Hermès Bolide: How a Zipper Changed Fashion History

When people think of Hermès, they may first picture the legendary Birkin or Kelly. But look further and you will find that the house’s real allure is not only price or rarity: it is the way it has repeatedly advanced fashion and craftsmanship through human ingenuity and new ideas.

One often-overlooked innovation dates to 1923: the Bolide, a rounded travel bag that was the world’s first leather handbag to use a zipper.

A zipper made for a prince, and the beginning of a luxury revolution

The story begins even earlier, in 1918. During a trip to America, Émile-Maurice Hermès, the third-generation head of the house, saw a zip fastener in an automobile workshop. At the time, zippers were used chiefly on car covers and military equipment and had not entered everyday life. Yet their neat, efficient opening mechanism immediately caught his attention: if this could be applied to leather, it could be revolutionary.

After returning to Paris, he secured the French rights to the zipper and introduced it into leather apparel. He made a zippered leather golf jacket for the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII—the first Hermès garment made for royalty and the world’s first high-end leather jacket with a zipper. The technique was even nicknamed “fermeture Hermès,” or the Hermès zipper.

Soon he asked a simple question: if a leather jacket could use a zipper, why not a bag? Handbags at the time were usually closed with buttons, straps, or flaps, so the idea was ahead of its time.

In 1923, the Bolide was born, bringing the zipper to a handbag for the first time.

Around 1922, Émile-Maurice designed a zippered prototype for his wife’s travels. Called Le sac pour l’auto, meaning “the bag for the automobile,” it was created for motoring.

The following year, Hermès introduced a handbag designed for car travel, first called the Bugatti and later renamed:

Bolide—French for “meteor”—a name that evokes speed and the progress of its era.

Its smooth metal zipper made packing and retrieving belongings easier, while giving the bag a rounded, structured closure that earlier flap-and-clasp designs could not achieve. With its curved body, practical capacity, and secure zip closure, the Bolide freed travellers from worrying that a fast-moving car would scatter their belongings.
The Bolide did more than reveal Hermès’ functional beauty; it left a deep mark on fashion design as a whole.

Why was Hermès’ use of the zipper so important?

Although American engineer Whitcomb Judson patented the zipper in the 1890s, it did not truly enter fine leather clothing and bags until Émile-Maurice Hermès applied it so skillfully to leather accessories. Hermès was the first brand to use zippers on leather handbags, at least a decade ahead of Louis Vuitton and Gucci. It opened a new era of elegant, everyday zipper use in fashion:

1. From military use to royal attire: Hermès did not just use zippers; it brought them into royal clothing and gave them a language of dignity and fashion.
2. Function and beauty together: the zipper was not only an opening tool, but part of the design. The Bolide’s curved silhouette was made possible by it.
3. From leather goods to everyday dress: after this breakthrough, the fashion world adopted zippers widely in clothing, boots, and accessories. They remain indispensable today.

Hermès is more than an expensive bag

The zipper we now take for granted was a Hermès innovation a century ago. This is the most compelling part of the house: it turns function into elegance and craftsmanship into a language of fashion. Without the zipper Hermès gave the Bolide, the fashion world we know might have taken decades longer to emerge. Next time you see an Hermès bag, think beyond its price: it is design created for real life and for the freedom of movement. That is luxury’s most admirable value.

Continuing the spirit of craft, protecting every classic bag

Just as the zipper on the Bolide answered real needs in travel and storage, we believe every classic bag begins with a deep understanding of life. Bag’s mate was created in this spirit. We design bag support pillows with resilient memory foam, a premium satin outer layer, structured support, and a soft protective cover. They provide a gentle layer of care during everyday storage, helping every well-kept bag retain its value and elegance. True luxury is not only the price at purchase, but the beauty and poise a bag maintains through daily life.

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