This is a Birkin Bag. It is a purse made by a company called Hermes, they average around 60k, and they are the most sought after bag by celebrity females. Why are they so universally loved by women? Because if you have 60k and walk into a store to buy one they won't sell you one. That's right. They will look you up and down and give you a line that they are 'out of stock' or simply not selling the bags that day. NPR's planet money covered this interesting fashion phenomena in December, here's an excerpt from their story:

SMITH: Wednesday Martin - Wednesday's her first name - can remember the exact moment she started wanting a Birkin bag.

SMITH: It was right after she moved to the Upper East Side - it's one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in New York - and she was walking down the sidewalk, and she saw this very well-dressed woman walking towards her.

WEDNESDAY MARTIN: And we were the only people on the sidewalk, and as she walked toward me, rather than keeping to the right, she was slowly but surely walking, sort of, at me so that I had to move further and further to the right. And I was ceding more and more sidewalk territory to her until, finally, I found myself stopping right up against this garbage can that she had sort of walked me into, then she brushed right by me with her handbag. That was a dominance display, and that woman used her handbag to do it.

GNANASAMBANDAN: She's pretty sure it was a Birkin bag. They're a very simple, boxy handbag, kind of on the larger side, and they have a padlock on the clasp.

SMITH: And when this happened, Wednesday did not think - oh, my gosh, women in this neighborhood are crazy. I need to move. She thought - I need one of those bags.

MARTIN: That was the moment when I realized that handbags are really important in New York. And if I want to play ball on the Upper East Side, I better stop walking around with this white plastic bag with a couple of bananas in it. I better saddle up.

SMITH: Back in 1981, the CEO of Hermes was on a plane with the French actress Jane Birkin, and Jane complained she needed a weekend bag.

GNANASAMBANDAN: The Birkin bag was born.

SMITH: Wanting to buy a Birkin bag, that's the easy part. Even having the money isn't the really hard part. Finding one to buy? That is tricky, even for professionals. Michael Tonello ran into this. He had a business buying and selling luxury goods. And one day, one of his customers came in and said - hey, can you get me one of those Birkin bags?

MICHAEL TONELLO: I started asking for Birkin bags, but they quickly told me that they didn't have them. And I couldn't figure out why it was that Hermes didn't have any Birkin bags if it was, you know, a bag that Hermes made and sold.

SMITH: Michael started talking to other people who were trying to buy Birkins, and they were all being told the same thing. We are sold out. But we can put you on a waiting list.

TONELLO: Anywhere from two years to four years waiting list - at one point, they were saying that there was a waiting list to get on the waiting list. And it just all seemed kind of crazy to me.

GNANASAMBANDAN: If you got a bag that people are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for, why won't you sell it to them?

SMITH: Hermes has an explanation. It says these bags take a really long time to make. They just can't keep up with demand. First of all, some of them are made out of these very exotic leathers, like a crocodile and ostrich. And Birkin bags are hand sewn by select artisans in the south of France. Hermes says that is why they are always sold out.

I ran this by Josh Weltman. He's worked in advertising for years. He was one of the producers of the show "Mad Men." They're, like, listen - these are totally handmade.

JOSH WELTMAN: Yeah.

SMITH: It takes 12 hours to make one. People have to apprentice for years in order to get to the level where they can make a Birkin bag. Like, this product is special.

WELTMAN: No.

SMITH: (Laughter).

WELTMAN: I'm sorry. It's not.

GNANASAMBANDAN: Josh says that if Hermes wanted to make more bags, they totally could. They've had 30 years to train those select artisans. He says the reason for the extreme scarcity of the Birkin bag has nothing to do with how it's made. It's part of the marketing.

If you finish listening to the podcast or you read the book, "Bringing Home the Birkin" by Michael Tonello you'll find the bottom line is that Hermes uses a couple of basic marketing tactics. Scarcity is the first. They hand make the bags, and release exclusive designs and use rare materials, etc. They only use highly skilled artisans. Furthermore, they strategically keep the supply low as well in order not to flood the market (they could hire more artisans and the materials aren’t really that rare, they could secure more materials, but they actively choose not too).

But Hermes goes a bit further, they also use Hazing and tribalism. Wednesday Martin was from the right neighborhood, with the right amount of money, but neither her nor the reporters in the story could walk into the store and 'bag a Birkin'; they weren't even allowed to see one! After careful research Wednesday had to have her husband go to the store, and he had to jump through some hoops: such as, saying it was a gift and divulging his career/income level, then going on a waiting list. Other buyers have had to buy large quantities of other products or simply be a celebrity already. Barriers to entry/Hazing/Tribalism all deployed carefully.

A third tactic Hermes uses is that the company has basically convinced its market that owning a bag is an entry to a club. Reporter Vanek Smith sums it up like this, "Everyone wants to be part of a club that's just out of reach." You see this at nightclubs, elite colleges, exclusive restaurants and you see it especially in human social groups. This can also be described as the 'Ingroup outgroup' phenomena studied in social psychology.

I'm sure by now you're making your own connections to the Berkin Bag and sexual market value discussed on theredpill. High SMV men use all three of these marketing strategies used by Hermes.

  1. Scarcity. Women define a male's value by how exclusive he is. More specifically the exclusivity of 'commitment' he offers. The female fantasy is an alpha that 'commits' to her and her alone. It’s intoxicating for women. Men that give away commitment too quickly, or too deeply, are not creating a need or a desire. Seduction is about building a fantasy. High value men never fully give away their commitment to a women. They always have a genuine independence and attitude that they can walk away at anytime. This strategy turns women from snarky, picky, standoffish, bitches too entranced, overly attached girlfriends.

  2. Hazing and tribalism. Make a women earn your respect. Kid with her. Make her show you what type of long term relationship value she would provide beyond sex. If you are a man that only demands access to sex from your partner then that's all you will get and even that will be dangled and pulled away from you because she will know the value you are putting on it. She will use her sex to get you to enter her frame. Sex should never be a bargaining chip; it should be a barrier to entry for you as a high value man. Imagine she is a pledge rushing for a fraternity. You need to be the elite fraternity that doesn't let every pledge in. She might not like it at first but the hazing will create a closer bond to your 'brand' after you allow her into the club. This is also why marriage is so difficult. You’re expecting her to live a lifetime in your club based solely on emotional connections you built during the hazing period.

  3. Ingroup Outgroup. This is the most intoxicating thing you can provide a women. Convince women that if they get your commitment they receive access to a special club. This can be difficult but it's in no way impossible. Remember a Birkin bag is a well built purse but it's not aesthetically or physically any better then purses priced way lower. The most successful males carry with them their own financial independence, social group, hobbies, interests. These all must be independent of women in your life. Women that agree to 'plate status' have made the decision that they are happy simply being on the 'waiting list' for a Birkin bag. You don't actually have to give them the bag. If you're having trouble spinning plates you might not have built up your brand enough and you might not have established this tribal desire in the women you are meeting.

Always remember that nearly all women, to some degree, consider themselves genetic celebrities. They were born with tits and a vagina that men highly desire and therefore men offer themselves to women everyday; this is the reality they are living in, this is their paradigm, this is their feminine schema they are birthed into. Most men today are sorely lacking in an understanding of the female reality.

You must build a fantasy and have some level of resources to offer women to build a successful harem of plates. It is also no coincidence that women often refer to men as ‘handbags’ and 'accessories.' Women look up to other women who manage to not only genetically ‘afford’ high quality men but can make those same men enter their frame by their manipulations. Women, ideally, want a very high value man to be at her feet, a servant, and beyond that to have as many men at their feet as possible. Women don’t want to ‘earn’ security and resources (that’s a suckers game) they want security and resources brought to them on a platter.

TL;DR Advertise yourself (or even better have others advertise for you) as a man that has a waiting list to go on the waiting list for. Be a man with independence, strength, hobbies and interests independent of women. Be a man that doesn't let every woman with a set of tits into your club. Women will be more then happy to jump through hoops for a male that dangles a genuine fantasy. Be a man that if a woman earns your commitment she will be gaining access to resources, security, and emotional stability. Never fully give away your commitment and always be ready to take this access away from a women.

Keep an eye out for “Handbag’s and Wristwatches Part II”