Marriages are made in heaven, but love is made on Planet Earth. Going beyond humans, we witnessed a love of a different kind between the Beckham and Birkin! Victoria Beckham, the poshest of the Spice Girls, took her sobriquet quite seriously and splurged on not one, two, or a dozen of the poshest bags- the Hermes Birkin. It is believed the English fashion designer, singer, and entrepreneur had no less than 90 in her handbag closet back in the early 2000s.
That was even before Kylie and Cardi B (known to have massive Birkin collections) were old enough to be in high school. Victoria Beckham, a fashion lexicon, spotted what’s fashionable and turned it into a coveted collection.
Back in 2007, Birkins cost around £2,500 ($3500), and Mrs.B has spent at least $315,000 (225k Euros) of her hard-earned cash at Hermès for nearly 90 Birkin bags, per The Guardian. It forced a thought into my mind, how much of an investment is the Birkin really, and wouldn’t it have been better to invest the same money in a Hermes share instead? In December of 2007, Hermes’ share price was trading around $90. In 2023 at the time of writing, it has reached a cool $2100, offering an incredible return of 2320%.
If we were to crunch some numbers, way back in 2007, had Victoria Beckham spent the entire $315,000 on buying Hermes shares and not on Birkins and Kelly’s the shares would be worth upwards of $7.3 million today. Mind you, we are not including the dividend that Hermes has paid out over the years.
A peek into her unbelievable collection would be a treat that any fashion-obsessed would trade her sought-after Birkin for! Per Deloitte and Credit Suisse, the Hermès Birkin saw 38 percent on average returns in 2020 – the highest of all luxury bag collectibles. The unavailability of the Birkin is one of the key reasons they are so widely coveted. Despite an 8-10 percent increase across Birkin and Kelly styles at the beginning of 2023, shoppers are not dissuaded from queuing up.
Also, the guarantee that the handbags can instantly be flipped for nearly three times the retail price boosts your confidence to buy an ultra-expensive bag that a wealthy person would willingly pay a premium for instead of waiting.
