RaC VS Podium

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#16
TammyD said:
To chime in, Birkel is right. In France and Europe, "rack" for Hermes means a special combination bag. Some SMs elsewhere refer to it but it isn't common. It isn't even commonly offered! To equate it to the common lay understanding of "off the rack" is perhaps simplistic. It is the same way a "podium order" is totally confusing when you say it to a French SA.
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Thanks, TammyD. Good to have you chime in. To me, "rack" is a misnomer.

Is there a difference between rack and special order, when a customer discusses with their French or European SAs? Locally, anything that is not one standard colour or the requested skin is controlled, is a special order.
 
#17
Thank you all for your input :smile1:. This all greatly helps. I have been a loyal customer at my H store so the other week when I called my SA, she randomly asked me if i wanted to place a "rack" order, which means I can design my own bag with up to three colors. However, she limited me to only regular leather because she knows how much i always want a croc bag lol.

Birkel, how were you able to place ostrich? I already have my name on one of the croc bags coming in and i placed an order 6 months ago for a 40 black shiny croc birkin with PHW, so maybe that's why she limited me? lol. I cant be taking all the stores' croc birkins?

So I placed my order: I'm getting a 40 Clemence, Mykonos blue for the outside and bleu abysse for the inside, with the bleu abysse showing around the lining.

I'm in love with Mykonos right now. I think it's one of the prettiest blues H has made in a while :woohoo:
 
#18
So podium, rack and special orders are three completely different things altogether?

Or is it just a cultural difference and the terms are interchangeable, depending on which store you are at?
 
#19
I think they are all different things.

Birkel really knows her stuff but from what I have learned so far this year from my own experience, SO and Rack seem to be more customized.

When I ordered my Black 40 croc at "podium" in July of this year, I was told that what I want must be available in order for the SM to place it. For this reason, I picked the most common color and told my SA that I will take Nilo or Poro since I want my back ASAP. My SA told me that it will take 2 years, but this is my first time placing anything, as I have never been close to any SA before and used to just buy all my birkins when I saw them on the shelf.

I hope this helps :)
 
#21
mrssparkles said:
Thanks, TammyD. Good to have you chime in. To me, "rack" is a misnomer.

Is there a difference between rack and special order, when a customer discusses with their French or European SAs? Locally, anything that is not one standard colour or the requested skin is controlled, is a special order.
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MrsSparkles, to the English-speaking, "rack" means shopping rack ie. it is already made and available. But "rack" in France and Europe means "shelf orders" ie. traditionally, orders are given to craftsmen on shelves. In Paris at least, rack orders is equivalent to special orders. The only difference I know of is that elsewhere in the world, H has just come up with a set of rules concerning future SOs eg. interior and piping must match etc. If so, then SOs has become the "third category" because rack orders do not have these same rules.
 
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#22
Let me add one more animal called "personalisation" - that way you can choose the colors/leather combo on your birkin in pre-defined configurations and from pre-defined lists of leathers/colors offered in that season.

To TammyD, i think the "third category" you mentioned is the "personalisation" that i referred to, am I correct?
 
#23
footlocker said:
Let me add one more animal called "personalisation" - that way you can choose the colors/leather combo on your birkin in pre-defined configurations and from pre-defined lists of leathers/colors offered in that season.

To TammyD, i think the "third category" you mentioned is the "personalisation" that i referred to, am I correct?
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Footlocker, I am afraid not. Up until a couple of months ago, SO were rack orders. Now there're all these rules surrounding it. As for what you just described, I am sorry to say that I have not heard of it. As long as one is allowed to order a combo, anything goes. I do not know of any pre-defined combinations, although if you have a limited edition PO in mind which was issued before eg. chocolate box with cyclamen piping, it is still considered an SO.

Anything else which is pre-determined according to seasonal availability are called POs, or "allocations" in France.
 
#24
footlocker said:
Let me add one more animal called "personalisation" - that way you can choose the colors/leather combo on your birkin in pre-defined configurations and from pre-defined lists of leathers/colors offered in that season.

To TammyD, i think the "third category" you mentioned is the "personalisation" that i referred to, am I correct?
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footlocker - your example of pre-defined configuration would correspond with what I am accustomed to - which is the special order versions that are set for my store. Your pre-defined colours - correspond with the list of special order colours allowed for a particular store.
 
#25
TammyD said:
MrsSparkles, to the English-speaking, "rack" means shopping rack ie. it is already made and available. But "rack" in France and Europe means "shelf orders" ie. traditionally, orders are given to craftsmen on shelves. In Paris at least, rack orders is equivalent to special orders. The only difference I know of is that elsewhere in the world, H has just come up with a set of rules concerning future SOs eg. interior and piping must match etc. If so, then SOs has become the "third category" because rack orders do not have these same rules.
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Thanks for this explanation, TammyD. I think I'm beginning to understand.
 
#26
mrssparkles said:
footlocker - your example of pre-defined configuration would correspond with what I am accustomed to - which is the special order versions that are set for my store. Your pre-defined colours - correspond with the list of special order colours allowed for a particular store.
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I can never remember the combis that correspond with the 4 versions. But I think KallieGirl shared with us on the forum before. I can only remember that the version where the main body is Colour 1, and handles + piping + straps + interior is Colour 2 ... this is Version 2.
 
#28
footlocker said:
yes, Mrssparkles, this is the animal that I am talking about.
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:amuse: One degree less confusion. Hermes never fails to confuse! :p

Here is the old thread in 2008. http://forum.purseblog.com/hermes/birkin-sketches-to-play-with-274658.html

This is what I have understood and experienced of special orders. I'm not privileged to place special, special orders where anything goes as mentioned as TammyD, so I'm not in the position to comment on those.

But for as long as special orders are concerned, it's always been named special orders and rack was never used.
 
#30
to mrssparkles, yes, there is an animal called "customer orders" in FSH. My SA told me, literally, you design the bag in whatever style and H makes for you. The first custom order was the Kelly Lakis designed and requested by Mr. Lakis himself. As Hermes likes the design, H bought the copyright of the design of KL from Mr. Lakis and began production of the bag.
 
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