A Wren Says

A Wal-Mart bag has been nicknamed the “Wirkin,” because of how much it looks like the Hermes Birkin bag. It is a clear dupe. If someone is after just the look of the esteemed luxury bag, there it is and at a much more affordable price.

As mentioned before on this blog, dupes are not the same as knockoffs and counterfeits. The latter is intentional deception, mimicking brand marks and not just style. On the other hand, a dupe is a dupe because it is (or could be) copying an original product. However, designs and shapes are not usually protected. The question here is, What would you do?

If you were Hermes, would you bother going after these smaller producers who are selling their products through Wal-Mart? If you were one the people who had been trying to move up the waiting list, would you just cave and buy a dupe? I know I asked you, but I would assume that it both cases the answer is no.

If you are Hermes, you probably instead resting on your quality as the differentiator. If you are the desperate lady in waiting, you are more likely to buy three times as much on resell markets than buying a $78 dupe. You want the status of the real thing.

What I will add is that the virality of this dupe is coming at an interesting time. Hermes was sued because what was considered its unfair practices in how it offers its scarce bags for sale. Part it is the idea of antitrust and illegal tying agreements by having people demonstrate a purchase history with the brand before being offered the ability to buy a more prestigious bag. With the proliferation of similar looking bags, I wonder if that will play into the court case and arguments. This means that there are clear alternatives. If you don’t want to play the Hermes game, if all you really want is a bag of a particular appearance, you have other options.  

I don’t think the dupe is a bad thing. It satisfies a need in the market that Hermes can’t fill when it comes to consumers who want less expensive options. But the real question is how this new coverage will play into Hermes’s favor in their pending legal cases. That remains to be seen.