The Hermès Birkin Faubourg is an extremely intricate bag, far more complex than standard Birkin styles. Most workshops either shy away from crafting it or refuse to commit to premium craftsmanship. Whenever market demand arises for this elaborate design, the artisanal workshop at Shebag undertakes its production.

Shebag’s handmade bags are made to order rather than mass-produced, mirroring the bespoke nature of authentic Hermès pieces. While genuine Hermès custom orders entail lengthy lead times, Shebag completes each custom piece in roughly ten days and never resorts to artificial scarcity marketing.

Authentic Hermès adheres to five strict core production standards for this collectible design. Unlike regular Birkins constructed with fully concealed interior stitching, the Faubourg features exposed Sellier outer stitching across the entire bag to retain a rigid, shapely silhouette resistant to sagging. Produced exclusively in a fixed 20-centimetre size, the bag is shaped into a crisp cubic form with curved side edges modelled after the corners of Hermès’ historic flagship store at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, with all panel dimensions precisely scaled down from the building’s actual facade during pattern cutting.

Its most demanding fabrication step lies in the layered leather relief detailing across the front window motif, built by stacking five distinct leather varieties from base to surface. Matte alligator leather forms the roof, the signature material for Day, Midnight and Neige editions; Madame or Togo calfskin composes the main wall structure; textured Sombrero leather is embossed and inlaid to replicate natural stone grout lines; rigid Epsom leather creates the arched outer window frames; and soft Swift leather makes up inner window panes alongside the iconic orange Hermès-hued fabric awnings. The daytime brown version pairs brown alligator roofing with gold-toned Madame leather walls, caramel Sombrero stone detailing, off-white Epsom framing and orange Swift awnings, whereas the snowy white variant combines pale matte alligator, ivory Togo, cream Sombrero, and haze-blue goatskin inner panelling.

Each of the three tapered arched windows is individually die-cut with manual precision held within a 0.1-millimetre tolerance. Layered leather panels protrude 1.2 to 1.5 millimetres above the bag’s surface to form three-dimensional relief. All cut edges receive hand-finished rounded edge paint, and the orange Swift awnings atop each window are subtly curved downward to replicate the droop of the store’s real canopy. Fine dividing lines between panes are set into hand-routed leather grooves with no excess adhesive seepage visible anywhere.

A signature custom accessory accompanies the bag: a clochette shaped as a miniature orange Hermès shopping bag. Hand-sewn entirely from matching Swift leather, it faithfully duplicates every original fold and handle contour. Hardware comes in three finishes: standard palladium-plated silver or gold, full PVD black-coated So Black metalwork exclusive to the Midnight design, and pale gold hardware for the Neige collection.

An authentic Hermès Faubourg requires between 28 and 32 working hours of full saddle-stitch construction using imported French linen wax thread. All exterior and interior seams follow consistent 2.7-millimetre spaced saddle stitching. Hidden spot adhesive secures stacked window layers before concealed understitching locks components in place, leaving no visible fastening threads on the bag’s front face apart from outer perimeter seams.

Shebag follows a standardised production workflow modelled directly on genuine Hermès manufacturing specifications. Production starts with leather sourcing and pre-treatment. For exotic hides, matte Nile alligator is selected to match the grain layout of original Hermès alligator, discarding flawed or irregular scaled skins; pale alligator is reserved for white editions and dark alligator for black versions. Four types of calfskin including imported Madame, Sombrero, Swift and Epsom matching original Hermès leather stock are sourced, then conditioned for seventy-two hours at controlled temperature and humidity to prevent post-production shrinkage and warping. Five pre-cut colour batches are prepared in advance, with exclusive Hermès orange Swift allocated solely for canopy components to eliminate colour inconsistency.

Next comes pattern drafting and component cutting. Shebag scans genuine bag facade measurements at a one-to-one scale to draft paper patterns tailored for the 20-centimetre Sellier Birkin, with custom arched cutting dies manufactured separately for the front window assembly. Five individual cut sets are prepared for roofing, wall panels, stone detailing, window frames and inner panes, with a 0.3-millimetre margin reserved on every edge to accommodate subsequent edge painting and finishing, ensuring uniform arch curvature across all window components.

Assembling the layered front window relief stands as the production’s biggest technical hurdle. Assembly proceeds sequentially by securing base wall leather onto the main bag shell before attaching Sombrero stone detailing strips, inserting preformed Epsom arched frames, fitting Swift inner panes, fixing the alligator roof trim, and finally bonding and concealing stitching for the orange Swift awnings. Shebag applies only mild leather adhesive in sparse dot patterns to avoid glue bleed-through into leather grain, letting each layer fully cure before mounting the next to maintain uniform relief height across the entire window surface.

The fourth stage focuses on Sellier outer stitching and shaping, a core modification from standard concealed-stitch Birkin construction. After aligning inner and outer bag panels, full exposed Sellier stitching runs along sides, base and flap with the identical 2.7-millimetre saddle-stitch spacing used by Hermès. Rigid internal reinforcing inserts fitted into base and side panels undergo heat and cold compression moulding to keep the 20-centimetre bag upright with sharp defined corners free of collapse.

The final phase covers edge finishing and accessory fitting. All layered leather edges receive three rounds of hand-sanded edge paint treatment at Shebag to produce smooth burr-free curved window corners. Bespoke hardware is fabricated to specification in silver, gold or full PVD black So Black finishes, with custom moulds developed exclusively for the all-black Midnight model’s black plating. Craftsmen hand-sew each miniature orange shopping bag-shaped clochette, replicating every original fold and handle proportion from the authentic design.