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Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
A distant descendant of luxury handbag empire Hermès has turned his Gen Z children into millionaires after giving them shares in the design house.
Wilfried Guerrand, a relative of company founder Thierry Hermès, gifted $4.2m (£3.2m) worth of shares to his four children: Sixtine, 25, Stanislas, 20, Mathias, 19, and Albane, 18, according to regulatory documents seen by Bloomberg.
Guerrand, who has worked at Hermès since 1995 and is currently vice president of IT and data for the brand, gave his four sons 450 shares each this year, each worth €2,164 (£1,822) at the close of trading on Tuesday (3 September).
According to social media, one of Guerrand's sons has pursued a career in luxury fashion management in Paris, having interned at brands such as Cartier and Chanel. Meanwhile, another of the young heirs has interned with his family at Hermès.
The Hermès dynasty is Europe's richest family. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Thierry Hermès has more than 100 direct heirs, whose wealth amounts to around $170 billion (£129 billion).
Amid a slump in demand for luxury fashion, Hermès has comparatively prospered with the brand's share price up 10 per cent, leaving the company now worth almost £218bn.
Hermès is known for its exclusivity. The Birkin bag, highly coveted in the fashion world, is one of the company's most recognizable designs. It was first introduced in the mid-1980s and is named after English actress and singer Jane Birkin.
Birkin bags sell for between £9,000 and up to £150,000, and can be priced even higher on the resale market.
In 2022, a rare Himalayan crocodile skin Birkin sold for a record $630,000 (£478,000).
In March, it was reported that the brand is facing legal action in California over claims that it illegally only allows customers with “sufficient purchase history” to purchase Birkins.
Two California residents claimed the French luxury house violated antitrust laws by “tying” the sale of one item to the purchase of another.
“Typically, only those consumers deemed worthy of purchasing a Birkin bag will be shown a Birkin bag (in a private room),” the lawsuit states.
Hermes responded to requests for comment.
Sarah Jessica Parker, known for playing fashion columnist Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the city She previously revealed that she even wore a fake Birkin on the show.
Parker said the show's costume designer, Patricia Field, had a contact at Hermès and had offered to get him a real Birkin, but the actor told her not to worry.
The bag was meant to conceal Paker's pregnant belly, but it failed to serve its purpose during filming.
“I was super pregnant; we did the best we could,” Parker said. Fashion“Look how big that bag is. I mean, that bag had a function to perform and it performed it very poorly,” he said.
“Maybe if it had been an authentic Hermès bag it would have worked better.”
