In last week’s feature article, I argued that the true opposite of cheapness might not be expensiveness, but instead permanence. I suggested that we should judge luxury goods not just by their quality when we first buy them, but also by whether they can be repaired, maintained, and desired long after we’re ready to move on from them. I called this the luxury afterlife and based it on three essential qualities: serviceability, viability, and timelessness. I also argued that the absence of official afterlife programs at most luxury maisons isn’t avoidable, but is instead a choice, and one that we can encourage luxury firms to make differently.

“Hold on a second,” you might be saying to yourself, having seen the image and headline. “Is he about to argue that cars and handbags are the same thing?” No.

Wait. Actually, maybe I am. At least to a point.

Let’s take a luxury car (like the BMW X3 shown above) on the one hand and, say, an Hermès handbag on the other.

Both are luxury items made by respected firms with long histories and reputations for making quality, durable goods, at least generally speaking.

Both are items that one assumes buyers expect to be using for many years to come. With proper care and maintenance, it’s reasonable to expect a BMW to run at least 200,000–250,000 miles or 300,000–400,000 kilometers, which for many owners would equal decades of regular use. And a quick search of vintage handbag sites shows literally hundreds of Hermès handbags available from the 1990s, 1980s, and even earlier.

Both are significant purchases. In the US today, a new 2026 model BMW X3 will set you back anywhere from $55,700 (47 504 €) at the low end to $79,300 (67 631 €) fully tricked out. As for Hermès, if we take a Birkin handbag, that has a wider price range, from approximately $13,000 (11 087 €) at the low end to over $200,000 (170 571 €) for certain exotic leathers. (The figures for Hermès are estimates.)

All this is to set up the fact that BMW has long offered their BMW Certified program, in which they sell pre-owned BMW models that they have inspected, reconditioned, and warranty. It’s more expensive than buying a BMW from an independent dealer or from an individual, but one has the peace of mind of the BMW certification and warranty. Other luxury car makers have similar programs: see Mercedes Certified Pre-Owned and Audi Certified, to name just two.

You might respond by saying, “Car makers have no choice. They lease vehicles and many of those come back to them after a few years. They have to offer some sort of sales program.” That’s a fair point, but just because something is required doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea.

The BMW X3 pictured above? BMW currently has over 3,600 of them available in the US via the BMW Certified program, with the cheapest 2017 model (which is well-regarded as used BMWs go) available for as little as $7,900 (6 737 €). Their most expensive 2017 X3 is $21,871 (18 652 €). In other words, for a BMW model from a year considered a good buy used, for a vehicle that has been inspected, reconditioned, certified, and warranted, you can pay as much as 39% of the price of the cheapest new model, or as little as 14%.

Everyone wins in this transaction. The buyer wins because they’re paying a fraction of the price of a new car but get the same peace of mind. BMW wins because they sell a car, at a profit, that was either returned from a lease or traded in for a new model. They also win if the buyer was someone who refuses to buy new, or who might one day wish to buy new, just not yet—that’s a long-term customer acquired.

And the environment wins. Orsola de Castro famously said, “The most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe,” with Carl Elefante offering the architectural equivalent, “The greenest building is… one that is already built.” By that logic, surely the most sustainable car is the one bought used.

So if the logic of a certified pre-owned program works for luxury cars, why not for other luxury purchases? In other words, my message to a maison like Hermès would be that the burden is on them to explain why, exactly, an official afterlife program for their leather goods (and other durable items) isn’t a good idea.

Why would a certified pre-owned program make sense for a maison like Hermès (or Louis Vuitton, Chanel, or others)?

First, reducing counterfeit demand through provenance. A certified pre-owned program wouldn’t eliminate fake handbags, but it could give buyers a completely safe alternative. It’s one thing if an independent seller claims to authenticate a bag. It’s another entirely if the bag maker itself does so. There would never be a question as to the provenance of an item purchased from a luxury maker’s certified program. Every purchase via such a program would be one less purchase that might have gone to a counterfeit bag.

Second, reclaiming margin currently captured by third parties. Luxury resale happens whether brands like it or not. The question is, who captured the economic value of that transaction? For example, if Hermès uses its artisanal savoir-faire to create handbags that can last decades, it could be argued that resellers are essentially profiting from that artisanship by providing a secondary market for their bags. There’s nothing inherently wrong in that. In fact, it’s a good thing—see the quotes on sustainability above. But in this example, if you’re Hermès, why not capture some of that downstream profit for yourself?

Third, reinforcing the idea that the products are built to last. The very existence of a certified pre-owned program from a luxury vendor would send a message: “We make products that last. We expect them to have second and third lives, and even more. When you buy from us, you’re buying an heirloom, something to be passed down or traded in.”

We think of luxury items that are difficult to obtain, like handbags from Hermès, or watches from Rolex, and we see that as a signal. Surely the very difficulty of acquiring them is a marker of their value as luxury items. But:

What if the strongest signal of luxury isn’t that something is hard to get, but rather that it’s worth caring for?

Some of you might protest. “What about Petit h,” you ask.

I’m glad you brought that up.

If you’re not familiar with it, Petit h¹ is Hermès’ program by which they recycle and upcycle leather, silk, and other materials into new objects, often whimsical. (You can read more about it in articles from ELLE and The Vancouver Sun.)

Petit h is not the same as a certified resale program. Petit h transforms surplus materials and existing objects into new items. A certified resale program would preserve existing items and, as with the certified pre-owned programs for cars described above, would inspect, recondition, certify, and warrant the items.

But Petit h is a useful precedent. It demonstrates that Hermès already knows how to make reuse and reclamation part of its narrative. And it demonstrates that Hermès understands that giving items a second life, in some form, not only doesn’t threaten their existing business—it may even enhance it.

Petit h doesn’t prove that a certified preowned program would succeed. But it proves that a luxury maison reuse program can succeed. And that’s important.

In last week’s article, I offered three questions to judge the potential afterlife of a luxury item: Will the maker still service your item years from now? Will the item justify your ongoing investment? Will the item be timeless and appealing in the future?

Those questions hold true whether luxury maisons start offering afterlife programs tomorrow, or never.

In the absence of official afterlife programs, though, I believe we have the opportunity as consumers to expect better of luxury firms. I believe they have the responsibility as producers to do better for all of us. And I believe the best way for this to happen is for all of us to start asking ourselves whether our next purchase will have an afterlife.

Would you pay more for a luxury item if you knew you could resell it to the maison down the road?

Would you be more willing to buy pre-owned luxury items if they came direct from the original manufacturer?