3 luxury handbags that add capital to your closet, according to resale data

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Classic handbags from a select few designers tend to hold their value best.
Styles from Hermès and Louis Vuitton were among the most purchased on luxury retailer Fashionphile this year.
Here are three bags to buy that will have lasting appeal on the secondary market.

Sometimes when you get the bag, you are also, literally, getting the bag.

The secondhand market is a bright spot for luxury. The global resale market is growing three times as fast as the firsthand market and is expected to reach as high as $360 billion by 2030 — up from between $210 billion and $220 billion today — according to a report by BCG and Vestiaire Collective released this month.

Handbags reliably drive luxury secondhand sales. The nearly 8,000 respondents to BCG and Vestaire's survey said that an average of 40% of their handbags were purchased secondhand — an outsize share, given that, on average, 28% of their total closets were purchased secondhand.

"A classic handbag is a classic handbag is a classic handbag," Lara Osborn, the SVP of merchandising and fulfillment at luxury secondhand retailer Fashionphile, told Business Insider. She said that bags tend to be more evergreen in style than clothing or shoes, handle wear better, and are generally one-size-fits-all.

They also tend to hold their value, something customers are "now trained to think about," Osborn said.

Many seek out handbags with original packaging — down to the tissue paper — and authentication materials, knowing that will make it easier to resell them down the line, she said.

According to the BCG and Vestaire survey, 41% of secondhand sellers offload their pieces to recover residual value, and 62% sell so they can shop more.

While a select few handbags can be resold at a price higher than their retail value — marking a true return on investment — most customers, Osborn said, aren't looking for that when they "invest" in a bag.

A shopping win is "when you can buy, use, and enjoy it, and sell it at some point and get a big portion of your money back," she said. "You own a piece of capital that you can apply to something else; it's money in your closet, sitting and waiting to be spent."

The bags most likely to retain their value are also among Fashionphile's top-selling. These are generally considered "safe styles" and "heritage icons," according to Fashionphile's 2025 Ultra-Luxury Resale Report."

"The appetite is just for timeless, classic," Osborn said. "I'm not going to look out of place carrying this in a year, two years, three years."

These are three of Fashionphile's top-selling evergreen bags that will add capital to your closet.

The Louis Vuitton Speedy

Fashionphile's top-shopped bag of the year is the Louis Vuitton Speedy.

The nearly 100-year-old style has been a reliable staple for decades, Osborn said. It comes in a number of sizes and iterations, something which fuels a collector's mindset — and continued purchasing.

"It's like, oh, here's the newest version," she said. "Are other people collecting it? And then you start to think, 'I'm supposed to do that too.'"

The Speedys available on Fashionphile range in price from $615 to $12,875. The top-handle style, purchased new from Louis Vuitton, starts at $1,920.

The Chanel Double Flap

Originally designed by Karl Lagerfeld in the 1980s, Chanel's classic Flap bags are iconic: the double C clasp and a chain strap laced with leather. Not only was it the second most-purchased bag overall at Fashionphile this year, but it was also popular across all generations.

Elements of the style have since extended to wallets and smaller crossbody bags, which are among Fashionphile's top-sellers in their respective categories.

The Double Flap commands a higher price point than the Speedy. On Fashionphile, it ranges from $2,080 to $33,075, and purchased from Chanel, the Flap bag starts at $5,500.

The Hermès Evelyne

With Louis Vuitton and Chanel, Hermès rounded out Fashionphile's top brands of the year.

While the more expensive Birkin and Kelly are the most famous styles from the French house — and can often command more on the secondhand market than at retail — the Evelyne was the brand's top seller at Fashionphile and is a practical evergreen option.

"It's a really popular city bag," Osborn said. "That's another one where you could buy it at full price plus tax and wear it a little bit and probably get most of your money back."

At Fashionphile, the Evelyne ranges in price from $1,720 to $5,095. Only one Evelyne is listed for purchase on Hermès' website, at $2,425.