Less is ‘More’: This New Luxury Club is Like a Timeshare for Birkins

Alexandra Harrell
·7 min read

When it comes to defining what is and what isn’t luxury, the rules are resetting.

In fact, a straight-up rejection of the status quo may be in order, according to HighSnobiety’s New Luxury’s New Rules. “Going against industry orthodoxies has never been so rewarding,” the Berlin-based media brand wrote in its fifth cultural barometer white paper.

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“Luxury is not so much about how much you’re paying, it’s more about how you’re behaving with culture,” Edward Campbell, HighSnobiety’s vice president of thought leadership, said to a packed room at New York City social club Spring Place during a panel session in late February. “What we’ve begun to realize is that actually, the new luxury is really an investigation into cultural credibility.”

Old luxury was defined by materialism, exclusivity and one-way conversations, Campbell continued, whereas new luxury is all about knowledge, access and community.

And with those changing rules come changing players.

You’ve heard of luxury car groups, private jet shares and members-only clubs. Now, meet More: a luxury club that functions essentially as a timeshare for Birkins.

“The reason we call it ‘More’ is because we felt what was happening is people weren’t getting a lot of value from rentals or resale; those aren’t really great experiences,” co-founder Cynthia Morrow told Sourcing Journal. “We wanted to make this a luxury experience and provide ‘more’ in terms of we’re going to take care of it, we’re going to extend its life, we’re going to make sure you can get the appreciation” in value.

Here’s how it works: Interested parties join the club for a minimum of 12 pounds (roughly $15) a month. This fee covers the insurance, maintenance and delivery of any purses “purchased.” Members then purchase a “share” of a purse totaling 20-percent of that handbag’s recommended retail price (RRP)—the average RRP on the site is $3,250, for reference—plus a 10 percent sourcing fee. That member invests with four other community members, covering 100 percent of the RRP. Each co-owner gets access to the bag for up to 10 weeks per year, from one- to four-week intervals.

Once that bag loses its appeal, members can sell their shares to trade up or recoup their investment. Of course, members can purchase another share in a different purse as well; five new bags are dropped every four weeks—aptly dubbed the “Fab5.”

“At the heart of what we do is community-led curation,” co-founder Shika Bodani said. “Effectively, our community will curate the bags that are available to purchase shares in for the next month.”

Bodani is referring to the Fab5 but also to “The One:” a one-of-a-kind, rare bag that is “so special it needs to be shared,” Morrow said. The One drops once a month; March feature is Chanel’s Flap Bag, sourced from resale partner Sellier. The luxury house’s recommended retail price for the Cruise Sequin Small Flap Bag is a cool $6,900. Shares on More for the Cruise 2023-24 purse are 1,639 pounds (roughly $2,082) a pop. Previous “The Ones” included an Hermès Birkin and Kelly as well as the limited-edition Chanel Rattan Vanity Bag.

While “regular” purses—bags available until their shares are sold out—can be procured directly from brands, “The One” purses are typically sourced from resellers, given their ultra-exclusive nature.

The circular luxury club’s waitlist launched last June and has garnered 900 wannabe customers. Those customers are heavily vetted and agree to some pretty strict terms and conditions. Hermès purses, for example, must be stored in a safe insured for 10 times the market value of each item stored within it when not being worn.

Joining the waitlist involves filling out a questionnaire developed for vetting prospective shareholders. “It’s a legal document, right, so if someone is a bad actor and does something untoward, there are consequences laid out in terms of what will happen,” Morrow said. “Everyone who joins appreciated this because they worry about the other people, but when they know the process that they’ve all gone through, they feel more confident.”

Co-owners also agree to be reasonable and reliable. They must return their wares promptly, report any larger than wear-and-tear issues, and ultimately treat the bag as if they owned it all the time.

“We want to really build this trusted community of luxury goods lovers that are effectively all sharing these items,” Bodani said, noting that they try to be “very equitable” when dealing with issues such as double bookings or late returns. “If your bag isn’t available, we’ll offer you something else in replacement that’s often of higher value.”

Bodani and Morrow co-founded More with the hopes of bringing the world of luxury to a wider network by lowering the barriers to entry. As most luxury items are worn on rotation and not on a daily basis, the luxury club offers investment opportunities, effectively creating a marketplace for the buying and selling of shares in luxury goods.

“We ultimately want to develop an app where community members and co-owners can interact with each other,” Bodani said. “So if you had a really fantastic date with the purse, you can celebrate that with the other co-owners and just have that level of transparency and visibility.”

Bodani and Morrow both have experience in this space. Bodani founded Front Row, a luxury-on-loan destination in the UK, and Morrow is the mind behind Covett, the world’s first online shared jewelry company.

Bodani, who previously worked in finance, said she’s always been interested in the business side of fashion and was motivated by “wanting more” in her own wardrobe in a cost-effective and sustainable way.

“We wanted to bring together the worlds of fashion and finance in a way to empower women by giving them an opportunity to invest in assets they wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to invest in previously,” Bodani said. “Whether it is for investment purposes or simply to enjoy wearing the bag, we are allowing our clients to rotate and co-own multiple bags, all for the price of one.”

Similarly, Morrow founded Covett with the goal of changing the mindset of luxury consumers, empowering them to have more of what they “coveted” without taking on a financial risk or the guilt of overconsumption. Thus, she launched the smart ownership model to redefine wealth by sharing the value of fine jewelry.

“Before founding Covett, I spent over 20 years working with global brands on strategic, organizational transformations [and] I have always been a lover of luxury goods and their power to imbue confidence in the wearer,” Morrow said. “I believe a large portion of the population are understanding that overconsumption is a big challenge for our planet and a shift to conscious consumerism—by adopting sharing and circular economy models—can make a difference. More is the next step in our journey, as we focus on bringing the co-ownership model to the new market and product categories.”

The London-based club will be launching in the UK to start, with the goal of reaching the United States and European Union. More is currently pre-seed and is currently focused on raising capital, focusing on the UK’s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tax relief systems that reward investment in early-stage startups.

Morrow and Bodani said their “mission in life” is to make luxury less exclusive, and to give the masses an opportunity to “own” a special piece they may have previously considered out of reach. “We want luxury to be more accessible, respectable and sustainable,” Morrow said. “It’s our goal—to bring people the joy of having these beautiful items.”