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For years now, thrifty shoppers have been able to buy pre-owned Birkin bags on Walmart, an irony for anyone familiar with the luxury bag worth a $30,000-plus price tag. It’s hard to imagine that anyone with the required disposable income to acquire the famously hard-to-get designer bag would do so on Walmart, but when bold-faced celebrities have a hard time getting off Hermés waitlists, even with cash in hand, any website will do.
But the mega retailer just made a move that will likely make them much more money than the 1-2 real Birkins they sell a year: an $80 dupe that has already flown off shelves since dropping online this month. The “Wirkin” is currently sold out, but similar dupes can be found on Amazon, and Walmart’s Kelly dupe, Birkin’s little sister, is still in stock.
Women’s Leather Handbag
Since its drop, celebrities, TikTokers and fashion critics have weighed in on the viral knockoff, with many bravely coming out as Birkin haters. Their hot take? Birkins are ugly. Without the cachet that they cost the same amount as a year of college tuition, they’re simply uninspired, matronly, in the words of Tom Wambsgans, “ludicrously capacious.” (Although the leather tote does deserve respect when paired with Loro Piana in the Roy household).
But some people are all about it. “Real Housewives” star Bethenny Frankel took to TikTok to say that the “people who are gonna be pissed off about it are assholes because they’re not interesting people and flexing a bag is the most interesting thing about them.”
“So a person who can’t afford a Birkin — yes, they could’ve gone to Chinatown or bought a bag on the Gate — but then they would seem fraudulent. People would be like ‘That’s not real, you can’t have that,’” she said in the video. “They feel like they’re doing something wrong. Walmart has given them entry, like here ya go. Here it is. It’s a similar shape, this one is more functional for the crossbody moms ’cause it has a strap. And you are allowed to do this, and you’re not fronting and you’re not stunting.
“This is basically the mob storming the castle saying ‘We’re here too, bitch. Deal with it.’” You guys flaunted it, you guys made it seem like we’d never get to be part of this and now we get to be part of this fair and square.”
And if it’s good enough for a Real Housewife, it’s good enough for me. Shop through Walmart’s best designer dupes here.
