Style Forum member's H experience...

[Tokyo Slim]

I'll put you on the list. Which is now closed.

Too direct. You should have offered to take her information and told her you'd look into it. (and never call back)

 

[mistikat]

Too direct. You should have offered to take her information and told her you'd look into it. (and never call back)

But...that would require discussing it. At this time. Etc.

 

[kickerfrau]

Well said

 

[Tokyo Slim]

But...that would require discussing it. At this time. Etc.

Not at all. It just postpones the non-discussion indefinitely. You just discussed it by disclosing that there is/was a list.
You are not allowed to discuss that at this time.

You just aren't Hermes SA material, I'm afraid.

 

[mistikat]

You're being oh so literal. I didn't discuss "it", the item of desire which shall go nameless. Just the vague possibility of ever obtaining "it", which gives false hope and preserves the sense of hope and exclusivity so essential to "its" itness.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

That would have to be approved by Paris.

 

[mistikat]

Goes without saying. Like so much else.

 

[gracekelly]

Thank you all for my morning laugh. Just wanted to let Mistikat know that even though the list is closed for the shirt, there is one available on eBay.

 

[mistikat]

Beware of fake t-shirts.

 

[hermesugo]

Wow, she really did make that seem like it was a walk in the park!

I think this is Dana Thomas's fault. From her book:

"But generally, if you want to buy an Hermès bag, you.."

She gave the impression that anyone can waltz in there and order with their own specification.

Thanks to Amazon.com for the screenshot.

 

[Balto Bag Lady]

Oh, trust me, I knew the consequence. It's almost like telling kids there is no Santa! (I kid , I kid...and no I do not go around telling people's kids that).

If a woman went on a male-dominated board saying most deadbeat parents are men (true), she would certainly get flamed regardless if what she says is true.

I honestly did not have bad intention coming over here, though.

And regards the brussel sprouts...I want proof! I loved those things as a kid.

Don't tell me you ladies get together in real life and hold pot lucks!? I want in!

Why, Icky, yes we do. Many of us have gotten together several times. We go to Bergdorfs and meet for lunch. We travel by train to meet like-minded women. Sometimes my DH accompanies me. He loves it when I go to NY to meet my PF friends. Pot lucks, not so much. We have bigger fish to fry. So don't get cocky with us, bro. We are a band of sisters and we mean business.

 

[Balto Bag Lady]

If they still include it in company reports they file with the French securities authorities, you may find it here:

http://finance.hermes.com/fr/2010/CA_3trim.php

If you cannot find it there, I cannot help you, I'm afraid. This is a small industry. I can assure you I have nothing to gain from posting incorrect demographical statistics of Hermes.

I can however direct you to places where you can buy that information, along with a lot more of it, for around 5 figures per industry

Also, what is TIA? I googled it and and all the results were "Transient ischemic attack". Are you trying to tell me to have a mini-stroke?

Uh, Thanks In Advance. . .

 

[Balto Bag Lady]

Well, okay, but can you get the proper shade of dark green pebbled calfskin breast wallet made?!? I think not!!

Okay, anybody who knows anything about Hermes (I know the boys on the other side don't like it when I say "H", they think it's something cultish) knows that an SA would just be confused by asking for pebbled calfskin anything. I also promised not to post anymore on this thread. If Mr. Foo knew the slightest bit about Hermes, he would know that Hermes has tons of leathers, some embossed, some grained, some smoothed, but pebbled? What is that? Would it be clemence or togo? Or epsom? How would the poor SA know, she did not know how to react. Mr. Foo probably did not no anything about what he wanted or he would have asked for the proper name of the leather and the name of the wallet. Perhaps he just wanted to join the Hermes club by purchasing something inexpensive from Hermes just so he could show if off.
Just a thought.

 

[bigbris1]

This thread is like when you see kids from your class. At night. On the street.

Awesome.

 

[Balto Bag Lady]

I swear it's one can of worms after the other...you're literally going to have me write dissertations here...

You are 100% right about the demographic of LV and Hermes. There is overlap, but Hermes has wealthier consumers.

I've read so many analyst opinion in too many languages about LV-Hermes that my head hurts, but I can safely tell you B.A. is only interested in a controlling interest, which will require very large ownership of the company considering how much stock is held by insider and 5% holders with aligned interests. He does however have a track record of preserving brand heritage/quality, as he has none of his own (wheres the Arnault Paris store again?). Amazing how a south florida condo hustler can become the deity of some many women basically.

I really don't feel like writing paragraphs about jewelry, but point blank, if you are buying from a brand name jeweler you are getting scammed. Appraisal values also mean nothing. "Precious" metals are commodities much more-so than leather because of consistency and standardization.

An example, a $48,000 ring from Chopard. Not an engagement ring, but one with a micropave setting allover, 18k white gold. Knowing what the weight was, tcw, the size of the stones (8 pointers), and stone quality (using a loupe to estimate F/vvs2) I quickly did some mental math to figure out that even with the mold, that an identical ring would cost less than $6xxxx.

Not to mention, a company in Boston making boron-doped diamond wafers (computing purposes) can make synthesized diamonds suitable for jewelry for between 5 and 15 dollars per carat, and no expert nor machine whatsoever can tell the difference. This is not CZ or moissonite, but a chemically and structurally real/identical diamond. But, I promised I won't write too much, so I'll save the Debeers artificial demand/supply monopoly for another day.

Just an example of consumers finding a certain kind of "value" where it doesn't exist.

Now on the topic of expensive leather, let's take for example what is considered the most expensive, non-exotic, birkin (typing this word makes me die a little inside) there is. This birkin is made from "Box-calf"; $10k or so.

For the best of Box calf, only milk fed calves are suitable for slaughter. Lets add some cost for the husbandry methods of milk feeding costing more than grass/grain, and that the pool of available raw salted hides or welt blue hides is smaller, with a lot of demand for them.

Now we come to the "Box" part of Box calf. This is what happens when you polish the hide using a machine with a retracting "arm" that goes back and forth and polished the leather with a ceramic cylinder, although the best results occur when using agate stone. The result is a finish with the grain being "boxy" as it's called, although some believe the finish is named for someone who supposedly invented it. The time to do this finish drives up the cost again.

Finally, let's say that Hermes rejects 50% of hides it buys from Anonany or Dupuy, driving the price up again because of a smaller pool of hides. Hermes will reject hides due to tiny imperfections most don't even notice, and the rejection rate goes up as does the size of the leather pattern you're cutting, so for a 55cm bag it goes up a lot. Imperfections include stretch marks from the calves' growth spurt, mosquito bites, etc.

Taking into account ALL this, the cost of the raw materials (finished leather) does not exceed $300 dollars.

A friend of mine that retired from making trunks hired someone to work for him in his shop, and he pays the man 37K Euro. This is a top of the line trunk shop that has made trunks for many luxury car companies, champaign producers, and ever does out-work for major brand trunk makers themselves. Lets call that $52,000/Yr for easy math.

If this man can make 2 birkins a week (VERY reasonable estimate), labor+cost of materials will be $800. Labor would be a bit more considering how much time European employees get for vacation, and we are figuring a salary of $1000/wk.

So even with the best craftsmanship possible (I'm not even counting the possibility of hiring someone from a country where benefits cost less and the salary is less, but the quality of the work is equal), you're paying $10,000(might be more now) for a bag that cost Hermes $800 or so. Expensive leather justifies certain prices, but not those prices, I'm afraid.

My dear, dear Icky, first of all, box calf is not the most expensive non-expensive leather. It is a prized leather that holds up to years and years of use and abuse and can be refurbished by a talented craftsman. One of our beloved members just had a 40-ish year old bag that looked awful brought back to almost new condition. I, myself, had a 40-year-old Kelly refurbished by the same craftsman and it is beautiful. We both purchased the bags online.
You can go to the handbag level of the Madison Ave. store and see this amazingly talented gentleman at work. And his is a labor of love. This is one of the reasons we consider the high prices of Hermes bags worth the price. If you ever examine a bag, a Constance, for example or a Constance wallet (I used this particular model because of it's complexity) The entire piece is made inside out. And then turned right side out and completed. It is a work of art. When you look at the work that goes into such a bag, you get it. When you realize that the bag is amazing in construction. Such is a birkin, kelly or Bolide.
You just can't make a blanket statement and not back it up with fact or experience.