Hermes’s Birkin Bag Selling Strongly

As the world’s most famous and desirable handbag, one wouldn’t have expected Hermes’s Birkin to encounter any PR problems. Name-checked on popular TV programmes, such as Sex and the City and Will and Grace and frequently seen on the arms of Katie Holmes, Victoria Beckham and Eva Longoria, to name but a few celebrities, the Hermes is such an exclusive fashion accessory that it attracts a three to seven year waiting list.

There’s no doubt that the waiting list adds a certain cachet to the Hermes bag, but this is no marketing ploy; the real reason for the long wait is that each Birkin is handcrafted from the finest crocodile skin, which is imported from Australia.

Such is the demand that Patrick Thomas, MD of Hermes International, has recently announced that the group is shortly to start breeding its own crocodiles on an Australian farm. This makes good business sense, considering that each Birkin bag uses three to four crocodile skins. However, the Birkin is by no means the only crocodile skin product made by Hermes: each year this leading fashion house produces roughly 3,000 bags made from crocodile leather, the most prestigious of which can be worth up to $35000 each. In total leather products account for 40 per cent of Hermes’s total turnover.

Australia is at the forefront of saltwater crocodile farming, with some establishments owning as many as 60,000 beasts, from which 12,000 skins might be sold annually to a single fashion house. Crocodile skin is popularly believed to be the finest quality leather available. Equally attractive to serious fashion shoppers are the markings displayed by every crocodile skin that, like human fingerprints, are unique to each animal, meaning that every handbag is slightly different.

The rationale behind Hermes’s decision to farm its own crocodiles is predominantly one of quality control. It is hoped that by supervising all aspects of the breeding and slaughtering process, the quality of the skins will be uniformly excellent. However, since crocodiles are typically slaughtered when they reach four years, the waiting list for the Birkin bag is still likely to be lengthy.

Naturally this issue has aroused the interest of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), an organisation that firmly believes that products such as fur and animal skins should have no place in modern fashion. Dan Matthews, PETA’s Senior Vice President, said: “If Hermes really wants to be a leader in the fashion industry, it should stop killing animals and use cruel-free mock crocodile and fake snake instead.”

Unsurprisingly Patrick Thomas of Hermes disagrees: “Luxury is when desire is stronger than reason.”

New post on at Tuesday, 23 June, 2009, 5:03 pm and is archived in Fashion, International News, Lifestyle, Luxury. Subscribe to answers with RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or make a trackback from your web.