- Walmart is selling a Birkin dupe, and people on social media are going crazy over it. The retailer is selling a look-alike of the popular Hermès purse for just $78, while the real thing can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This year, Walmart has proved itself to be the master of the dupe. The retailer has pulled in both lower- and upper-income households by offering low prices on goods that look high-end, including many items that seem to belong in a Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel.
And the “Wirkin”—the replica of the illustrious Hermès Birkin bag—is perhaps the most popular of Walmart’s designer offerings. The $78 look-alike of the luxury purse—that retails from $10,000 to $40,000 for a new bag, or up to more than $300,000 on resale—is all over social media.
The Walmart Birkin, which is listed as “KAMUGO Genuine Leather Handbags Purse for Women,” has blown up so much, in fact, that it appears to have sold out on Walmart’s website. Walmart didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment on whether the product was completely sold out or would be restocked.
“No matter what your budget may be, we have something to offer,” a Walmart spokesperson previously told Fortune. “That can make people feel really proud of what they’re putting on their table food wise, or wearing apparel wise, or the makeup that they’re buying, from a beauty perspective.”
The Walmart bag is also reportedly made of leather and comes with the signature lock feature emblematic of the Birkin.
However, owners of authentic Birkin bags have been less than enthusiastic about the Walmart version of the exclusive purse. According to Sotheby’s, customers must have a purchase history with Hermès in order to buy a Birkin. Hermès didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
“The bag you see on the Walmart website is not a Birkin,” one TikTok user said while holding up her authentic Birkin bag. “It is not made by Hermès. It has no affiliation to Hermès or to the Birkin. It is a duplicate. A copy. An inspired-by piece. It is not a Birkin. Please don’t think you’re buying a Birkin. Because you’re not.”
The Hermès Birkin, which the New York Times calls a “globally recognized emblem of status and wealth,” has become so expensive that the value of the bags has grown faster than both the S&P 500 and the price of gold—with a return on investment of more than 500% over 35 years, according to a study by online marketplace Baghunted.
Walmart and the dupe
The Walmart Birkin bag craze is just the latest boon for the world’s largest retailer, which had a strong 2024. The company was particularly pleased with an increase in one customer base: people who make more than $100,000 a year.
“We had a really strong quarter,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey told Yahoo Finance after its third-quarter earnings report in November. The company saw gains in all product categories and income cohorts, and about 75% of its share gains came from households making more than $100,000 per year, Rainey said, a demographic typically associated with shopping at Target.
Mastering the dupe coincides with demographic changes in Walmart’s customer base. Although some wealthier customers may be able to technically spring for the “real thing” at a higher price, they’re also more concerned about finding the best value for a product, Kaveh Vahdat, founder and president of fractional CMO services company RiseOpp, previously told Fortune.
Walmart has “blended premium products with their hallmark affordability, making it socially acceptable for higher-income shoppers to say, ‘I got this at Walmart,’” Vahdat said.
