In 1984, Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas was seated next to Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London. Birkin’s signature straw basket had been run over with a car by her then-partner Jacques Doillon two days earlier and she was using a different travel bag; the contents spilled out as she was placing it in the overhead compartment for her seat, leaving her to scramble to replace them. Birkin explained to Dumas that it had been difficult to find a leather weekend bag she liked, and wondered if Hermès could produce a larger version of the Kelly bag.

Dumas took this encounter as inspiration to create a supple black leather bag, based on an earlier design, the Haut à Courroies, which Hermès had created around 1900.Birkin initially used the bag, but changed her mind because she was carrying too many things in it. “What’s the use of having a second one?”, she asked with a laugh: You only need one and that busts your arm; they’re bloody heavy. I’m going to have to have an operation for tendonitis in the shoulder.”[12][failed verification][circular reference] Since the late 1980s, the bag has become a status symbol, though it has become much easier to purchase due to aftermarket resales.

In July 2015, Birkin asked Hermès to stop using her name for the crocodile version due to ethical concerns, as PETA alleged crocodile farms supplying the hide to Hermès for the manufacture of the bags crammed their animals into barren concrete pits.[13] PETA said: “At just one year old, alligators are shot with a captive bolt gun or crudely cut into while they’re still conscious and able to feel pain.Birkin asked Hermès “to debaptise the Birkin Croco until better practices in line with international norms can be put in place”.Hermès announced soon afterward that it had satisfied Birkin with new reassurances on this.