How to Buy Authentic Hermes Birkin Online

Don’t Buy an Authentic Hermes Birkin Online

Before You Read This!

Ten Tips in buying an authentic hermes birkin online

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1. Ask the experts

Dont hesitate to take the bag to a Hermes store and asking a salesperson to examine it and give you her judgement as to whether it is authentic.  They won’t bite! There is no need to be embarrassed. They are used to people coming in for authentication all the time. In fact, they will welcome you as a potential customer. Bear in mind however that the only store in the US where you can obtain an official letter of authentication is Madison Avenue in New York[Hermes 691 Madison Avenue [62-63] 751-3181]. However, the sales associates at the other stores see many bags and their informal opinion is, by and large, highly reliable.

2. Color is key

Familiarize yourself with Hermes colors and leathers. Each store has a binder of all available leathers and colors. While there are indeed some authentic custom ordered bags that are out of the ordinary, if the bag you are considering is not one of Hermes’ standard leathers and colors, chances are its a fake.

3. Learn about blind stamps

Each model bag has a different format for blindstamps. In the birkin, the stamp is on the inside of right side strap. Generally, in a 35 cm birkin, the year stamp (a letter in a box) is on one side of the hole, and the workshop and craftsman symbol and number are on the opposite side. This is perhaps the most mysterious aspect of an authentic Hermes bag, but after a while, you will start to get a sense of the look of an authentic blind stamp. Many fake bags have blindstamps too. Therefore, the only way to get absolute assurance is to have it checked by Claude at Hermes on Madison Avenue in New York (see #1).

4. Visualize and memorize the Hermes lettering

The following words are printed on every birkin:

HERMES
PARIS
MADE IN FRANCE

These words are printed in the center of the front of the body of the bag, over the lower metal plate that houses the fastener ring, under the front flaps. These words do NOT appear on the inside of an authentic birkin bag. Bags with silver palladium hardware are printed in silver. Bags with gold hardware are printed in gold. Size 30, 35, and 40 cm bags are printed (as opposed to embossed or stamped) in most textured leathers (clemence, togo, and fjord) and box. The letters are non serif and have a distinctive shape, size and spacing. Its helpful to look at pictures or lettering on other bags at an Hermes store.

5. Dimensions are everything

A dead giveaway that a bag is a fake is when the handles are slightly longer than a real bag or when other dimensions look wrong. For instance, there are some key dimensions of a 35 cm birkin. The top handles are 46 to 47 cm long (depending on how you measure), from end seam point to end seam point. The clearance underneath the handles at the highest point is 10 1/2 cm. The top strip is 35 cm, but the bottom is 34 cm  from side seam to side seam. The front flap is 10 cm deep at the longer point. While these bags are individually, hand made, these exact dimensions will be found, almost to a millimeter, on any authentic bag.

6. Follow the stitching

The stitching on real birkin is expert hand stitching, which appears ever so slightly slanted when compared to machine stitching. The appearance of hand stitching is virtually impossible to replicate by machine. If the stitching is very straight or
close together (showing no space between the stitches) or not prominent, the bag is very likely a fake.

7. Note the interior

The interior of togo, clemence, and fjord bags is goat skin. There are two large interior pockets, a zippered one in the back and an open one in the front. The inside of the pockets feels like ultrasuede — a very smooth sueded texture.

8. Check the lock

The “business” end of the lock should have the word “HERMES” across one side and a number on the other side. The number is in small print and the HERMES is in thick letters. Of course, having an authentic lock and key does not mean the bag on which it hangs is authentic, but its a good sign.

9. Hermes is handmade

Get used to it. Hermes bags are handmade whereas fakes are not. As a result, a fake bag can sometime look more “perfect” than a real one (much the way recorded music often sounds more “perfect” than a live concert). Once you get used to the feel, however, of a handmade bag, a machine made one will never work for you again. In looking at a birkin to assess its authenticity, bear in mind that if its too “perfect”, it may not be real.

10. Last but not least, listen to your intuition

If you have never seen a real birkin up close, find a friend who has one and check it out.  Become acquainted with the look and
feel of a birkin. When you visit an Hermes store with a “presumptive” birkin, and you ask a sales associate if it is authentic, she will usually look at each of the items noted above. But then, she will hold it in her hands and consider the totality of the bag. If you have a gut feeling that a bag is fake, it probably is.

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