Kimaya Banga doesn’t have children, but she does have babies. They’re called Kelly , Lady and Flap. (Unusual, yes, but no more than the average celebrity spawn.
) Their first names, if you haven’t guessed? Hermés , Dior and Chanel . “I call my luxury bags my babies,” Banga, 34, tells me fondly. “I clean them, I take care of them, they get to come out of my closet every fifteen days—” I interrupt.
“As in, you take them for walks?” Banga is nonplussed. “Yeah, you could put it like that.” In another sense, though, Banga’s relationship with her luxury bags mirrors more that of a stock trader.
She has lost track, really, of the number of bags she’s bought and resold throughout her almost decade-long hobby. “Maybe 50-80?’ she guesses. Eight years ago, she was living in London when she fell for a Fendi Baguette on the global resale marketplace Vestiaire Collective.
She stoked the fires of her love for designer vintage from there, picking up a few new (to her) pieces every year. When Banga returned to India, the local vintage designer scene was nascent — but that quickly changed. Now, in 2024, it’s booming, and set to hit ₹ 1,556 million by 2032.
Global platforms like The RealReal are active in India, but many local sellers and buyers profess an inclination towards home-run companies, like Confidential Couture, one of the first players on the market back in 2014, and My Almari, which began in 2023. Banga made a purchase on My Almari within a few.