Luxury market buoyant as Hermes buys croc farms

Demand for high-end goods from private banking services clients and other wealthy individuals is keeping business booming at Hermes.

The legendary French fashion house - famed for its coveted £5,000 Birkin handbag - is in such demand from customers that it is breeding crocodiles on special farms Australia in order to get enough raw materials for its products.

Hermes makes around 3,000 crocodile bags every year alongside its clothing and leather goods, Reuters reports.

The success of the bag-maker stands in stark contrast to the global economic downturn, which the IMF suggests will result in a near-unprecedented worldwide contraction in output of around one per cent this year.

It also suggests that some consumers are still thriving in the recession.

Hermes chief executive Patrick Thomas was quoted by the news agency as saying: ’It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia.

’We cannot face demand. We have massive over-demand. We are limited by our ability to train new craftsmen.’

The Birkin bag - named after Anglo-French chanteuse Jane Birkin - is one of the world’s most in-demand fashion accessories.

Waiting lists to get one of the bags are reportedly two years long.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19211926-ADNFCR