Photo Credits: Benoît Prieur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
With a 2-year wait for a Birkin, 41% operating margins, and zero celebrity creative directors, the 188-year-old saddler is now the most valuable luxury stock in the world
by Luxury & Craft Desk
Hermès was founded in Paris in 1837 as a harness workshop. In 2026, it sells leather goods the same way: by hand, slowly, and only to people it chooses. The results defy the luxury slowdown.
2024: revenue €15.17 billion, up 15% at constant exchange rates, net profit €4.6 billion. 2025: revenue passed €16 billion — up 5.5% at constant rates — with recurring operating income of €6.57 billion and a 41% operating margin, and net profit of €4.52 billion. In Q4 alone, sales rose 9.8%, driven by the US and Japan, while the leather division grew 14.6% organically.
While LVMH fell 5% in 2025, Hermès grew. In early 2025, Hermès overtook LVMH briefly as the world’s most valuable luxury company by market cap.
THE BUSINESS: SCARCITY BY DESIGN
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Family-controlled: still 66% owned by descendants of Thierry Hermès. CEO Axel Dumas (sixth generation).
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No factories: 60+ ateliers in France, each artisan trains 18 months to stitch one Birkin. Production: ∼12,000 Birkins a year. Demand: ∼300,000 requests.
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Price strategy: raises prices 6-7% annually — less than Chanel, more than inflation. A Birkin 25 Togo went from €8,050 in 2019 to €11,200 in 2025.
Q1 2024 showed the model: €3.8 billion revenue, up 17%, with Leather Goods up 20% and Ready-to-Wear up 16%. Q3 2024: €11.2 billion for nine months, up 14%, despite China slowdown.
ICONS: THE WAITLIST ECONOMY
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Birkin (€11,200-€150,000): named after Jane Birkin in 1984. Waitlist: 18-24 months, unless you are a top client. Secondary market premium still up to 16% above retail in 2024, even as other brands’ resale collapsed.
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Kelly (€9,500): smaller, more formal, favored in Asia.
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Constance, Lindy, Picotin: entry bags €3,500-€5,500, sold to “earn” a Birkin.
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Beyond bags: silk carrés (€450, made in Lyon), enamel bracelets, and the new Hermès beauty line (lipsticks €67) — all profitable, all made in France.
Hermès opened 4 new leather workshops in 2024-2025, hiring 2,300 artisans to reach over 25,000 employees.
CULTURE & GOSSIP
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No ambassadors: no Pharrell, no Zendaya. The only face is the horse. Campaigns feature artisans’ hands, not celebrities.
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No e-commerce for Birkins: you must visit a store, build a purchase history, and be offered one. In 2025, a Miami client sued Hermès for “tying” — case dismissed.
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The anti-hype: while others do drops, Hermès does repairs. Its Paris atelier restores 50-year-old bags for free.
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Succession: Axel Dumas, 54, quietly renewed through 2027. No drama, no fashion-week circus.
WHY HERMÈS MATTERS TO LUXURY NOW
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Craft as monopoly. You cannot scale handmade. While Vuitton makes 1 million bags a year, Hermès makes 12,000 Birkins — and charges more.
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Pricing power. 41% margin in 2025, the highest in luxury, because clients don’t ask the price — they ask the wait time.
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Resilience. In Q1 2025, sales jumped 23% as wealthy shoppers in China and Europe ignored tariffs and inflation.
As Axel Dumas said in February 2025: “We are not in fashion. We are in the long term.”
In 2026, with €16 billion in sales, a two-year waitlist, and a workshop model from 1837, Hermès proves the most expensive idea in luxury: make less than people want, make it better than anyone can, and never explain why.
