RICHES IN THE BAG
Investors Score big on Birkins
Forget stocks and bonds — buy a handbag.
Hermès’ highly coveted Birkin becomes even more coveted after it leaves the store — doubling in value in as little as five years, according to a luxury expert.
James Firestein, founder of luxury resale and authentication platform OpenLuxury, told Fortune the steepest price increase he has ever witnessed was when a Black Togo 30 Birkin doubled in value in five years.
For reference, the price of the Black Togo 30 widely varies on resale platforms due to the bag’s condition, type of hardware metals and the year it was purchased from Hermès, going for anywhere from $30,500 for a “like new” bag on Sotheby’s to $10,925 on The RealReal or roughly $8,000 on eBay.
‘Outpaced gold’
“I know several instances where people have doubled their money based on buying it 10 years ago, and reselling it today in pristine condition,” Firestein said, per Fortune. “The resale value of particularly the Birkin and Kelly bags over the past 10 years has outpaced gold,” he added
In 2020 alone, while when the luxury market ground to a halt during COVID, Birkin bags saw impressive returns of 38%, said a report from Credit Suisse and Deloitte.
As a result, Firestein estimates that 25% of Birkin buyers keep the bag in storage as investments while the remaining 75% actually use the bags, according to Fortune.
Most shoppers look to the secondhand marketplace to buy Birkin bags, because buying a luxurious piece of eye candy directly from Hermès can be time-consuming.
It also doesn’t guarantee that customers get the exact style they want.
Hermès allows stores and boutiques around the world to buy a select number of Birkins per season, though the color and size of the bags are rarely known ahead of time, said Sotheby’s.
And for aspiring Birkin owners who don’t already have an existing relationship with retailers, it can be even harder to get a staffer to reserve the bag you want, Sotheby’s said.
As a result, Birkin bagss, more often than not, sell for well beyond their $12,000 sticker price.
$450,000 resale
The pricing mostly comes down to the scarcity principle, per Sotheby’s, which recently sold a Himalaya Birkin 30 encrusted with diamonds for $450,000 — though the more common leather styles in fresh condition generally go for between $25,000 and $30,000, according to the auction house.
Hermès has been accused of making it too difficult for the everyday shopper to acquire a Birkin of their own.
Two California plaintiffs alleged in a class-action lawsuit earlier this month that the French fashion house uses “unfair business practices,” including requiring customers to first buy other “ancillary products” — such as “shoes, scarves, belts, jewelry and home goods” — before getting the opportunity to buy the coveted, chronically unavailable handbag.
The bag, introduced by Hermès in 1984, is named after Jane Birkin, a late French film star who reportedly sketched its design for the company’s chief executive on an Air France flight.
A new, 2,000-person migrant caravan is making its way north to the US border — and is expected to reach El Paso, Texas, in the next few days.
Videos posted online show a swarm of people walking through the streets of southern Mexico on Monday.
In one clip, an apparent leader could be seen encouraging the group through a bullhorn to chant “A la frontera,” meaning “To the border.”
The group proclaimed in Spanish, “We are not criminals, we are international workers.”
Shelters brace
Church-run border shelters are preparing for the group’s arrival, as they run out of space to house the thousands of migrants trying to make their way into the US, according to BorderReport.com.
“We are in contact with people and personnel in migrant shelters in south Mexico,” the Rev. Francisco Bueno Guillen, director of the Casa del Migrante shelter in the border city of Juarez, Mexico, told the news station.
“They saw many people have come into the country recently and are being joined by others already there,” he said. “And yes, they are coming to Juarez.”
He said they are expecting at least 2,000 migrants who set off from Chiapas, Mexico, to arrive in El Paso in the coming days.
The “Migrant’s Via Crucis” was organized by Mexican activists in Chiapas to ensure the safety of migrants making their way to the US.
It left the city of Tapachula, on the border of Guatemala, on Monday, according to Border Report.
But Guillen said the Casa del Migrante shelter has already been filling up. It was at just 20% of its capacity a few weeks ago, but was at 75% capacity as of Monday, he said.
The Kiki Romero municipal gym is also three-quarters full as of Wednesday, Juarez Human Rights Office director Santiago Gonzalez told El Diario, a Mexican publication.
El Paso Catholic Diocese Bishop Mark J. Seitz has told his counterparts south of the border that it will “continue to marshal all available resources and be aware of the trends.”
“El Paso has shown itself to be very able to gear up when the surge comes and provide a safe and orderly way for those who have been permitted to come in to find a secure situation and continue on their paths,” he said, according to Border Report.
Texas security
Meanwhile, the Texas National Guard has deployed two planes carrying 200 members of the Tactical Border Force to El Paso, according to KTSM.
The group specializes in incidents of civil disobedience, a spokesperson for the National Guard told the station.
Their deployment comes days after a group of migrants stormed the border in El Paso, tearing down concertina wire and trampling over Border Patrol agents in their way.
Texas authorities have charged nine migrants involved in the breach last Thursday.
The charges the migrants face include inciting a riot, damage of property of over $2,500 and assault on members of the Guard, a state government source told The Post.
Texas officials are also expected to hit dozens of others with felony or misdemeanor charges, the source said.
Federal authorities will have to hand over the accused to the state, according to the source.