“Investment” is a word that gets thrown around a lot when it comes to luxury fashion, but when it comes to actual, annual increases in value, Hermès Birkins are the gold standard. According to a data evaluation recently done by resale platform Baghunter, that might be even truer than bag lovers previously thought.
Baghunter looked at investment returns over the past 35 years on S&P 500 stocks, gold and Hermès Birkins and found that Birkins were the safest bet, with an average annual return of over 14%. Stocks and gold, by comparison, both failed to match that mark, with an average annual return of 11.66% and 1.9% in that period, respectively.
This is good news on the whole if you have some Birkins in your closet that you’d like to resell, but there are, of course, a few things to keep in mind. There aren’t full details on the study’s methodology, and as best as I can tell, there’s no adjustment for the condition of the Birkin. When reselling consumer products like handbags, the maximum returns generally only go to resale pieces in pristine or unused condition; that’s not a consideration for stocks and commodities, which have a different relationship with their valuations.
The Birkin does have some points in its favor, though, if you’re looking at it from a purely investment-minded standpoint. As Luxury Daily points out, Hermès operates on the ultra-luxury market, which mostly shields it from fluctuations in consumer spending that can damage sales for regular luxury brands. That, combined with continued development in global markets and the relatively small amount of of Birkins produced, helps keep the bags rare and desirable, shoring up their value in the process.
It’s something to keep in mind if you’re interested in resale, but as always, the best reason to buy a bag (or anything) is because you love it.
