Hermès Information Guide

Thierry Hermès (1801–1878) was a French artisan and entrepreneur best known for founding the luxury brand Hermès. Originally established as a harness workshop in 1837, Hermès catered to the needs of horse riders and quickly gained a reputation for high-quality leather goods. Thierry's commitment to craftsmanship laid the foundation for the brand's legacy of luxury and excellence. As the business evolved, Hermès expanded into other luxury products, including handbags, scarves, and ready-to-wear fashion. Today, Hermès is synonymous with luxury and craftsmanship, continuing to uphold the values established by Thierry Hermès over a century ago.

Hermès today is best known for their handbags. Each Hermès handbag is still hand produced in France by its appointed artisans. Each artisan is appointed to one handbag style. This handcraft is especially labour-intensive, taking anywhere between 15-20 hours to create one handbag. The famous Birkin can take up to 40 hours, thus creating a bottleneck in supply. The philosophy and aim has always been to remain “ultra-premium luxury”, which can only be afforded by the very few.

The Kelly bag was one of the first handbags introduced by Hermès. Its first prototype, ‘Haut à courroies’, was designed in 1892 to hold a horse saddle. In 1928, Robert Dumas reinvented the prototype to a more glamorous design, ‘Sac à dépêches’, which stands for nobility and understated elegance. This was considered the first “handbag” created by Hermes. During filming Hitchcock’s film “To Catch a Thief,” much of Hermes accessories were used, catching American actress Grace Kelly’s attention. The actress/princess fell so in love with the handbag, it was renamed the Kelly bag.

The iconic Hermès Birkin made its debut in 1984, inspired by a memorable encounter between Hermès director Jean-Louis Dumas and actress Jane Birkin. In 1983, during a flight from London to Paris, Birkin accidentally dropped her bag, causing her belongings—including an Hermès diary—to spill everywhere. This incident caught Dumas’s attention and inspired him to create a bag that could elegantly hold all of a woman’s essentials without compromising on aesthetics or sophistication. The result was the Birkin bag, which has since become a symbol of luxury and exclusivity in the fashion world. Today, the Birkin is often regarded as the "Holy Grail" of handbags, sought after by collectors and fashion enthusiasts alike for its craftsmanship, timeless design, and status.

Hermes creates their handbags in 2 different styles: retourne and sellier. Retourne simply means that the handbag was crafted and then turned inside out, leaving the stitching on the inside and unseen. Sellier on the other hand, has the stitching on the outside and is completely visible. The biggest difference between these two bags is that the retourne bags have more of a slouchy, relaxed look whereas sellier bags are more shaped and formal.

The Birkin is usually made in the retourne style and it wasn't until 2019 when the Birkin sellier was introduced.