Is the Walmart Birkin Better Than the Real Thing?

This is a picture of a real Birkin, FYI. Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Retailer

If you opened TikTok over the past week, you probably came across the app’s latest favorite viral dupe: a knockoff of the famous Hermès Birkin tote bag sold by the unlikeliest of places — Walmart. Instead of costing upwards of $10,000 for the real thing, shoppers snagged the clone for around $80. And they didn’t even have to spend thousands of dollars on Hermès ashtrays and shoes first. Along the way, some genius dubbed the Walmart Birkin “the Wirkin,” perfect for the wirkin class, and suddenly the tote was sold out on Walmart.com.

In a matter of days, the Wirkin has emerged as a new status bag in its own right, boosted by its Hermès-esque scarcity. Meanwhile, on TikTok, real Birkin owners are releasing “unboxing” videos, jokingly passing their real bags off as Wirkins.

Walmart’s version features many of the Birkin’s signature details, like a central turn lock and rivets. But you don’t need to be Charles Gross to notice the bags aren’t legit: They don’t have any Hermès logos, for example, and the craftsmanship is clearly not at the luxury level. (For that, Walmart offers what appears to be real, pre-owned Birkins at prices starting around $20,000. Several seem to come from a reseller in Japan. I guess you really can get anything from Walmart.) If you’re wondering if the cheap Wirkins are legal, the answer is probably not. The listings — sold through Walmart by several third-party companies, including Kamugo and BESTSPR — have since disappeared from Walmart’s website. You can still find some of them for sale on TikTok Shop. Reps for Walmart and Hermès did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fake Birkins are nothing new, so what gives? As I watched Bethenny Frankel recently lecture her followers about the differences between real and fake Hermès bags, pointing out the stitching and craftsmanship details, I thought, She’s missing the point. The Wirkin fans aren’t worried about authenticity. A decade ago, most people who bought fake designer bags on Canal Street passed along their dodgy Louis Vuitton Neverfulls and Prada Nylon minis as the real thing. But that was before the prices of luxury handbags skyrocketed and it became easy to buy cheap versions of luxury items online. And if you can add one to your cart with your groceries, even easier. Everyone loves a bargain these days, which means knockoffs have become something to boast about — and post.