Are Handbags Actually a Good Investment?

Handbags have always been emotional purchases. Somewhere along the way, they became financial ones too, and if you've ever tried to justify a Birkin to someone who doesn't get it, Rachel Koffsky is the woman who makes that argument for you.

Rachel is the Head of Handbags at Christie's, one of the world's most prestigious auction houses, and has spent 12 years at the intersection of fashion, collecting, and the resale market. She joins me to break down what it actually means to treat a handbag like an asset, and which bags are worth your money right now.

We get into the history of handbags at auction, what the market is telling us about where we are culturally, and why classic pieces continue to outperform almost everything else. Whether you're sitting on a collection or thinking about your first serious purchase, this episode will change how you think about what's hanging in your closet.

Shop all items mentioned in the episode: https://shopmy.us/collections/5624992

In this episode, we get into:

How Christie's first offered a handbag for sale in 1978 — with pieces from Coco Chanel's personal collection
The era of the It Bag and why the late 90s and early 2000s changed collecting forever
Why Birkins and Kellys set record prices during the 2008 recession — and what that proved about handbags as investments
How the pandemic accelerated the shift to digital and created an entirely new generation of handbag collectors
Christie's 96% sell-through rate in handbags and what it signals about the current market
The five factors Christie's uses to evaluate and price every bag: brand, material, model, condition, and rarity
Which bags are actually appreciating right now — and which are too trend-dependent to hold value
Why the Kelly Pochette is having its moment and what's driving demand for smaller, evening-ready styles
The world record Christie's set for a Kelly Doll bag — and why it sold for $350,000
How to research a bag purchase the way a collector would
The difference between buying at Christie's versus a resale platform — and when each makes sense
Why Karl-era Chanel is having a major moment at auction right now
The sticker debate: does leaving them on actually increase value?
Why Rachel believes handbags should be worn, loved, and used — not kept in a box

Rachel Koffsky

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Liv Perez

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