Breaking Down Designer Investment Bags: Are They Really Worth the Price?
Pick up any women’s magazine, and it’s pretty much a given that you’ll see an article extolling the value of investing in pricey designer handbags. Yes, buying an Hermès Kelly or one of Chanel’s latest “it” bags will cost you an arm and a leg, but the logic is as follows: If you buy a bag you’ll use for the long haul, the price tag will eventually become much more reasonable—even affordable—with each wear.
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In an effort to see if this theory really holds up, we broke down how much some of the classic designer bags would cost if you ended up wearing them four times a week for two years—a pretty generous amount of wear, but certainly within reason if you love a bag, and use it regularly.
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1. Hermès Kelly 32 Togo:
$11,800/$28 Per Wear*
2. The Row Backpack:
$3,900/$9 Per Wear*
3. Ralph Lauren Soft Ricky Bag:
$2,500/$6 Per Wear*
4. Céline Medium Box Bag:
$3,900/$9 Per Wear*
5. Chanel Medium Boy Bag:
$4,700/$11 Per Wear*
6. Dior Large Lady Dior
$4,400/$11 Per Wear*
7. Gucci Jackie Shoulder Bag
$2,350/$6 Per Wear*
BOTTOM LINE: Investment shopping pricey bags does begin to make sense if you are pretty hard-core about wanting a designer bag, and quite serious about getting a lot of wear out if it. Still, even though you may end up wearing one of these bags much more than something you bought for much cheaper, it’s going to be pretty hard to squeeze the same amount of value out of a bag that is four-figures and above, as something that is a few hundred dollars or less. For instance, you’d only have to wear a $300 bag 50 times to have it cost $6 per wear.
*Calculations based on two years of wear, four days a week—or 416 wears.
