Ex-Japanese soccer player who bought original Birkin bag at $10 million says purchase made him 'sick to my stomach'
The businessman who shelled out a whopping $10 million (P573 million) to buy the original Hermès Birkin, owned by Jane Birkin herself, admitted that the purchase was hard to stomach.
In an interview with CNN, Japanese businessman Shinsuke Sakimoto opened up about his feelings a month after he won the auction for the iconic bag that was held in Paris.
"It was the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made for a single item, he said. "It was very exciting, but it really made me sick to my stomach."
A former player in Japan’s top soccer league, Sakimoto serves as the CEO of luxury resale company Valuence Holdings, which resells used handbags that often retail for thousands of dollars.
According to him, the auction lasted for only 10 minutes, and he participated from his office in Tokyo via a representative on the phone.
"We went into this process with a lot of faith. And in a sense, we were chosen by the fashion gods to own the first Birkin," he said.
Sakimoto recalled that he advised his representative to immediately counter his rivals’ offers and "hit back in three or five seconds" even though his bids were reaching his price limit.
"I had to be aggressive. We were almost at the upper limit, but in those few minutes, we were strategizing how to inflict psychological damage on our opponents and force them to give up," he said.
Despite spending a lot of money, Sakimoto insists that the investment was worth it as the publicity from the auction will generate "several billion yen" in "advertising value" over the next decade.
"It was certain that the winning bid would break the record, which meant it would be reported all over the world. Everyone agreed and understood that this was a good investment," he said.
He also said that the Birkin bag is not going back on sale and will be put on public display sometime in the future.
"The purpose of winning this artwork is not to make it the personal property of the wealthy, but to create a new ownership model — for companies like ours and society to share, together. We want to preserve it in the future and share it with everyone," he said.
Sakimoto's $10 million bid on the bag was the highest on record for a fashion item, according to auctioneer Sotheby's.
The first Birkin bag was born when the Franco-British actress and singer sat next to Hermes executive Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight in 1984 and told him she needed a stylish yet functional bag as a young mother.
Dumas immediately sketched out the rectangular handbag, with a dedicated space for baby bottles.
The company made that one for her, then started selling smaller versions to the public.
Birkin auctioned the bag in 1994 to support Sidaction, a French charity that fights HIV/AIDS.
In 2000, when it went on sale again, a private French collector bought it.
When British-born Birkin died in 2023, the French capital's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said the "most Parisian of the English has left us."
Birkin had lived in her adopted France since the late 1960s and was remembered as much for her warmth and campaigning as for her acting and singing, most famously on the hit single Je t’aime...moi non plus. (with reports from Reuters)
