Custom Birkin & Bespoke Hermès Bags

What is a custom Birkin?

A custom Birkin is a Birkin bag made to one client’s own choices. Hermès calls this a special order. The client picks the size, the leather, the exterior and interior colours, the stitching and the hardware. Each finished piece carries a small horseshoe stamp next to the date stamp. That stamp is how collectors spot a custom Birkin bag.

People search for this in many ways: custom Birkin, Hermès custom bag, custom Hermès bag, Hermès custom order or Hermès customized bags. They all describe the same thing. It is a bag built to order rather than taken from the regular seasonal collection.

What you can customize on a Hermès bag

A Hermès custom order lets the client customize Hermès in five main ways:

• Model and size: most often the Birkin 25, 30, 35 or 40 and the Kelly from the Mini Kelly to the Kelly 35. Constance and some other models are offered in certain seasons.
• Leather: calf leathers such as Togo, Epsom, Swift, Clemence and Chèvre Mysore. Exotic skins such as alligator, crocodile and ostrich are usually kept for top clients.
• Colour layout: Line (one colour with contrast stitching), Multico (two exterior colours) or Verso (a contrasting interior).
• Stitching: tone-on-tone or contrasting thread.
• Hardware: gold, palladium, rose gold, permabrass, or brushed gold and brushed palladium.

See this season’s palette on our Hermès special order colors 2026 page.

Hermès personalization: initials and monogramming

Hermès personalization (or Hermès personalisation in British spelling) can also mean a hot-stamped mark. A client can add initials or a small symbol to the leather. This can be done while the bag is made, or later through Hermès After Care. A Hermès bag with initials is a simple way to personalize a Hermès bag. It is not the same as a full special order.

Hermès does not offer an open monogram print like some other houses. Hermès monogramming means small, discreet embossing. Bespoke Hermès personalization beyond this, such as one-off objects, is handled case by case by the house.

A Hermès personalized bag with hot-stamped initials is still a standard model. A Hermès bespoke bag is a full special order, built to the client’s choices from the start.

Custom Birkin vs limited edition Birkin

A limited edition Birkin is different from a custom Birkin. A limited edition, also called a Hermès bag special edition or Hermès Birkin special edition, is designed by Hermès and made in a small run. Every client gets the same design. Famous Hermès special edition bags include the Birkin Faubourg, which shows the Paris flagship on the flap. Sotheby’s reports Faubourg Birkins selling for several times retail at auction.

A custom order is the opposite. The design comes from the client, so each Hermès custom made bag is close to one of a kind. Read more in our guide to rare Hermès bags.

How to get a custom Hermès bag

Hermès does not sell a custom order bag to anyone who asks. Special orders are offered by a sales associate, usually to long-standing boutique clients, during the spring and fall order windows. The wait is often six months to a year, and sometimes longer. Our how to get a Hermès special order guide explains each step.

The faster route is to buy a finished piece. Our HSS Birkin collection holds new Hermès customised bags that are ready now, with no waiting list. Each one began as a Hermès Birkin custom order, so each combination is close to one of a kind. If you would like to personalize a Hermès bag after you buy it, a boutique can sometimes add your initials, as explained above. You can browse all our custom Hermès bags in one place.

Custom Hermès for New York clients

We focus on collectors in New York City and New York State, from Manhattan and Brooklyn to Long Island, Westchester and Albany. Hermès customization requests from clients worldwide are welcome too. Tell us the size, leather, colours and hardware you want on WhatsApp, and our concierge will search for that exact combination.