Will Walmart’s Birkin Gambit Be Worth It in the End?

Hermès’ Birkin bag is back in the headlines. After winning the high-profile MetaBirkin non-fungible token dispute, the French luxury brand now faces a fresh challenge: Walmart’s lookalike ‘Wirkin’.

Priced between $78 and $100, the budget-friendly bag mimics the aesthetic of the original Birkin, which can range in price from $10,000 to more than $500,000.

The product has swiftly gained attention on social media platforms such as TikTok, where influencers highlighted the bag’s affordability and its striking resemblance to the high-end original—dubbing it the Wirkin.

Enter widespread speculation over whether Hermès might have another legal skirmish on its hands.

For William Stroever, co-chair of the IP department at Cole Schotz, the most interesting question to arise from the scenario is “what obligation the seller of a dupe has to address customer comments about how similar the products are”.

He explains: “Consumers and social media have run wild with the name Wirkin to identify the Walmart version of this bag, but it does not look like that term originated with Walmart, or that Walmart has ever used the term.

This, adds Stroever, prompts questions over the responsibility of the seller when it didn’t create the ‘Wirkin moment’ and isn’t contributing to the potentially infringing use of the term.

Consequently, the issue here is quite different from the MetaBirkin case where the infringing NFTs were branded as ‘MetaBirkins’.

“It would likely be difficult for a trademark owner to object to a viral social media moment for which a defendant is not responsible,” says Stroever.

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