Secure the bag! You can now borrow a Birkin
Forget the waitlist and five figure price tag
I was going to write about something different this week but a fashion rental story caught my eye over the weekend.
ByRotation is now lending Birkin bags. This is a fascinating development given the way Hermès gatekeeps access to these exclusive handbags.
Work, work, work and wait, wait, wait
Birkins are sought after status symbols. Hermès famously makes even its most loyal and wealthy customers jump through a series of hoops to be invited to purchase a Birkin. This irritated two Californian customers so much that they launched a class action in March 2024.
In recent years, articles and social posts have sprung up, advising keen shoppers on how to secure the bag. In 2022, TikToker Audrey Peters recommended that you have to target one Hermès sales associate, make an effort to contact and visit them regularly, and purchase frequently across categories in order to increase your chances of being invited to buy one.
According to former Hermès employee turned resale platform founder, Joanna Uzunova, “she had to reach a one-to-one spending ratio to qualify for a quota bag. In other words, to unlock the opportunity to buy a $12,000 Birkin, a shopper would first have to spend $12,000 on other products from the brand.”1
If this is the case, the strategy seems to be working for Hermès, as they defied the luxury slowdown with 13% sales growth in Q2. But, if true, the strategy promotes over-consumption by requiring sales of items customers don’t really want in order to access the quota bags. Tellingly, Uzunova told Fortune, “You don’t have to like everything you buy”.
Wow.
Uzunova reports a one to two year waiting period. Other customers say they have been on the waitlist for over 20 years. Because even if you do everything you think is expected of you, you still may not be a chosen one. Right, Samantha?
Some advisors even suggest that investing in a Birkin makes financial sense, as handbags are the luxury asset most likely to hold their value. According to Fortune.com, “the rise of the resale market, where a Birkin can fetch double its sticker price, has transformed it from fashion statement to hyped-up commodity.” In some years, Birkin returns have outperformed the S&P 500 and gold markets.
So the appeal of the Birkin is widespread. And Hermès has (allegedly) worked hard at creating scarcity in order to maintain the desirability.
But, to be honest, this all sounds like a lot of hard work. And if you don’t have a spare 12 grand to waste on Hermès plates, tea cups and scarves that you don’t even want (!!!), but you still want to swing a Birk on your arm, then you’re in luck.
Wait not, want not
You can feel like one of Hermes’ faves for £150 per day. ByRotation has managed to find owners of 11 bags who are willing to rent them to strangers. If you had managed to buy one after all the effort required, would you lend it to strangers?! Perhaps you would for a return of at least £300 per rental.
If those 11 owners are worried about their bags, according to Hannah Rogers’ piece in The Times this weekend, there are some security measures in place:
You need 10 five star reviews to borrow a bag, so they will only go to trusted members of the ByRotation community (although the app is telling me “1 reviews required”).
Some include discreet tracking devices. I’m guessing something like an Airtag?
The bags must be collected and returned in person.
ByRotation’s PR agency, TwentyTwenty comms, say they had 24 hours to turn around the photo shoot for The Times feature, so the ByRo Senior Brand Manager took a day trip to Maidenhead to collect a Birkin and hand-deliver it to the editor.
If you also fancy a day trip to Berkshire, you can rent the actual bag featured in the article from Lamees B for £150 (minimum of 2 days).
So the good news is you don’t have to dedicate years to schmoozing a sales assistant or scouring the resale market to get your hands on a Birkin. ByRotation has done the hard work for you and, as they say, “democratised luxury fashion” by giving you this access. As with other luxury goods, it is much more sustainable to share what already exists via the rental market, albeit the personal travel involved is not ideal.
As resale and rental makes quota bags more accessible to the everyday fashion lover, I wonder if it will impact the value of Birkins, or the overall appeal that Hermès has worked so hard to maintain. It could also mean previously favoured customers will be added to the apocryphal “no fly list” and blacklisted for future Birkin purchases. Time will tell.
How do you feel about the democratisation of one the most exclusive bags on earth? Would you rent a Birkin?
Retail Radar—your roundup of the latest industry news
Celebrity closet sales are the new yard sales (or garage sales as we say down under).
eBay is offering UK-based companies the chance win up to £50,000 with their Circular Fashion Fund. eBay say, “we’re looking to invest in businesses that push the boundaries of technology and services to drive circular fashion forward. In partnership with the British Fashion Council (BFC) we’re spotlighting businesses that are changing the way people shop and think about circular fashion, through customer experience, circular inventory and social commerce.” Applications open on 16 October and close on Friday 15 November, 2024. Find out more here.
TKMaxx has jumped onboard the pre-loved luxury accessories market with their offering of authenticated Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Celine handbags. Shop here.
Endless Runway fashion shows brought second-hand fashion to the catwalk at the recent London and New York fashion weeks. The shows highlighted pre-loved items that are available on eBay.
Mrs Dow Jones (aka Haley Sacks) resisted the expectation for women to wear something new to every event and wore the same dress to four weddings this year. She says you should invest the money you would have spent on something new in your retirement fund. Love it.
Sustainable Fashion Events
Don’t forget—The BFC is talking to Josephine Phillips of SOJO about implementing repair services in retail this week on 25 September. Register here.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Top Lender. Like, subscribe (it’s free) or share this post to keep circular fashion news circulating. Thanks for reading!
Source: Fortune https://fortune.com/2024/04/02/birkin-insider-tips-buying-disciple-brand/