The Wirkin...

I hope this is me in 10 years :)

Unless you're living under a rock or in a higher socio-economic status than me (you may as well be), there has been a new rise of duped bags. Specifically, the infamous BIRKIN. AT WALMART. I had seen a video probably a month ago of someone posting it, and I was like wtf is this who cares every bag often gets duped whether it's you getting scammed or people buying them from DH Gate (no we are not going to cover the Darnell sisters scandal on fakes atm).

However, not to get scholarly on you all, but my team and I, go FIN 335 team 2, just recently did a research project on the effects of scandals like this on stock price for companies. I did indeed force them to do this topic as can be imagined. We looked at Burberry after the "Burn"berry scandal in 2019 (I covered this before ladies remember its when they were burning inventory to keep their goods scarce and value of product up). We came to the conclusion that Burberry did see lower returns as a result of this scandal, and competitors were actually able to take advantage of this scandal and see higher returns for themselves.

You may ask, Julia, how tf does this relate. Let me explain. This project was done in relation to ESG metric. The class was an ESG finance class, and dupes are often seen in relation to this idea. They both can often contort brand value. Many consumers now are placing a higher emphasis on having these initiatives (ESG) in place (again whether they actually are or not is another topic to consider) when choosing brands to purchase from. This idea sometimes does not necessarily apply to luxury brands as they reach such a high socio-economic class as their target customer, but increasingly, it appears that even some of these consumers would like to see some sort of ambition in this area on luxury brands ends. Brand value is essential to sucess with these brands as their products are often seen as status symbols. Do you see where I am going, so if sustainability adds to brand value and consumers do not see initiative in this area, brand value goes down (Balenciaga at one time). Dupes are similar as they can often ruin brand value. Birkins are notorious for being one of the hardest bags to get your hands on. Literally. If consumers in lower socio-economic classes can get their hands on dupes, it may be hypothesized that it can take away some sort of "scarcity" aspect and also symbol of status that many Hermes bag holders chase.

While these aren't actually Hermes bags, they are similar. We know there are dupes of other luxury brands bags like LV, Dior, etc. but Birkins are just a different LEVEL. It will be interesting to see if other luxury brands plan to take advantage of this attack on brand value and also if Hermes really does see a drop in sales. I also wonder what are the legal consequences in terms of intellectual property. Like how is this even possible? Maybe I'll learn in law school.