What Hermès Can Teach Software Teams About Constraints, Craft, and Patience

People wait six months for a Birkin bag. Sometimes years.

They won't wait three seconds for your app to load.

Why?

What do luxury brands understand about patience, quality, and desire that software companies consistently get wrong?

And more importantly: What can we learn from how Hermès operates—without pretending software is a handbag?

This isn't about fetishizing luxury or slow development. It's about understanding how constraints, craft, and deliberate design create products people care about decades later.

Let's explore what happens when you optimize for endurance instead of velocity, and where that thinking breaks in software.

Why People Wait Months for a Bag (But Won't Wait 3 Seconds for Your App)

The Hermès Birkin bag:

• Handmade by a single artisan over 18-48 hours
• Waitlist measured in months or years
• Price: $10,000-$500,000
• Customers: Delighted to wait

Your SaaS app:

• Page load time: 3 seconds
• Users: Frustrated, closing tab, tweeting complaints
• Retention impact: Significant

What's the difference?

Hermès optimizes for:

• Scarcity (limited production creates desire)
• Timelessness (a bag from 1980 is still coveted today)
• Craftsmanship (every detail is intentional, visible, appreciated)
• Brand promise (when you buy Hermès, you know exactly what you're getting)

Most software companies optimize for:

• Availability (ship to everyone, fast)
• Novelty (new features every sprint)
• Speed (minimum viable, iterate later)
• Growth (acquire users, optimize later)

Neither is wrong. They're optimizing for different outcomes.

But here's the question: What if your software borrowed a few principles from luxury—without the absurd waitlists?

How Luxury Brands Use Constraints as a Feature

Luxury brands don't apologize for constraints. They weaponize them.

Constraint 1: Limited Production

Hermès:

• Makes ~12,000 Birkin bags per year globally
• Could make more (demand is infinite)
• Chooses not to

Why: Scarcity creates desire. Abundance kills prestige.

Software parallel:

Most SaaS companies: "Ship every feature anyone asks for. More features = more customers."

Alternative approach: Ruthless scope discipline.

Example: Basecamp famously says no to most feature requests. Their product is deliberately small.

Result:

• Product stays focused and coherent
• Team moves faster (less to maintain)
• Users understand what the product is (clear positioning)

The lesson: You don't need to build everything. Constraints clarify identity.

Constraint 2: Strict Quality Control

Hermès:

• Single artisan makes entire bag (no assembly line)
• If quality isn't perfect, bag is rejected (expensive loss)
• Quality is non-negotiable, even if it means delays

Software parallel:

Most teams: "Ship fast, fix bugs later. Don't let perfect be enemy of good."

Alternative approach: High bar for what ships.

Example: Apple's notorious rejection of features/products that don't meet quality bar. They've killed entire product lines rather than ship mediocrity.

Result:

• Fewer features, but every feature feels polished
• Users trust the brand (high consistency)
• Technical debt stays manageable

The lesson: Saying "this isn't good enough" is a feature, not a bug.

Constraint 3: Timeless Design Over Trends

Hermès:

• Core designs are decades old (Birkin: 1984, Kelly: 1935)
• Doesn't chase trends
• Minor refinements, not constant reinvention

Software parallel:

Most SaaS: "Redesign the UI every 18 months. Follow design trends (flat, skeuomorphic, neumorphic, whatever's next)."

Alternative approach: Build for longevity.

Example: Craigslist. Hasn't changed design in 20 years. Still works. Still valuable.

Counter-example (good): Stripe's dashboard. Clean, functional, hasn't needed a redesign because it was designed well initially.

The lesson: If you design something well, you don't need to redesign it constantly. Invest in timelessness, not trendiness.

Translating Luxury Principles into Software

Let's get concrete. How do you apply these ideas without building a bougie, slow-moving product?

Principle 1: Fewer Features, Higher Quality

Luxury approach: Limited product line. Each item is exceptional.

Software approach:

Instead of:

Product roadmap:
- Q1: 15 features
- Q2: 18 features
- Q3: 12 features
- Q4: 20 features

Try:

Product roadmap:
- Q1: 3 features, deeply polished
- Q2: 2 features, deeply polished
- Q3: 4 features, deeply polished
- Q4: 3 features, deeply polished

Same team capacity, but:

• Each feature is complete (edge cases, tests, docs, observability)
• Each feature is fast and reliable
• Each feature integrates cleanly with existing product

Result: Users remember great features. They forget mediocre ones.

Principle 2: "Inside Finishing" (Invisible Quality)

Luxury watches: The inside mechanisms are polished and beautiful, even though most buyers will never see them.

Why? Because the watchmaker knows. It's craft for craft's sake.

Software parallel:

Inside finishing = Internal quality that users don't see directly but feel.

Examples:

• Clean, understandable code (engineers move faster)
• Comprehensive logs and metrics (incidents resolved in minutes, not hours)
• Well-designed internal APIs (integration is easy, not painful)
• Thoughtful database schemas (queries are fast and maintainable)

Users don't see this. But they experience:

• Fast page loads
• Reliable features
• Quick bug fixes
• Smooth new feature rollouts

The lesson: Quality shows up indirectly. Invest in parts users won't see, because they'll feel them.

Principle 3: Slow Down at the Right Moments

Luxury brands don't rush launches. If a product isn't ready, they delay.

Software teams should do the same—selectively.

When to slow down:

Before you:

• Launch a foundational feature (payments, auth, data model)
• Make a one-way door decision (e.g., database choice)
• Release to compliance-sensitive customers (healthcare, finance)
• Ship a migration that affects all users

Take the extra week to:

• Write comprehensive tests
• Stress-test edge cases
• Document how it works (for future you)
• Add observability

When to move fast:

• MVPs and experiments (learn fast, throw away if it doesn't work)
• Internal tools (smaller blast radius)
• Temporary workarounds (make it clear it's temporary)

The lesson: Speed is a tool, not a religion. Know when to slow down.

Principle 4: Strong Brand Promise (Know What You Are)

Hermès: When you buy, you know exactly what you're getting. Consistent quality. Classic design. High price.

Software parallel:

Bad brand promise: "We do everything for everyone."

Good brand promise: "We do X exceptionally well for Y type of user."

Examples:

When your promise is clear:

• Users know if your product is for them (good self-selection)
• Your team knows what to prioritize (focus)
• Your roadmap writes itself (features that support the promise)

The lesson: Define what you're not building, so you can do the rest exceptionally.

Where the Analogy Breaks (And Why That's Important)

Luxury and software are not the same. Let's be clear about where this metaphor fails—because that's important too.

Difference 1: Software Is Not Scarce

Hermès: Limited supply creates value.
Software: Infinite replication. Scarcity is artificial (paywalls, access controls).

Why it matters:

You can't create value through scarcity alone in software. Your value comes from:

• Solving a real problem
• Being faster/better/simpler than alternatives
• Network effects (more users = more value)

Don't confuse "being selective about features" with "artificial scarcity for prestige."

Difference 2: Software Needs to Evolve Faster

Hermès: A bag design from 1984 still works in 2025.
Software: A framework from 2015 might be obsolete by 2025.

Why it matters:

Tech landscape changes. Competitors ship features. User expectations shift. Security threats evolve.

You can't stay static. The balance:

• Build core architecture for longevity (data models, APIs, system design)
• Iterate features and UI as needed

"Timeless" in software means: "We built this so it's easy to evolve, not frozen in time."

Difference 3: Distribution Works Differently

Hermès: Controlled distribution. Exclusive stores. Limited availability.
Software: Global distribution at near-zero marginal cost. You want everyone to access it.

Why it matters:

Luxury thrives on exclusivity. Software thrives on scale.

The lesson isn't "make your app hard to access." It's "make your app so good that users feel like they discovered something rare."

Practical "Luxury-Inspired" Practices for Tech Teams

Let's ground this in tactics you can use Monday morning.

Practice 1: Scope Cuts as a Discipline

Luxury mindset: We only make what we can make exceptionally.

Software tactic:

For every feature, ask:

• Why this? (If the answer is weak, cut it.)
• Who's this for? (If the answer is "everyone," cut it.)
• What's the simplest version that's still great? (Cut everything else.)

Example: You're building a reporting feature.

V1 (everything):

• 15 chart types
• Custom date ranges
• Export to PDF, CSV, Excel
• Scheduled reports via email
• Sharing with external users

V1 (ruthless cuts):

• 3 chart types (line, bar, table)
• Last 7/30/90 days (no custom ranges)
• Export to CSV only

Ship V1 (ruthless). Add more only if users demand it.

Result: V1 shipped in 3 weeks instead of 3 months. 80% of users happy. The 20% who need more will tell you.

Practice 2: Treat Internal Tools Like First-Class Products

Luxury mindset: The inside mechanism is as beautiful as the outside.

Software tactic:

Your internal CLI, admin dashboard, deployment pipeline—treat them like products:

• Invest in UX (even for engineers)
• Write docs
• Make them fast and reliable
• Iterate based on feedback

Why it matters: Engineers use these tools daily. Bad tools = slow, frustrated engineers.

Example: Stripe's internal tools are famously polished. Engineers are productive because their tools don't fight them.

Practice 3: "Finishing" Sprints

Luxury mindset: We don't launch until it's ready.

Software tactic:

After building an MVP, schedule a finishing sprint:

• Polish UX (error messages, loading states, animations)
• Add observability (logging, metrics, alerts)
• Write runbook for on-call
• Test edge cases
• Update docs

This is the 10% that makes the feature feel complete, not just functional.

Many teams skip this. They ship functional features that feel half-baked.

Result: Users perceive quality. Engineers can support it confidently.

Practice 4: Slow Down Before Big Launches

Luxury mindset: Never rush.

Software tactic:

Before major launches:

• Week -2: Feature freeze. Only bug fixes and polish.
• Week -1: Soak in staging. Monitor for issues.
• Launch week: Gradual rollout (5% → 25% → 100%). Rollback plan ready.

Example: Stripe launches major API changes this way. Zero surprises.

Contrast: Teams that launch Friday afternoon and hope for the best.

Closing: Building Products Worth Caring About

Here's the truth: Most software is disposable.

Users churn. Startups die. Features are forgotten.

But some software endures. Linux. Postgres. Git. Stripe. Figma.

What makes them different?

Not that they never changed. They did.

But they were built with care. Thoughtful design. Quality that compounds. Principles that guided trade-offs.

Luxury brands understand this: You can't fake craftsmanship. Users can feel when something was made with care vs shipped to hit a deadline.

Software is the same.

Users can feel when:

• A feature was polished, not just functional
• Error messages are helpful, not generic
• The product is fast because you optimized, not by accident
• The design is coherent, not a Frankenstein of sprints

This isn't about moving slow. It's about being intentional.

• Constrain scope so you can do less, better
• Finish work completely before moving on
• Invest in invisible quality (it shows up indirectly)
• Define what your product is—and defend it

If your product was a luxury good, what would you stop doing?

• Shipping half-finished features?
• Chasing every competitor's feature?
• Tolerating tech debt because "we'll fix it later"?

What would you double down on?

• Polish and completeness?
• Reliability and speed?
• Clarity of purpose?

You don't need a six-month waitlist. But you could ship features worth waiting for.

Luxury brands optimize for products that last decades and appreciate in value.

Software doesn't work the same way. But the principles—constraints as focus, craft as leverage, patience at key moments—translate.

You're not building handbags. But you could build products people still talk about in 10 years.

That's rare. And worth aiming for.