you have it insured, so if it is stolen you will get the money back.

Again, if buying an Hermes bag is such a big deal to you that you need to protect it like it's your first born child, well, yes, that was a silly purchase. But, if you buy it to use it, and it isn't a massive chunk of money to you, there is no issue.

(And, if you are thinking of influencer Lydia Millen getting rid of her Hermes bags because, supposedly, she was afraid of them being stolen or damaged, it was actually because she came out with a major collaboration with Fairfax and Favor, and now only carries their nasty bags, and is clearly making a fortune from that).

Yes, that’s right. You go to Hermes and then get put in a list and then they send you whatever bag they want. There’s many people saying that the bag they received isn’t what they asked for (it rarely is) but they are too scared to return it in case they are blacklisted. Honestly, can you imagine if any other business treated customers like that? Charging people thousands for a product they didn’t want but making them too scared to return it for fear of not being able to buy another bag. But people continue doing it.

Total rubbish.

It’s also worth noting that Hermes bags are only that high in the resell market. Brand new, from Hermes, they are are circa £10k for something like a Birkin or Kelly 25.

Doubt it.

It isn’t though. Even Love Luxury explain how their model works, and they profit from these bags.

I think I would know how I bought my own bags.

That’s not how it works. You only get offered a bag by building a reputation as a repeat buyer from Hermes. They will offer you a bag, by email or in person, when one comes available. You can turn it down.

Good for you. But guess what? Your experience isn’t everyone else’s.

You have no experience at all.

Ye, you can turn it down, however, many people have reported feeling like they couldn’t turn it down because they’d already waited for a significant amount of time and they were concerned about being blacklisted by Hermes.

‘On average, waiting for a quota Hermès bag like a Birkin or Kelly takes 6 months to 2 years. There is no official public waitlist; instead, getting an "offer" depends heavily on your relationship with a sales associate and your prior store spending. 1, 2, 3, 4]’

Says you who doesn't invest into brand culture... Classic! 😆

No, I don’t. And? Still nobody can explain to me how the bags are worth it.

No one needs to explain anything to you. People who like the bags buy them. People that don't buy something else. Life really is very simple.

@KellyK2026, I am not sure why you are so insistent that you know the process (and citing places like Love Luxury who, yes, do re-sell Hermes but are really trying to make entertaining Tik Tok videos) and discounting @Dragonscaledaisy who has actually been through the process.

@Ruthietuthie This kind of thing always happens on MN - it's the reason I directed the OP to the Purse Forum.

With all due respect, the question that I asked in the post was could someone explain to me why the cost of these bags is worth it. I really don’t know why you commented in the first place if you think ‘no one needs to explain anything to’ me. Surely if you thought that you wouldn’t have felt the need to start writing comments in the first place as you’d see this post isn’t for you.

I have friends who have also been through the process and regretted it. Still, it’s not answering my initial Q which wasn’t about the process.

Your posts are full of incorrect assumptions, errors and inaccuracies and I'm here to correct that.

Ok, well have a nice day.

@KellyK2026, we have tried to explain to you why the bags are worth it - the quality of materials and construction, the fact that the bag is only worth more as the years go by. But you don't seem to be able to take that in.

If you go into a store and really look at the bag, comparing it closely to a cheaper bag, you would be able to see the difference and feel the difference.

And it simply isn't true that you can't say no. I told my sales associate what I wanted and, three months later, she called me to say they had it in stock. I bought it. On another occasion, I was in the store to buy a gift and to look at scarves (I buy more scarves than anything, as I love them). My sales associate asked whether I would like to look at some bags. She showed a Birkin 30. We both agreed that, when I was holding it, the size was too big for my frame. I said I didn't want it and went about my day.