Hermès makes some attractive leather notebook covers. Their flagship is the Ulysse line in Togo leather, available in four sizes:

Subjectively, that’s a beautiful notebook cover. And the idea of a notebook cover is itself attractive: buy it once, refill it as needed. So what do you refill it with? That’s where the problem arises. Take a look at this interior view of the same notebook:

Note the lack of any sleeves to hold the front and back covers of an inserted notebook. Instead, the two snaps in the middle create a system for attaching notebooks that’s specific to Hermès. And Hermès offers two eighty-sheet refills for the Ulysse mini: the Ulysse mini Plain Notebook Refill ($40 / 31 €) and the Ulysse mini Lined Notebook Refill ($45 / 36 €). (You almost have to admire how they charge you an extra $5 / 5 € for lines. Oh, Hermès, don’t you ever change.)

I’m going to leave aside the question of a reasonable price for a leather notebook cover. This is Hermès, and if you’re even considering it, you know you’re going to pay, and you know the reasons that are important to you (quality, provenance, heritage, branding, etc).

But paper is paper, right? Surely there’s nothing special about Hermès paper? What would a similar eighty-sheet refill cost from a third party? MUJI is a Japanese brand known for quality and they sell a broadly comparable notebook for $1.50. But other issues may be more important than price.

First, with a maison-specific design like this, you’re limited to whatever options the maison offers. In the case of the Ulysse mini, it’s plain and lined—that’s it. Grid? Dots? Something else? No.

Second, what happens when you’re on the road and run out of paper? With a Euro-standard notebook cover, you can buy refills at virtually any stationery store. With a maison-specific design, you may be out of luck.

Third, what happens if Hermès—or whichever maison you buy a non-standard notebook cover from—stops making refills at some point? Have they offered a promise not to do that?

Don’t let me talk you out of the leather notebook cover you want, even if its refills are specific to the maison. (And no, Hermès isn’t the only maison to do that. Louis Vuitton does as well, and there may be others.) But at least ask yourself a few questions:

If you can’t answer all those questions to your own satisfaction, you might consider a leather notebook cover that’s not specific to a single maison. I’ve mentioned the covers from Aspinal of London before. The closest ISO-standard size to the Ulysse mini is the A7, and in fact Aspinal offers an A7-standard notebook cover in two colors (Black Pebble and Navy Pebble) for $145 / 110 €.

You can buy A7 refills anywhere. And if A7 isn’t what you’re looking for, Aspinal also offers leather notebook covers in the ISO A5 (comparable to Hermès’ MM) and A4 (comparable to Hermès’ GM) sizes.

More broadly, it’s always a good idea to ask questions like this about any luxury purchase that requires refills over time.

It’s not about where you make the first purchase. It’s about who controls the second purchase.

We do not accept consideration of any kind in exchange for product or service reviews.