The latest handbag to test the boundary between homage and infringement? A $1,600 upcycled tote called the “Boatkin,” which splices together the iconic Birkin silhouette with L.L. Bean’s rugged Boat and Tote. Created by Philadelphia-based designer Jen Risk under her label Hathaway Hutton, the viral bag – described by Risk as “quiet luxury with a smirk” – has drawn significant attention, not just for its cheeky design but also for what appears to be an abrupt disappearance from the market.
Each Boatkin is (or … was) handmade by Risk – a process that takes upwards of 10 hours – and was offered in two price tiers: $1,200 for bags crafted from customer-supplied L.L. Bean totes, and almost $1,600 for those made with materials sourced by Risk herself. Since its debut earlier this year, the cheeky creation has gone viral, spreading across social media, landing on Good Morning America, and nabbing a mention in People magazine. But most notably, it was front and center in a New York Times Style feature in May, “The Birkin Inspires Yet Another Homage” (another title reads, “The Boatkin Bag is Part Birkin, Part Boat and Tote”), which chronicled the bag’s rise as a playful and (relatively) accessible alternative to the Birkin bag.
As of the time of the article’s publication, Hathaway Hutton had pre-sold 300 Boatkin bags and amassed a growing waitlist. And all the whole, dupes began hitting the market, in a testament to the appeal of the buzzy new bag.
But since then, the Boatkin has effectively vanished. Hathaway Hutton’s Instagram feed has been scrubbed of all but one Boatkin reference – a photo of the Times feature – and the brand’s e-commerce site, which previously offered up at least 10 iterations of the bag, no longer features the design. In its place is a similar, but not identical, style dubbed the “Birdie.”
What explains the sudden disappearance of the budding “it” bag? It is not difficult to imagine that Hermès may have quietly stepped in. A behind-the-scenes cease-and-desist scenario would be in line with the brand’s long-standing approach: Hermès rarely opts for high-profile litigation; exceptions include the MetaBirkins case and others like its relatively short-lived case against Thursday Friday almost 15 years ago. However, given the Boatkin’s not-inexpensive price point, viral success, and use of hardware that mirrors the Birkin, the lookalike may have become too visible – and too close for comfort – to be ignored.
At the same time, the positioning of the Boatkin as a “sustainable” upcycled product and the undeniable David v. Goliath element of a luxury behemoth like Hermès (hypothetically) taking on a teeny-tiny brand like Hathaway Hutton would make a quiet resolution the appropriate move from a court-of-public-opinion perspective.
> There is also a chance L.L. Bean is behind the sudden stop of Boatkin sales; that seems a bit less likely (to me, at least) since Hathaway Hutton would have something of a first sale argument to make (save for the glaring material difference issue) given that it is using authentic Boat and Totes to craft the Boatkins bags.
THE TAKEAWAY: The Boatkin’s brief but meteoric run underscores how quickly the internet can turn an upcycled, tongue-in-cheek creation into a cultural phenomenon – and potentially, how equally fast such creations can vanish if they skirt too close to luxury brands’ most prized IP.
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