Forty-three years ago, on a flight from Paris to London, British actress Jane Birkin had just placed her straw basket in the overhead compartment of her seat when the contents fell out onto the floor, leaving her scrambling to recover them.
Businessman Jean-Louis Dumas, who was the chief executive officer of French luxury fashion house, Hermès, helped Birkin pack her fallen belongings and stowed her straw basket into the overhead compartment.
Birkin explained to Dumas that it had been difficult to find a leather weekend bag she liked, a bag suitable for her needs as a young mother.
A keen salesman with an eye for fashion, Dumas immediately took a piece of paper and started sketching a bag that would fulfil the needs of Birkin.
In 1984, Dumas created a black supple leather bag for her: the Birkin bag, based on a 1982 design.
The Birkin handbag was simply iconic. Loved by celebrities and impossibly difficult to source, the Birkin remains the holy grail of luxury leather goods.
The Birkin bag has, over the years, become a status symbol, with prices ranging from US$10,000 to $500,000. But why are Birkin bags so expensive?
According to Hermes, the craftsmanship of every bag is top-notch: Every bag is hand-crafted by a single trained artisan and requires a minimum of 18 hours to complete.
Artisans are trained for five years so they can master every element of making the bag, including leather cutting, stitching and assembly.
There is a ridiculously limited supply of the bag: Even the best Hermès customers cannot walk into a boutique and pick from a selection of Birkin bags. The available supply is limited due to the number of trained artisans and the time required to train new artisans.
The Birkin Quota System: Hermès has a quota limit in place for its most popular bags, including the Birkin, Kelly and Constance. Clients can only purchase two quota bags per year.
The Birkin Market Demand: There are over 1.3 million monthly searches for the Birkin every month.
The Birkin remains an icon in the fashion world, highly sought-after by celebrities, top luxury buyers, and the bag-obsessed.
Secondary Market Premium: While the retail price of the most popular Birkin 30 in Togo leather of $12,500 is at the high end of luxury bags, the secondary market premium is the highest of any brand.
A pristine Togo leather Birkin 30 sells for between $25,000 and $30,000.
The original maker, Jean-Louis Dumas, died in 2010 at 72 years, but the standards he set are still upheld.
A Birkin bag artisan needs several years of training to achieve their high standards, which include the Birkins being colour-dyed with the same master craftsmanship with which they’re saddle-stitched.
Another set standard is always double-handled. Birkins come in high-grade leathers: lizard, ostrich, and crocodile with goat-skin lining. Each bag has a lock and keys.
Some bags come with hardware that is plated with precious metals: gold or palladium. For those with flashier tastes and a higher net worth, diamonds are available.
In 2015, Jane Birkin wrote a public letter to Hermès requesting her name be removed from the bag, stating she wanted the company to “debaptise the Birkin Croco until better practices in line with international norms can be put in place”, referring to the cruel methods used to acquire the skins for the crocodile variant of the bags.
Hermès announced soon afterwards that it had satisfied Birkin with new reassurances on this. Jane Mallory Birkin died in 2023, aged 76.