Buying and Selling a Chanel Water Bottle for $200

Heard of Chanel? It’s just a small, boutique manufacturer of perfumes, designer clothing, and cosmetics, raking in 15 billion dollars in 2021. Founded in 1910, one of Chanel’s longest running and most iconic offerings is the No. 5 Perfume.

First introduced in 1921, No. 5 is an essential part of the brand, and has barely changed since its introduction. To celebrate the perfume's centenary, Chanel would launch a line of everyday products modeled after the perfume in 2021. One of these was the Factory No. 5 Water Bottle. The bottles proved exceptionally popular, and now resell for significantly more than they retailed.

Why Chanel stands out

Chanel has a long history of bucking the norm. The earliest designs to come out of the fashion house were bold, gender-defying concepts. Women's outfits would eschew the traditional motifs of the era, freely borrowing colors and combinations reserved only for men. The brand was also an early pioneer in industrial, minimalist styling.

The original design for the No. 5 perfume bottle was likened to a whiskey flask, intentionally running contrary to the excessively detailed, highly elaborate bottles of contemporary perfumes.

The branding and name of No. 5 evokes simplicity as well. Despite what the name might imply, No. 5 was the first perfume produced by the fashion house. Emblazoned on a stark white label, the No. 5 in simple black letters is a now iconic piece of the brand's clean cut design ethos.

The Factory Collection

Chanel has a long history of bucking the norm. The earliest designs to come out of the fashion house were bold, gender-defying concepts. Women's outfits would eschew the traditional motifs of the era, freely borrowing colors and combinations reserved only for men. The brand was also an early pioneer in industrial, minimalist styling.

Each item from the Factory collection would be a general household item, like shower gel, lotion or soap. The packaging for them would be incredibly industrial, in some cases being literal paint cans. Of course, all of these would be a brilliant white, marked with the same Chanel No. 5 as the perfume.

What was special about No. 5 bottles

Priced similarly to the rest of the collection, the No. 5 Water Bottles would quickly emerge as a favorite of the collection. After sitting in stock for 8 hours, the Water Bottles sold out for $75 each, and would begin to resell for upwards of $150, doubling resellers' money.

However, bottles could still be purchased at retail through boutiques. It's unclear how many in total were produced, but for weeks following the initial release, bottles could sporadically be found for sale in brick-and-mortar stores, before they too would sell out.

Why did No. 5 bottles resell?

So what sets the bottles aside from the rest of the collection? Well, they're long-lived and stylish. While you could theoretically reuse your factory No. 5 Paint Can, a No. 5 Water Bottle makes more sense in the long run, as a reusable and refillable bottle. The pricing is also relatively low for an official Chanel product, at $75. Pricey if compared to a bottle of Dasani, sure, but not the hundreds to thousands of dollars you'd spend on other offerings from the brand.

Really though, consider what other options there are to flex with a water bottle. Hydro Flask and YETI are the only water bottles with real brand recognition, and while Prada has released its own luxury bottle, it doesn't have the same appeal as Chanel's.

In any case, these bottles were a great investment for anyone paying attention to Chanel's feed last July. For more examples of crossovers between luxury brands and home goods, check out our article on Virgil Abloh and IKEA's legendary collaboration, or the story of how a digital Gucci bag resold for thousands of dollars through Roblox.