French luxury house Hermes HRMS.PA has been sued in California over claims it unlawfully allows only customers with “sufficient purchase history” with the company to buy its famed Birkin handbags.
Hermes is violating antitrust law by “tying” the sale of one item to the purchase of another, two California residents alleged in the proposed federal class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday in San Francisco.
The company’s sales associates are driving the scheme by pushing customers to buy shoes, scarves, jewelry and other items to gain an opportunity to buy a Birkin, the lawsuit said.
Hermes and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit calls the Birkin handbags, long seen as a status symbol, an “icon of fashion.”
Consumers cannot purchase a Birkin online from Hermes, and the leather bags, …