Have you ever heard the phrase that quality, luxury handbags are a better investment than a car or house? Yes, many designer fashion pieces will lose value as they sit gathering dust in your wardrobe. However, when it comes to certain handbags from high fashion designer brands, the sentiment really is true, according to new research.

The research was conducted by the team at online coupon platform, WeThrift. Taking a seed list of the top 30 designer handbags, the data  team analysed which handbags gained the most resale value when resold on verified resale sites.

In first place, the luxury handbag that has been revealed to gain the most in resale value is the 1991 Mini Kelly by Hermes. Known for its sleek, timeless design, the bag has a resale price of a whopping £34,995. Sold by Hermes for £6,159, this represents a massively successful return on investment with a 468% increase in value. 

Second on the list was the Chanel 2.55 handbag. The instantly recognisable quilting of the bag exudes opulence and style, which is one of the reasons why the item comes with an impressive resale price of £6,862. As the bag was being retailed at £3,360, it earns more than double its value when resold at a 104% increase in market value, making the bag a worthy contender for second place.

In third place was 3.1 Philip Lim’s 2015 Alix Chain Crossbody Bag, with a resale price of £739.20. Retailed at £415, the bag has increased in price by 78%.

The full list of the 6 bags that gain the most resale value can be found in Table 1.0.

Table 1.0. Bags That Gain Value When Resold Online 

The full Designer Discounts report can be viewed here: https://www.wethrift.com/articles/designer-discounts/ 

Methodology: The team compared the original RRP of the handbags against the prices they were listed for on the reselling platforms Farfetch, Vestiaire Collective, and The Handbag Clinic. Of the 30 handbags that were analysed, six of them gained value when resold second hand.