- Viral Hermès Birkin dupes are selling out at retailers like Walmart.
- Actual counterfeits, unlike the Walmart bag, have been infiltrating secondhand luxury.
- These are the most commonly knocked-off styles to look out for, and some easy tells.
An Hermès lookalike handbag available to buy from Walmart has gone viral.
People have been calling the bag a dupe, a term used to describe an item that’s similar in appearance to a more expensive product. It does not claim to be from Hermès — and is not branded with the fashion house’s name. But the bag, which looks a little like the iconic Birkin bag yet costs less than 1% of the price of a real one, is selling out as people seek the style of one of the world’s most coveted handbags for under $100.
A real Birkin has a starting price of $10,000 and can run into the six figures. Buying one directly from Hermès requires establishing a relationship of purchases with the French fashion house and time spent on a waitlist, too.
For those who want an authentic Birkin — or any other luxury bag — the secondhand market has become pivotal, with its value rising to $50 billion last year, according to Bain & Company. With a limited supply of the most in-demand bags, some turn to resale to avoid the wait. Aspirational customers are also taking advantage of better prices as a gateway to luxury.
But the sheer volume of actual counterfeits demonstrates the dangers of buying on the secondhand market, which has been infiltrated by “dupe culture.”
Business Insider spoke to Hunter Thompson, the director of authentication and brand compliance at secondhand luxury retailer The RealReal, earlier this year about the proliferation of increasingly convincing fakes.
“In 2024, if it can be faked, it’s faked,” Thompson said. “Someone wears something one day, and in a few weeks, it’s been counterfeited.”
Each month, The RealReal prevents about 5,000 fraudulent items from hitting the market and has kept more than 250,000 out of circulation since its inception in 2011. Some are sold by unwitting owners who have been misled, while others are part of a larger network of counterfeit suppliers seeking to make a buck from knock-offs.
“The level of sophistication there has definitely only increased,” Thompson said, adding that wannabe sellers are even faking receipts, hoping that proof of purchase will sway someone to accept a rip-off.
Hardware — like the feet of a Birkin, zippers, and pulls — can indicate that something is off, as can discrepancies in logos and spacing. For less obvious inconsistencies, the company deploys a microscopic camera that compares the bag with thousands of others, looking at everything from the grain of the leather to the edges of a brand stamp.
Here are the bags that Thompson said are most commonly faked —and some tell-tale red flags to look out for.
“It changes and stays the same. There are always those bags that are going to be counterfeit,” he said. “Anything that’s popular is totally game for being counterfeited.”
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