Forget the S&P 500. If you have the dough, one luxury investment has crushed the market over time.

• Hermès handbags outperformed S&P 500 last year, even as the stock market surged.
• Mini Kelly II handbags and Birkins outperformed the broader market, up 259% and 242% respectively.
• Luxury goods pros say scarcity and enduring demand are behind Hermès bags' investment value.

While investors have been busy plowing money into high-growth tech and AI stocks, another asset has been quietly outperforming the S&P 500 for years.

Most people probably don't think of luxury goods as a "market" per se, but experts argue that many high-end items are investments just like stocks or gold, and recent data shows that several bags and one ultra-rare type of sneaker have blown the S&P 500 out of the water.

The handbag at the top of the list isn't even a Birkin, though it is made by Hermès. A study by luxury goods platform FashioNica shows that the Mini Kelly II handbag returned more than 300% from 2022 through 2025, starting at $9,200 and rising to $36,980. The S&P 500 returned 43% in that period.

The Birkin was no slouch either in that time, appreciating by 285%. Other items that have surged in value include The Row Margaux 15 bag, which jumped 56% in three years, and the Louis Vuitton X Nike Air Force One Low sneakers, which jumped 125%.

That might sound wild, but it's because collectors often don't see them as luxury apparel items. According to luxury market pros, these are investments.

"Many people will buy Birkins, and they will literally just keep them in their home, like they are literally assets," said Amrita Bashin, CEO of retail resale platform Sotira. "It's like buying gold."

Bashin told Business Insider that bags like the Birkin and the Mini Kelly II's high price tags come from one thing: genuine, tangible scarcity. As anyone who has ever tried to buy one knows, Hermès extensively vets interested buyers who often find themselves on long waiting lists after being approved.

The bags represent a clear economic principle of the supply and demand imbalance, by the company's own design.

The tactic has been highly effective at ensuring that the number of bags available to consumers at any given time remains extremely small. According to Bashin, demand remains elevated almost at all times, making them an excellent store of value.

"There's always going to be more demand for Birkins than there's going to be supply to be able to produce them, versus for items like NFTs," she said. "We saw that those were largely speculative driven, versus actually having anything tangible behind them."

Daniel Langer, CEO of Équité and executive professor of luxury strategy at Pepperdine University, noted that he wishes he had purchased an Hermès bag rather than buying the company's stock.

And while the high prices attached to Hermès bags may be too much for many people to afford, Langer thinks that the rise of platforms like StockX that allow people to view luxury item prices in real time, are allowing potential buyers to assess the resale value of bags like the Birkin and the Kelly, boosting their profile as an investment rather than an indulgence.

"It's like a walking bank account that now brings more people into that product category," he said. "It kind of creates a cultural capital, [showing] which products are smart investments."

While Langer agreed that scarcity is the primary driver behind the Birkin and Kelly bags, he also highlighted the importance of belief in the company and its work to preserve value by protecting a brand.

In his view, Patek Philippe, one of the few luxury watchmakers that has continued growing recently, is one of the few companies that can rival it in terms of brand preservation. Langer thinks investors likely consider making a purchase from either one the same way they might decide whether to buy stock in a company.

"It is very similar to when you think about an investment into a stock," Langer stated. You invest into a stock. Why? Because you believe that the brand tomorrow will be more valuable than today. You believe that the management will take good care of the company."