Hermès CEO Axel Dumas: Birkin secondhand market surge ‘doesn’t make me feel in a good mood’

The luxury brand boss expressed his frustration with the resale market that has emerged for the collectible handbag, telling investors during a second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday buyers purchasing the arm candy just to hike up its price for a secondhand sale are diluting Hermès’ true consumer base.

“Sometimes we have false customers come to our stores to buy them, to resell them, and they prevent us from serving our real customers, and that is a real cause for concern for us,” Dumas said.

“So, I’m not at all happy to see this development of new bags that are sold in the secondhand market,” he added. “I pull a face, and I’m not happy, and it doesn’t make me feel in a good mood.”

The Birkin bag, which can run buyers at least $12,000 and up to six figures, has been worn by a litany of celebrities like Cardi B and Victoria Beckham, with its exclusivity making the accessory a status symbol. In Q2 2025, Hermès reported a 9% sales bump, largely due to the continued popularity of its Birkin, Kelly, and Constance bags, which have helped it weather the luxury slowdown.

While the bag’s coveted status has buoyed Hermès’ sales, it’s also encouraged an active secondhand market for the bag. Because of the bag’s limited production and Hermès’ elusive criteria to even be allowed to purchase the item, resellers have jumped at the opportunity to auction off the bags. The Birkin’s resale cost can exponentially appreciate beyond its sticker price, comfortably doubling in cost and, by some measures, outpacing the S&P 500 and the price of gold.

The original Birkin bag, once owned by late British actress and singer Jane Birkin, sold earlier this month at Sotheby’s Paris for a cool $10 million.

Hermès did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

The behavior of buying to sell may be viewed by Dumas as taking “opportunistic advantage” of the brand, according to Marie Driscoll, an equity analyst focused on luxury retail.

“He looks at the product and the brand as something more than a commodity,” Driscoll told Fortune. “Intrinsically, he thinks these are artistic pieces that are a product of someone’s imagination and someone’s hard work and labor and some of the best that Hermès can do. I think some of it has taken on a life of its own.”

Dumas has long been an advocate for the sustained exclusivity of the Birkin. Last year, Walmart launched a lookalike—or “dupe” of the bag for $78, which quickly  emptied off the discount retailer’s shelves. The Hermès CEO told investors in February he was “irritated” by the copy-cat’s popularity, though he said he understood consumers weren’t buying the “Wirkin” believing it was the real deal.

“Making a copy like this is quite detestable—it’s stealing the creative ideas of others,” Dumas said.

Still, the luxury brand’s exclusivity has drawn the ire of some shoppers, including two California customers who sued Hermès in 2024, claiming the company engaged in “anti-competitive” practices by requiring prospective Birkin buyers to establish themselves as “worthy” customers by purchasing ancillary Hermès products.

While some luxury brands like Gucci and Balenciaga have engaged more with the certified resale market to attract new customers, Hermès likely won’t, Driscoll said. There’s still sustained demand for the bag and, therefore, little reason for Hermès to disturb the mystique it has worked so hard to create.

“You’re going to have to have a longer engagement, which is kind of, in a very romantic sense, like being engaged to someone before the culmination of the wedding night,” she said. “You’re just going to have to postpone gratification.”