Hermès is a French luxury brand established in 1837 that specializes in lifestyle accessories, perfumes, jewelry and ready-to-wear. What stands out in Hermès’ product list however, are leather goods, with which Thierry Hermès and his successors have been associated from the time they opened shop. In fact, the famous “Duc carriage” that has been featured in the brand’s logo since 1950 reminds buyers of the company’s 19th century beginnings, when it was a harness and bridle workshop in the Grand Boulevards of Paris.
The long history of the Hermès brand is one of exclusivity and careful marketing. It was Emile-Maurice Hermès who successfully gained the rights to that new fastening device, the zipper which made its debut in a golf jacket made for Edward, Prince of Wales (1918). In the 70s, when the fashion industry was all about synthetic materials, Hermès would stick to natural ones even at the cost of workrooms stopping production. While Hermès products are available to everyone, it takes a very close buyer-seller relationship to obtain a genuine Birkin Bag, A Birkin Bag is perhaps the most coveted and expensive item Hermès produces, with demand increasing along with its value instead of actually decreasing, as the laws of the market would suggest. Birkin bags come in different sizes and designs and are made of various leathers, often exotic, such as salt-water crocodile, lizard and ostrich. 
One thing all Birkin Bags share, however, is exclusivity. Hermès produces so very few a year that they have become the Holy Grail of leather goods collectors. The most expensive Birkin Bag ever sold was probably the one auctioned for US$203,150 in Dallas, Texas in 2013.
The Birkin Bag originated in 1984 when Hermès chief executive Jean Louis Dumas was seated next to singer/songwriter and model Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London. When Birkin’s bag accidentally spilled her belongings all over the seat, she complained about her difficulty to find a proper one and Dumas offered to help. Together they designed what was about to be known as the Birkin Bag, which became one of the actress’s signature accessories.
It is worth noting, however, that Hermès’ predecessor was a plain, Portuguese wicker basket with which Birkin used to be photographed in all sorts of events, from formal galas to the market. Τhat basket was fully accessible marketwise, with no alligators harmed during the weaving.
since waiting lists are now closed, if ever there were any. And it is with great pride that they publicly reject mass production, claiming that each Kelly bag The Kelly leather bag has a trapezoid shape that can stand on itself thanks to four studs placed on the thick, thrice layered, bottom. Hermès had been producing a spacious leather bag that was known as “sac à dépêches” ever since 1935. Actress Grace Kelly added the bag to her look during the shooting of the 1953 film “To catch a thief”. After becoming princess of Monaco, Kelly was photographed bag before belly, trying to hide her first pregnancy from the paparazzi. It was a historical moment for fashion, as the press dubbed the princess’s bag after her name, with Hermès officially following in 1977. Today, Kelly Bags are company best sellers, with the pricier versions ranging from US$8,500 to US$13,000.
takes 18-25 hours of hard labor by a single artisan, working meticulously in one of their middle-sized workshops known as Les Ateliers Hermès.
LEATHER MEETS STRAW
It really is no wonder that the oldest footwear ever found would be a pair of sandals, like the ones discovered in Fort Rock Cave, Oregon. And they are indeed very old, dating back to 8000 BC. However this ancient footwear is not made of leather straps and cattle skin, like the Greek σάνδαλον or the calligae that Roman legionnaires used to conquer the known world.
Nor is it crafted of ropes and unprocessed leather like the Biblical variety The unlikely prophet Brian, in Monty Python’s 1979 film “Life of Brian” famously loses one of his sandals when chased by the crowd, with his acolytes reacting in a hilarious manner. that carried Moses to the top of mount Sinai. In fact, the primordial native American sandal was woven from sagebrush bark indicating the long lasting ties of shoemaking to basketry.
The combination of leather thongs and plaited or coiled straw soles is an old idea in footwear. Both materials are present in the creation of these Hermès pieces, with a layer of tightly woven grain stalks invested all over the thick platforms of the sandals. The result is a close-fitting shoe that is secured by leather heel caps and several leather straps, leaving the toes exposed. That’s where the light straw soles march in, providing comfort in a marriage of leather and straw that has lasted for millennia.