The origin story is well known and cute. In 1983, Hermès Executive Chairman Jean-Louis Dumas was seated next to English actress and singer Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London. Birkin had just placed her trusty straw basket in the overhead compartment of her seat when the contents fell out onto the floor, leaving her scrambling to pick things up. Birkin explained to Dumas that it had been difficult to find a leather carry all and weekend bag she liked. So, like any good CEO trying to impress a beautiful and charismatic famous person, he sketched a design for her on a sick bag, and went away to create a black supple leather bag for her, naming it the Birkin bag. The first official Birkin was released by Hermès in 1984.
The Birkin bag is one of the most recognisable and exclusive fashion accessories in the world. Constructed by hand from premium materials like calf leather, ostrich, crocodile and lizard skin, each Birkin bag takes up to 48 hours to make. Sizes range from the compact 25cm to the roomy 40cm, and prices for a new Birkin typically begin at around US$10,000 – though the actual price varies depending on materials and market demand. Hermès is famously discreet about availability; customers must establish a purchase history and relationship with the brand before being offered a Birkin.
Over the years, the Birkin bag has become a symbol of wealth, exclusivity, and investment potential. The resale market for Birkins is robust, and many used bags fetch prices higher than their original retail value. A Veblen good is a type of luxury good, named after American economist Thorstein Veblen, for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. [Ed: Nice work if you can get it.] A 2016 study found that Birkins had outperformed both the S&P 500 and gold over a 35-year period.
In 2017, a Himalaya Birkin made of niloticus [Ed: meaning native to the Nile, I had to look it up] crocodile skin, dyed a gradient of white and grey to resemble the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, and featuring 18-karat white gold hardware encrusted with diamonds, sold at auction for US$380,000. This set a world record for the most expensive handbag ever sold at the time. Other record-breakers have followed, including another Himalaya Birkin that sold for US$450,000 in 2022.
The high price and prestige of the Birkin have also inspired parody and commentary. In 2021, a TikTok user went viral after spotting a bag in Walmart that bore an uncanny resemblance to a Birkin. Thereafter dubbed the "Walmart Wirkin", the US$20 faux-leather tote gained cult status for its design mimicry and ironic charm. The bag sold out repeatedly and became a minor internet sensation, illustrating both the cultural reach of the Birkin and the appeal of subversive, low-cost alternatives.
Today, the Birkin is more than a fashion item – it is a status symbol, collector’s object and even a topic of economic analysis. Yet, it is its quaint origin story – complete with a spilled handbag, an attentive boss man, and an impromptu sick bag sketch – that has become as much a part of its allure as the bag itself.
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References
hermes.com/au/en/content/106191-birkin/
wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkin_bag
purseblog.com/hermes/celebrities-hermes-birkin-bags
cbc.ca/news/world/walmart-wirkin-bag
forbes.com/sites/dougmelville/2025/01/03/too-inclusive-does-the-78-walmart-wirkin-affect-herms-birkin
Images
1. Jane Birkin with her original Birkin Bag – sold by Sotheby's at action on 10 July 2025 for [TBA]. Birkin decorated her bag with stickers, pins and strands of beads.
2. Birkin with first husband Serge Gainsbourg … and pre-Berkin straw basket
3. Jane Birkin at the American Film Festival in Deauville, France
4. Jean-Louis_Dumas
5. Hermès logo
6. Birkin Bag
7. Demand curve for Veblen goods
8. Gwyneth Paltrow with Berkin, The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001
9. TikToker Meredith Swanson unboxes a "Wirkin", 2025
