A €130,000 Hermès Kelly broke the record at Vestiaire Collective

Vestiaire Collective, a leading global platform for the resale of luxury second-hand fashion, has announced a record sale. A rare Hermès Kelly 32 Himalaya bag sold for 130,000 euros at the end of April 2023, marking the platform's highest sale ever for an Hermès Kelly. Previously, the highest price was achieved for an exclusive Hermès Birkin Faubourg bag, which sold for 158,000 euros in May 2022. This extraordinary sale demonstrates the growing demand for second-hand luxury items and the ability of high-quality pieces to maintain or even increase their value over time. In particular, the Hermès brand has attracted increased attention in the secondhand market as purchasing items from this brand through traditional retail channels becomes increasingly difficult.

There has been exponential growth in Hermès bag listings since 2022, with a 50 percent increase in just one year. The brand has demonstrated its ability to remain consistent in resale prices, with all items maintaining their value year after year. On Vestiaire Collective, sales of Hermès items, particularly handbags, are on the rise. Searches for the Hermès brand increased by 15 percent in 2023 compared to the same period last year. Specifically, sales of Hermès handbags increased by 14% in 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year. Compared to the previous year, there was a 66% increase in Hermès bag listings in 2023, with the Kelly model being the most prominent, with a peak of 73% listings in March. Hermès remains in the top 10 best-selling handbag brands on Vestiaire Collective in 2023, along with other popular brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and Dior. In early 2023, searches for the Birkin bag also reached a new record on the platform, surpassing 10,000 searches and registering a 9 percent increase over the previous year. The Kelly bag achieved even greater results, with over 15,000 searches since the beginning of 2023, representing a 20% increase over the previous year. Already 4,000 Hermès bags have been sold this year.

The growing demand for classic investment pieces, both used and new is affecting luxury brands such as Hermès. In the past six months, searches for "vintage" items on Vestiaire Collective, including handbags and clothing, have more than doubled (nearly tripling in the past year), while sales of handbags in good and fair condition have increased by 13 percent globally. In the case of Hermès handbags, most listings on the platform describe the bags as used, although an increasing number of customers have begun selling "never used" bags. In 2023, 35 percent of bags were listed as "never used" and 6 percent as "never used with tags," indicating significant growth from 2022 figures of 29 percent and 1 percent, respectively.