Physical Infographic Project Why Luxury is Expensive? Diana Thompson | November 2012
Project Statement
1. Background The Birkin bag is a handbag by Hermès, handmade in leather and named after actress and singer Jane Birkin. The bag is a symbol of wealth due to its high price and elusiveness to the public. Its prices range from £6,000 to £100,000 ($9,000 to $150,000). Costs escalate according to the type of materials. The bags are distributed to Hermès boutiques on unpredictable schedules and in limited quantities, creating scarcity and, intended or unintended, exclusivity. www.glamour.com needs a physical infographic that will illustrate the process of making Hermes Birkin bag for their daily blog’s rubric “Slaves to Fashion”. 2. Target Audience Women 18–49 (with the median age of 33.5), who are curious about fashion. 3. Objectives To show (via illustration) the “behind the scene” of one of the most expensive women’s’ purses in the world. To answer the questions that most
women ask: Why is Hermes Birkin Bag so expensive? What’s the reason? Why do so many people obsessed with it so much? 4. Obstacles One of the biggest obstacles is to organize and present the information in a clear way. To present the purse itself as an exclusive piece with a rich history and background behind it. 5. Key Benefit The audience will understand why it is usually impossible to buy Hermes Birkin even in the franchise house. 6. Support Statement The high price of Hermes Birkin bag is a strategy to keep the company’s core value of prestige luxury. Those high standards are the ones which result in expensive Hermes products, but it is those same standards which ensure that Hermes bags remain available only to a select few.
Research HERMES BIRKIN First of all, the craftsman will train for several years before they are allowed to make a bag. Most of the Hermès craftsman come from a school in Paris called Ecole Grégoire-Ferrandi, who specialize in leather, particularly saddle making and “maroquinerie” which refers to handbags and similar items. Once you’ve completed the course there, you have 15 months of training at Hermès, where you make watch straps, handles, and do other exercises. After that you can start on bags, but craftsmen need five years experience making bags before they can “graduate” to crocodile. There are about 2,000 craftsman working for Hermès, and each craftsman usually only specializes in four bag shapes. Luggage is made in a separate workshop, and is usually made by men as luggage requires a lot more strength during its construction, particularly when it is turned out. THE CUTTING Each cutter will cut 5 or 6 bags a week, one at a time. They start by examining the skins and identifying which area of the skin will work for each part of the bag. The tools used for cutting are a paring knife or press knives, which are more precise, as they allow for the cutter to cut, prick, and make the marks for placing the clasps. The most popular models have cutting plates for their pieces, but they differ according to the skin being used, as different leathers have different elasticity.
THE TOOLS The Hermès craftsman use the same tools that they did 150 years ago (I love that!) The most important element is the human hand, but there are three other tools that assist in the construction of a bag. The grid resembles a comb with pointed teeth that imprint the leather so that the craftsman knows where to stitch, and to ensure the stitches are even. The awl is a thin, diamond-shapes pick that punctures the leather and makes way for the needles, the third tool, which are quite blunt and come in pairs. THE ASSEMBLY Let’s start with the saddle stitching. The saddle stitch is a very solid stitch now used on all of Hermès bags, belts, watch straps, and most other leather pieces. The technique involves crossing a thread over itself between two pieces of leather, and it is very strong because if one stitch breaks, the rest remain intact. While saddle-stitching, the leather is held in a large wooden clamp that the craftsman holds in between his legs. I tried the saddle stitch during my visit with the master craftsman at the Hermès store, and although I managed a few pretty good looking stitches, you can tell right away why it takes three years of training before a craftsman is allowed to make a bag. It is quite a challenge to make an row of perfectly even hand-done saddle stitches, let alone an entire bag.
Inspiration
Process
Behind
Birkin
Hermes Birkin bag prices start at around $7,500 and can go well into the hundreds of thousands. The Hermès bag is expensive because of the laborious construction process involved in making each bag.
2craftsmen ,000
15 months training at
Hermès
work for Hermès
5 years before they can make
a crocodile bag
The craftsmen come from a Paris’s school
Ecole Grégoire-Ferrandi
the thread is coated
in beeswax
1 craftsman specializes
in 4 bag shapes
Hermès uses
each cutter cuts
a mouline linen thread that comes in
bags a week
different colors
6
so that is waterproof
100
each bag is made with
perfectly even
the linings are always in leather
very soft lamb or goatskin
hand-done
Hermès
saddle stitches
have been using the same tools for
150 years it takes
once the bag is finished
4 days
40
and about
to assemble 1 bag
it must be turned
outside in
pieces that need to be
assembled
the final touch is to hot stamp then lightly hammered
and steamed
to ensure the perfect shape
the Hermès logo
and the craftsman’s code
each bag can be traced back to the person who made it