We Analyzed 224K Handbag Sales to Understand Which Colors Actually Hold Their Value in 2025
Color is one of the most visible—and debated—attributes in luxury handbag design. To understand whether it meaningfully affects resale outcomes, we analyzed 224,000 sold listings across major luxury resale platforms, controlling for all other product attributes. Below, we break down how various color families perform relative to their identical counterparts.
How We Approached the Analysis
Our objective was to isolate the effect of color on resale value, independent of every other variable that typically drives price. To do this, we grouped listings that were identical across:
- Brand
- Model
- Size
- Condition
- Material
Examples of these comparison groups:
chanel || classic double flap || medium || excellent || leather(example)louis vuitton || neverfull tote || GM || very good || canvas(example)
Each combination formed its own “comparison pod.”
For each pod, we calculated an average resale price. This represents what that exact bag—regardless of color—typically sells for.
We then measured how each color performed against that pod’s internal average. For example, if a Chanel Classic Double Flap (Medium, Excellent, Lambskin) averages $7,500 and the pink version sells for $7,175, then pink registers a –4.3% relative premium for that pod.
Repeating this across all pods and all colors produced a market-wide color premium that avoids inaccurate comparisons between bags that differ in brand, material, or quality. This prevents the common pitfall of comparing, for instance, all black bags to all pink bags without adjusting for product mix.
What the Data Shows
“Premium %” reflects how much more (or less) a color sells for relative to identical bags in other colors.
| color | premium % | sample size |
|---|---|---|
| White | +6.82% | 26,275 |
| Black | +3.31% | 62,791 |
| Green | +2.68% | 4,541 |
| Brown | +0.94% | 62,762 |
| Neutrals | –0.74% | 25,052 |
| Blue | –1.26% | 14,324 |
| Grey | –1.66% | 4,755 |
| Yellow | –2.56% | 1,319 |
| Pink | –4.08% | 7,917 |
| Purple | –4.57% | 1,255 |
| Red | –8.76% | 11,459 |
| Orange | –10.19% | 1,029 |
Interpreting the Trends
- White (+6.82%) shows the strongest relative premium. This could be due to lower actual wear or simply consistent demand for light neutrals.
- Black (+3.31%) remains the most universally desirable and versatile color across brands.
- Green (+2.68%) performed unexpectedly well, possibly driven by modern neutral-adjacent shades (olive, sage, bottle green).
- Pink, red, orange, and purple generally underperform, suggesting these tones skew niche in the resale market.
- Broadly, the distribution aligns with ongoing consumer appetite for muted, neutral, and versatile colorways—a pattern sometimes associated with “quiet luxury” preferences.
Of course, this dataset can be sliced many ways, and individual brands exhibit their own color cultures. For instance:
These iconic colors warrant brand-specific deep dives, which we will explore next.
Closing Thoughts
This analysis offers a directional view of how color interacts with resale value when controlling for all other factors. Color preference remains highly personal, and small percentage differences should not dictate purchasing decisions. Instead, these findings highlight how the broader resale market responds to various tones—and reveal opportunities for further exploration at the brand level.
More detailed brand-level analyses are coming next.
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Frequently Asked Questions
White (+6.82%) and black (+3.31%) generally command the highest relative premiums across brands. This could be due to lower actual wear or simply consistent demand for light neutrals.
Pink, red, orange, and purple generally underperform, suggesting these tones skew niche in the resale market.
Yes, color preference varies by brand. For example, Hermès Orange (+10.19%) and Chanel Black (-8.76%) show strong brand-specific preferences.
Color interactions are largely color-agnostic at the market level. Individual buyers may have strong hardware-color opinions, but those micro-preferences cancel out at scale.