In 2025, the most talked-about accessory in fashion was not a handbag. It was the small object hanging from one. Bag charms, from plush toys and beaded keyrings to miniature versions of designer bags, moved from a niche styling choice to one of the industry’s fastest-growing product categories. Brands from Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga to Coach and beauty retailers rushed to sell them, and shoppers clipped them to everything from canvas totes to Hermès Birkins.
The trend says a great deal about the state of consumer spending. At a time when luxury handbags cost more than ever and many households feel financially squeezed, a charm offers a small, affordable way to buy into a brand, refresh an outfit and express personality. This report explains how the bag charm boom happened, why consumers are buying, how the economic and political climate shaped it, and what it means for the fashion and luxury industry.
The key numbers
- 12 times: the rise in global bag charm sales on wholesale platform Joor in the first half of 2025, compared with a year earlier.
- 17 times: the rise in unit sales of bag charms over the same period.
- 3 times: the increase in the number of fashion brands selling charms on Joor.
- 168% and 700%: the year-on-year rise in Google search interest and Pinterest queries for bag charms reported in August 2025.
- 28%: the share of global toy sales made to adults, according to market research firm Circana.
- About 52%: the average rise in the price of European personal luxury goods since 2019, according to HSBC.
Part 1: How the bag charm boom happened
An old idea
Bag charms are not new. Hermès’s Rodeo horse charm launched more than a decade ago and often sells for hundreds of dollars on resale platforms, according to Inside Retail Asia. Fendi’s furry Bag Bugs, created under Karl Lagerfeld, were a hit in 2014, according to Forbes.
The look also draws on the style of Jane Birkin, the actress and singer after whom Hermès named its most famous bag. Birkin was known for decorating and personalising her bags with keyrings, beads and trinkets rather than keeping them pristine. In 2024 and 2025, social media users began “Jane Birkin-ifying” their bags, adding charms, scarves and keyrings in the same spirit, a trend covered by outlets including Country & Town House and W Magazine.
Runways and Miu Miu
Designer brands put charms back on the runway. Miu Miu, which Lyst named the hottest brand in fashion for the third year in a row in 2025, was among the labels whose bag charms drew demand, according to Lyst’s annual report summarised by La Conceria.
Labubu
The single biggest accelerator was Labubu, the plush monster sold by Chinese company Pop Mart. After Blackpink’s Lisa was seen with a Labubu keychain in 2024, the toy spread across social media and onto the bags of celebrities including Rihanna and Dua Lipa. Lyst described Labubu as the defining craze of 2025. Designer Marc Jacobs was photographed carrying a Hermès Birkin 40 with a Labubu charm attached, an image that spread widely online, according to Inside Retail Asia. Read our full Labubu explainer.
Part 2: The numbers behind the boom
The clearest measure of the trend comes from Joor, a wholesale platform used by fashion brands to sell to retailers. According to a Joor report cited by Inside Retail Asia, global bag charm sales on the platform rose twelvefold in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, and unit sales rose seventeenfold. The number of brands selling charms on Joor tripled.
Consumer interest rose just as quickly. Google search interest in bag charms rose 168% over the year to August 2025, and Pinterest queries rose 700%, Inside Retail Asia reported.
The boom also reflects the rise of “kidults,” adults who buy toys and collectibles for themselves. According to Circana data cited by Forbes, adults account for 28% of global toy sales, and US adults spent more than $7 billion on toys in the 12 months to June 2024. Many bag charms, including Labubu and plush charms from brands such as Jellycat, sit somewhere between toy, collectible and fashion accessory.
Part 3: Everyone is selling charms
As demand grew, brands at every price point launched charms. Examples reported by Inside Retail Asia and Forbes include:
- Louis Vuitton: collectible character charms, including “Vivienne Fashionista” and “Louis Bear.”
- Balenciaga: a “Charms Bar” collection that included miniature versions of its Le City and Rodeo bags, customisable keyrings, and functional charms such as lipstick holders, coin pouches and AirPods cases.
- Coach: a Cherry bag charm that became a hit. Inside Retail Asia credited it with contributing to Coach’s growth at a time of muted demand elsewhere.
- Prada and Miu Miu: charms featured in their accessory ranges.
- Beauty brands: Odele launched a charm set holding a mini dry shampoo, and retailer Space NK released an exclusive plush charm with Jellycat. In Asia, health and beauty retailer AS Watson gives charms to customers as gifts.
- Jewellery brands: independent designers launched charms built from beads, enamel, pearls and personal symbols.
“The charm economy”
Coach chief executive Todd Kahn gave the trend a name. He said customers often return weeks after buying a bag to buy a charm, a strap or jewellery to go with it, describing this as “the charm economy,” according to Inside Retail Asia.
Coach’s wider performance shows how well the strategy fits current shoppers. Its parent company, Tapestry, reported that Coach revenue rose 16% in its most recent quarter, and that Coach added 2.6 million new customers, about 35% of them from Generation Z. Read our report on Tapestry’s results.
Part 4: Why shoppers are buying charms
1. Affordability
The most important reason is price. A charm costs a fraction of a handbag. Even designer charms that sell for hundreds of dollars are far cheaper than the bags themselves, which for many brands now cost several thousand dollars. Neil Saunders, managing director of research firm GlobalData, told Inside Retail Asia that although some charms are expensive, they remain an easier entry point into a brand than a new bag, and widen a brand’s customer base.
Gab Waller, founder of styling business SourcedBy, told Forbes that clients buy charms as a relatively affordable form of luxury. A charm also lets people add a designer touch to a non-designer bag.
2. Personalisation and self-expression
Charms let people personalise mass-produced products. Joor described handbags as investment pieces and charms as emotional purchases, and linked the trend to a broader shift towards maximalism and personal style, according to Inside Retail Asia. Designers and stylists interviewed by Forbes described charms as a form of self-expression, a way to carry symbols with personal meaning, and a playful response after several years in which minimal “quiet luxury” dominated.
3. Joy and “dopamine dressing”
Many charms are colourful, playful or cute. Inside Retail Asia connected the trend to “dopamine dressing,” the idea of choosing clothes and accessories that lift one’s mood, and to a desire for affordable escapism during uncertain times.
4. Belonging and collecting
Some charms signal membership of a community. Waller described an “if you know, you know” culture around certain charms, and said that charms will remain popular even if collecting slows. Limited-edition drops encourage collecting: Forbes reported that a book-shaped charm launched by Emily Austen of agency Emerge sold more than 800 units in an invite-only release, without advertising.
Part 5: The economic backdrop
The bag charm boom did not happen in a vacuum. It arrived at a moment when many consumers felt squeezed, and when luxury goods had become more expensive than ever.
Luxury priced itself out of reach
Between 2019 and 2024, average prices of European personal luxury goods rose about 52%, according to HSBC, and some of the most famous handbags nearly doubled. Bain & Company estimates that the number of luxury customers worldwide fell from about 400 million in 2022 to about 340 million in 2025, with most of the losses among aspirational shoppers. Bain also said brands had left a gap in their entry-level offer. Read our report on why luxury got so expensive.
For shoppers who can no longer afford a designer bag, a designer charm is one way to stay connected to a brand. For brands, it is a way to keep those shoppers engaged. Joor said rising handbag prices and more cautious spending were pushing brands to use charms to expand their entry-level ranges.
Inflation and a K-shaped economy
High inflation after the pandemic raised the cost of food, housing and energy, and higher interest rates increased borrowing costs. McKinsey and The Business of Fashion noted in 2026 that inflation and job insecurity have reduced appetite for non-essential spending, including on handbags.
Economists describe the result as a K-shaped economy: wealthier households, helped by rising stock markets, have kept spending, while lower- and middle-income households have cut back. Marketplace reported in January 2026 that a softer labour market and a K-shaped economy were coexisting with strong stock market performance, and that many consumers were starting the year cautious and price-sensitive.
Trade and political uncertainty
Political uncertainty added to the pressure. In 2025, new US tariffs raised import costs, and some luxury brands, including Hermès, raised US prices to offset them. Bain cited shifting US trade policy, geopolitical volatility and uncertainty over China’s economy as factors making luxury demand harder to forecast. In McKinsey’s survey of fashion executives for 2026, tariffs were the most frequently cited obstacle, and 46% of executives expected conditions to worsen.
In China, a prolonged property slump, high youth unemployment and political pressure on visible displays of wealth reduced luxury spending, according to Bain and Bernstein. Read our report on China’s luxury slowdown.
Part 6: The “lipstick effect”
Economists have a name for the tendency to buy small treats when money is tight: the “lipstick effect.” The idea is usually traced to Estée Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder, who observed that lipstick sales seemed to rise during the 2001 recession. The theory is that when people cannot afford large purchases, they spend on smaller indulgences that still offer pleasure or a sense of status.
Analysts see a modern version in today’s small accessory purchases. Jessica Ramírez of research firm The Consumer Collective told Marketplace that accessories such as shoe charms and statement necklaces give shoppers a sense of rebellion against a bleak economy, and noted that consumers are buying fewer items per basket. Sofia Baig of Morning Consult said that in an economy favouring higher earners, small luxuries can help lower-income consumers feel somewhat better about an economy they feel left out of. Uma Karmarkar, a professor at UC San Diego, said indulgent purchases add novelty: a new accessory can make an existing outfit feel new.
Bag charms fit this pattern closely. They are small, relatively cheap, visible, and can refresh a bag a shopper already owns.
Part 7: Why brands love charms
For brands, charms have several advantages.
- A new entry point: charms bring in shoppers who cannot or will not buy a bag, widening the customer base, as GlobalData’s Saunders noted.
- Repeat visits: as Coach’s Kahn described, customers return after buying a bag to buy accessories for it.
- Extra revenue from existing customers: Saunders said charms generate incremental revenue.
- Collectability: limited editions and character series encourage people to buy more than one.
- Visibility: a charm displays a brand’s name or signature design in public, in photos and on social media.
Small accessories have long been an important part of luxury brands’ businesses, alongside fragrance, eyewear and small leather goods. Bain has found that categories such as beauty, eyewear and jewellery held up better than leather goods during the luxury slowdown.
Part 8: The risks
The bag charm economy also carries risks.
Trends fade
Labubu shows how quickly demand can cool. After its 2025 peak, revenue from Pop Mart’s The Monsters franchise, which includes Labubu, fell in the first half of 2026, resale prices for many models fell by more than half as production rose, and Pop Mart’s group revenue fell 45% to 50% in the third quarter of 2026, according to Inside Retail Asia. Products that depend on social media buzz can lose momentum quickly once a trend peaks.
Counterfeits
Popular charms attract counterfeits. Fake Labubus, known as “Lafufus,” were sold in large numbers, and Pop Mart sued 7-Eleven in California in 2025 over counterfeit toys.
Dilution
For luxury brands, selling many cheaper items can risk making a brand feel less exclusive, which is one reason brands have historically been cautious about entry-level products. Some industry commentators argue that charms are a lasting part of how people style their bags, while others expect the trend to fade, as accessory trends often do.
What comes next
Style experts interviewed by Forbes argued that charms are not a passing fad, because accessories have become the focal point of more minimal outfits and because charms carry personal meaning. Whether or not the current intensity lasts, the trend has shown how much consumers value affordable, personal and playful ways to engage with fashion, especially when bigger purchases are out of reach.
For the luxury industry, the bag charm boom is a reminder of the gap left by years of price increases. Brands that offer meaningful, well-made products at accessible prices can still attract younger and more cautious shoppers, and may turn some of them into future buyers of bags and other high-value goods.
Summary
- Bag charm sales on Joor rose twelvefold in the first half of 2025, and the number of brands selling them tripled.
- The trend drew on Jane Birkin’s personalised style, runway revivals and, above all, Labubu.
- Brands from Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga to Coach and beauty retailers launched charms. Coach’s CEO calls it “the charm economy.”
- Shoppers buy charms because they are affordable, personal and joyful, and because they offer a way into brands whose bags are now out of reach.
- Inflation, a K-shaped economy, tariffs and luxury’s price increases created the conditions for the boom, echoing the “lipstick effect.”
- The risks include fading trends, counterfeits and the dilution of luxury brands’ exclusivity.
Sources: Inside Retail Asia (Joor data); Forbes; La Conceria (Lyst Year in Fashion 2025); Marketplace; Country & Town House; W Magazine; CPP Luxury (HSBC data); Reuters on Bain; McKinsey & BoF, The State of Fashion 2026; Inside Retail Asia (Pop Mart).
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