Hop aboard a Hampton Jitney bus or a ferry to Nantucket this summer and you will probably see some L.L. Bean Boat and Totes, or maybe even an Hermès Birkin. You might also spot a new bag that looks like the child of those two: the Boatkin.
Introduced in January by Hathaway Hutton, a brand in Philadelphia, Boatkins are made of canvas — some from old Boat and Totes — and have a shape and hardware similar to those of Birkins.
“Quiet luxury with a smirk” is how Hathaway Hutton’s founder, Jen Risk, described the bag. “I wanted to mess with the seriousness of it all and give it some personality.”
Ms. Risk, 41, a self-taught sewer who started her brand in 2017, has positioned herself as a sort of Dr. Frankenstein of luxury goods: She has sold hand-painted Goyard totes and pool attire made of vintage Hermés beach towels. The Boatkin bag is her newest creation, and is among the latest accessories to borrow some of the Birkin’s clout. See: Telfar’s Shopping Bag, also known as the “Bushwick Birkin”; the design collective MSCHF’s “Birkinstock” sandals; and Slow and Steady Wins the Race’s four-sided Birkin replica.
Each Boatkin is made in a work space at Ms. Risk’s home, she said, a process that can take up to 10 hours. (A Birkin, by comparison, can take more than 18 hours to make, while a Boat and Tote can be stitched together in under 10 minutes.) Boatkins made from Boat and Totes provided by customers start at about $1,200; versions made with materials sourced by Ms. Risk, at about $1,600. She has sold more than 300 bags since introducing the style.
Reactions to the Boatkin have been mixed. “Most people love it, which has been really fun,” Ms. Risk said. “A few people get weirdly mad,” she added, because of their price tags.
The product’s novelty was worth the cost for buyers like Yolande Dolly Fox, 62, a television and theater producer in New York. “The humor of the bag really appealed to me,” she said. Leah Melby Clinton, 39, who bought a Boatkin this spring, described it as having a “tote-it-around, bang-it-up, not-too-precious vibe” that evoked the origin story of the Birkin, which was developed as a carryall for young mothers (specifically, a young Jane Birkin, for whom the bag is named).
Despite the bag’s utilitarian origins, Ms. Melby Clinton said she wasn’t always comfortable using her Birkin, which she bought second hand. “And honestly, I get anxious sometimes that people think I’m carrying a fake,” she added. “As more and more counterfeits have flooded the market, it just feels different.”
Those knockoffs include the so-called Wirkin, a superfake bag sold by Walmart that spread widely on social media last year before the retailer stopped selling it. Wirkin owners include Bethenny Frankel, 54, the “Real Housewives of New York” star turned entrepreneur turned influencer.
Ms. Frankel, who has multiple Birkins, said in an interview that she also just bought a Boatkin, which she described as having an appeal beyond just offering the look of a Birkin for less.
“This is innovative, creative, fun and tongue-in-cheek,” she said. “The precise way in which someone should take inspiration from an original and it not feel derivative or like a cheap copy.”
Ms. Risk said that neither L.L. Bean nor Hermès has contacted her about the Boatkin. A representative for L.L. Bean declined to comment for this article, and representatives for Hermès did not comment.
In 2023, Hermès won a trademark suit against the creator of “MetaBirkins,” virtual Birkin replicas that a jury determined looked too similar to the real bags. Joseph Carrafiello, a lawyer in Cincinnati who specializes in intellectual property law, and who was not involved in the “MetaBirkin” case, said that the Boatkin might exist in more of a gray area.
“The law might view the Boatkin as what we could refer to in the I.P. space as a transformative and expressive work that was inspired by, but did not copy, existing products or ideas,” he said.
The wait time for a new Boatkin is now about 16 weeks, Ms. Risk said, up from about eight weeks a few months ago. This summer, she is planning to sell premade styles at the Aerin store in Southampton, N.Y.
People looking to buy new Hermés Birkins typically also have to wait months — and sometimes years — to get one. And these days, those shopping for a new Boat and Tote might also have to wait a bit. “Most of the sizes and colors are back-ordered until July or later,” said Rachel Kennedy, a 36-year-old consultant in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Ms. Kennedy does not own a Birkin — she bought one secondhand in 2011 and has since sold it. But she does have a Boat and Tote, which is embroidered with the phrase “My other bag is a Birkin.” She has recently been thinking about parting with it, she said, so the bag can be turned into a Boatkin.
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