Birkin buyer says cracked code for Hermes "it" bag

By Belinda Goldsmith

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - The elusive Birkin bag made by Hermes is so sought after as a status symbol by women worldwide that the French fashion house has a two year waiting list for potential owners -- or does it?

Michael Tonello, a beautician turned fashion buyer, says he devised a system to bypass the much-talked about list and spent five years traveling between different Hermes stores to snap up Birkin bags to meet -- and profit from -- this pent-up demand.

Initially he sold them online but then began selling them at a handsome mark-up to wealthy private clients who didn't want to wait two years, with people aware that Hermes handbags are one of the few brands that hold or increase in value over time.

Tonello said cracking the code let him to buy hundreds of Birkin bags and he is now adamant that the waiting list is just a fantastic marketing ploy. So what was his trick?

"I would go into a store with a list in my Hermes Ulysse notebook and pile up scarves, shawls, bracelets, worth about $2,000. This made me seem a regular Hermes client," Tonello told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"Once I had that pile ready to buy at the last moment I'd ask for a Birkin and they would usually produce one of the back room. In 2005 I bought 130 Birkins in a three-month period -- and you tell me there is a waiting list?"

Tonello, who wrote the book "Bringing Home the Birkin," released this month, about his Birkin adventures, said he has receipts to back his story.

A spokeswoman for Hermes in Australia, Nicole Morgan, said the company was making no official comment on Tonello's book.