Buying second hand designer handbags

Designer handbags have and always will be a wardrobe staple. They have the ability to glam up any outfit, making you feel fabulous no matter what you are wearing. But here's why we think you should be buying second hand designer handbags.

Firstly, over the past ten years, fashion has gone fast. The amount of bags and clothes that we buy is constantly on the rise with a whopping total of 1,130,000 tonnes of clothes being sold in the UK in 2016 and surely that can't be good for the environment? In 2016 the UK’s fashion was responsible for a huge 26.2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions alone. This is just one of reasons why buying second hand designer handbags is the new way to shop!

Secondly, we all love a good deal! The logic behind buying a secondhand designer handbag is the same as buying a second-hand car - brand new cars and brand new handbags just don't hold their value. The second you drive away in your new car or walk your new bag out of the shop, the value of your purchase has plummeted.

So, we have put together some tips to help you find the best second-hand designer handbag.

Let's start with the best brands to buy a second-hand designer handbag from. The first label that comes to mind when thinking of designer handbags is Hermes. Vogue stated "It would be impossible to ignore the importance and influence of Hermès bags on the history of luxury fashion. From Kylie Jenner regularly giving video tours of her enviable Hermès collection and Victoria Beckham reportedly owning over 100 Birkins, to the announcement that Hermès bags are a better investment than gold, these coveted design classics - particularly the Kelly and Birkin styles - are synonymous with modern exclusivity and luxury."

A study that was released by BagHunter back in 2017 demonstrated that over the last 35 years the value of a Hermes Birkin has gone up by 500% which is a staggering increase of 14% a year.

Due to the rarity and difficulty of actually purchasing a new Hermes bag, your best (and in some cases only option) to buy a Birkin or a Kelly bag is by buying second hand. Currently, at Timpanys, we have a gorgeous brown 32cm Kelly bag in Togo Leather.

There are many other labels that are great when it comes to buying second hand designer handbags. For example, when it comes to both Chanel and Louis Vuitton you can grab yourself some great deals.

CHANEL METALLIC LAMBSKIN GOLD RED CUBE BOY BAG CRUISE 2014 RRP £4500 OUR PRICE £2500

That's a huge saving of £2000 by buying this second-hand designer handbag.

LOUIS VUITTON PAPILLON NEO HANDBAG RRP £3167 OUR PRICE £960

That's another massive saving of £2207 when buying this second-hand designer handbag.

Our final tip for you is to make sure that if you are buying a second-hand designer handbag to ensure it is authentic by making sure the bag has its original receipt. However, if it doesn't, fear not, here at Timpanys we use Entrupy to authenticate second-hand designer bags. Entrupy is a mechanism that uses machine learning algorithms on microscopic images of physical objects to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit versions of designer goods. It has a 99.1% accuracy rate and has been used since 2012. Find out more about this amazing technology here on our website.