Hi all, just wanted to share my story with my Birkin hunt in London and the new system. I phoned on the 7th of September to book an appointment with a leather specialist at new bonds street on the 19th, I was already heading up to London that day, and thought why not see what I could do? I will preface this with saying I have literally no relationship with Hermes at all! and until the 19th I hadn't made a purchase.
So I spoke to a lovely guy on the phone and booked my appointment for 1:30ish, me and dad went into the appointment and mum and her friend went looking around the other stores, we lined up at about 12:50 as we walked past and saw a huge queue, and the was a guy walking the line asking people what they are wanting today, I mention I have a leather specialist apointment booked and he tells me the is no need to queue up, I can look around other stores or go to a cafe and come back for my appointment time and we can come straight in.
This is what we decide to do and we pop over to lv and I wanted to replace a vintage cles that had seen better days. We head back to Hermes and are greeted by the gentleman who spoke to us in the line earlier, asked what name the appointment was under and told us our specialist was ready, we are introduced to the specialist, no handshake at the moment, but he was lovely, and pointed us upstairs.
(a little side note, im super impressed with how they have used horse shoe stickers on the ground to show what direction to walk the store, beautiful nod to their equestrian history) We go upstairs and are seated in the middle of the store in the leather department, possibly 3 couples were on that floor with us, all far away with their own associates. we exchange pleasantries and he asks what im after, I explain im after a Birkin and with a knowing smile he says he will be back.
he brings me three "tester" birkins, these were quite beaten up but the was a 25, 30 and a 35, he also explained the is a size 40 but that's more a travel bag rather than a every day bag. While im looking he explains to me that they have changed how to get a Birkin, its now a "Wishlist" system, so you put up to three preferences and if the bag you want comes in then you are called.
I had written down a list of colours I had found that I liked from stalking the Hermes store online and he showed me some he recommend too, in the end I picked a size 30 (only one size can be chosen) vert almonde, deep blue and a dark grey that I cant remember the name off, but it was a nice cool toned colour. Then I was shown the hardware colours with each leather colour and I picked brushed ruthenium and the palladium as I'm a silver boy I don't really do golds.
It was then explained that the wish will be kept on the system for 8 months, after that you need to re wish. Obviously the more popular the colour the harder it is to get, I was then also informed they can keep the item for 5 days for you to come up and look, but that's it.
I thanked him very much and he asked if the was anything else I was looking to buy, I wanted to get a set of the Hermes tarot cards, and I was looking at the Apple Watch straps, sadly my arm is a little thick for the straps but he was brilliant at showing me the options and informed me they can add extra holes, im on a bit of a weight loss thing so hopefully it will be an option in the future.
So I just grabbed the tarot cards, and he put in some perfume samples for me and dad, very sweet of him! Well today I received an email telling me they have the bag in the size I want, in the preferred colour of vert almonde, and the second preference in hardware being the palladium, so im super amazed and impressed by the new system! Will let you all know what happens when we go up to get the bag on the weekend!
Harrods I d rather not go there...
Please post a picture when you get it!
so I would say so! I will say I think buying them could have had something to do with it? its one of their more unusual items and he didn't actually know about them until I asked. might have been good for me lol
