Hèrmes is taking its first steps into the headphones business, but its debut pair are no ordinary over-ears.
The $15K (about £11K) headset promises to combine luxury materials and craftmanship with boundary-pushing engineering.
Luxury fashion brand Hèrmes has announced its first ever headphones, and if you thought the Hèrmes Apple Watch was expensive you might want to sit down.
The debut Hèrmes Headphone weigh in at a cool $15,000 – just over £11K. That means they're around roughly the same price as 20 pairs of AirPods Max.
As fashion site WWD reports, the plan isn't to take an ordinary pair of headphones and put expensive materials on them. They're being made by the firm's bespoke Ateliers Horizons workshop in Paris.
Creative director Axel de Beaufort explained to the outlet that, while it it might not do the audio engineering in-house, it is playing a pivotal role in the headphones' specification and sound: "We need to be able to push boundaries," he said.
What to expect from Hèrmes' first headphones
The actual specifications of the Hèrmes Headphones are yet to be revealed, but they will work in both wired and wireless modes. We've also spotted that the grilles inside those leather-covered earcups do look rather like the ones you get in some planar magnetic over-ears – so that can be a hint.
If Hèrmes is serious about making the best headphones rather than just really expensive ones, planar drivers may be the key. The audiophile-standard technology doesn't tend to appear in mass-market headphones because of the more expensive engineering involved, but when you cater for the kind of high-spending customers Hèrmes has, you've got a bit more budget to play with.
As you'd expect from a high-end fashion brand, its headphones will come in a range of colours. The hand-stitched cowhide leather will be available in Kelly bag-inspired colours including "naturel", black, chocolate, "rouge H" and Prussian blue.
The headphones will go on sale this summer.
