Have you ever looked at the price tag on an Hermes bag and wondered why it is so expensive? Hermes bags have a retail value of thousands of dollars because it is very hard to posses due to it’s limited availability and the high craftsmanship in the process of manufacturing these rare stylish handbags. Hermes handbags are seen on the arms of spouses of politicians , top actresses and of course successful individuals in society who like to show off their wealth and success or simply just invest in handbags.

History of Hermes

The Hermes shop was founded back in 1837 by Thierry Hermes (1801–1878). The brand first started as a saddle workshop on the Grand’s Boulevards quarter of Paris. The shop offered services to European aristocrats. Thierry Hermes designed the best-fashioned saddles and harnesses for the horse carriages. Throughout many years, Hermes evolved into the most prestigious saddler in the market. Hermes expanded his business to creating bags to carry essentials for riders, such as boots, whips, and riding caps.

How Did Hermes Start Manufacturing Bags?

Hermes has 82 styles of handbags available in the market but above all the most popular design is the BIRKIN BAG, which has quite an interesting story. This story takes you all the way back to 1983, when British actresses Jane Birkin visited London from Paris, she accidently dropped her bag which was damaged from her husband running over it with the family vehicle two days ago. This resulted with papers spilling all over the place causing a scene in front of Jean Louis Dumas (Director of Hermes) who was seated next to her. She started complaining that no bag ever had enough pockets to hold her papers. Intrigued by this, Dumas asked what she had in mind which resulted with Jane Birkin creating a rough sketch of dream bag on the sick bag of the plane. This conceived the birth of the world’s most expensive handbags .

A year after this incident Dumas gave Jane the Birkin bag, an extensive yet refined calfskin handbag for regular use. The Birkin’s pockets made it exceptionally practical, and the bag seals to keep anything from spilling. Hermes makes the bags in France utilizing premium materials like calfskin, crocodile skin, and even ostrich skin. Each bag is made totally by hand, making it quite expensive than other brands available in the market.

Why Hermes Bags Are So Expensive

• Genuine leathers : Hermes bags are so expensive that can be used to pay the mortgage of your house. In a bag of such quality, faux leather would never be used. Even the cheapest design by Hermes cost 12,000 Pounds because of using premium quality leather. The leather Togo is most commonly used in handbags. The leather is lightweight, and it holds the original shape. The best feature of the leather is resistant to scratches and is fine-grained. Clemency is also one of the popular leathers used by Hermes. The bag is matte, flat-grained, and heavy. The texture of the leather is soft and gives the bag a slightly more casual everyday look. The Epsom leather is a stamped-grain leather. It is quite durable and will last you a very long time. It is also relatively lightweight.

• Premium skins : The Hermes bags are made from authentic skins such as crocodile, ostrich, goat, and lizard. These skins are hard to obtain. Hence they are more expensive than every other kind of skin available. The trendy look of the bags is due to these skins.

• Hardware : On a standard, cheap handbags, the hardware such as zips and buckles will be made from cheap and low-quality metal. The metal will deteriorate over time and rust. On a standard, cheap handbags, the hardware such as zips and buckles will be made from cheap and low-quality metal. The metal will deteriorate over time and rust. On a standard, cheap handbags, the hardware such as zips and buckles will be made from cheap and low-quality metal. The metal will deteriorate over time and rust. But in a Hermes handbags, the hardware is made from top quality metal. In a bag of such fortune, you wouldn’t expect cheap steel. The hardware is made of both platinum and palladium, which are extremely rare and expensive metals. Gold is already prevalent, but it is also costly. Hermes bags use expensive metals in hardware for class and elegance.

• Handmade : All Hermes bags are handmade. It’s carefully assembled as they are stitched by hand. The method of sewing is now two centuries old. The entire bag is sewn, cleaned, and painted by hand with the most extreme consideration. Hermes has consistently said that one reason why these bags are so expensive is that they’re handcrafted. It takes experts more than 24 hours to make them. You can say that the way toward assembling these bags is craftsmanship. The Birkin bag takes two days to created by a single Hermes artisan with their own personal toolkit .

• Limited Edition : Unlike other handbags, which you can get whenever you want, the Hermes bags are limited edition. They are not mass-produced. You can only get your hand on them once in a lifetime. Each bag has some unique and new features which won’t be repeated. Yes, they are different types of the bag and styles as well. But almost all bags are available for a minimal amount of time. After which, they are gone, giving women’s the freedom to look unique among the crowd. A Birkin bag was sold for $221,884 it is a Fuchsia Porosus Crocodile in hot pink , the handbag has 18k gold and diamonds as it’s hardware.

• Hermes Spa : If you feel your expensive Hermes handbag looks a little old, you can take it to a Hermes spa for a new look. The spa treatment is available for old bags. You take your handbag on a day out, and it comes back looking as fresh as new. No other handbag company provides this kind of luxury. The price for an average treatment for a damaged bag is around $275 however Hermes will not accept handbags that have been previously worked on or retouched outside of their Spa services. If you feel your expensive Hermes handbag looks a little old, you can take it to a Hermes spa for a new look. The spa treatment is available for old bags. You take your handbag on a day out, and it comes back looking as fresh as new. No other handbag company provides this kind of luxury. The price for an average treatment for a damaged bag is around $275 however Hermes will not accept handbags that have been previously worked on or retouched outside of their Spa services.

• Luxury : Hermes bags are luxurious. They are elegant and classy. These handbags never go out of style, and that is the reason why they are so popular. From small Hermes bags to big Birkin ones, each one of them is popular among the masses.

High return on Investment : Hermes handbags are never constant in prices and changes in price is at the discretion of Hermès. This is due to the increasing value of each unique handbag thus increases are mostly seen between 5% and 10% annually for a new bags. Investments in Hermes handbags, especially the Birkin and Kelly have seen to withstand traditional investments such as diamonds, gold, silver, stock markets, and real estate which appreciate and depreciate with the market. Hermès bags on the other hand have been seen to have risen in value over the past 35 years.