Erling Haaland Is More HAC Man Than Birkin Boy

At six-foot-five, Erling Haaland can make an enormous Hermès bag look almost sensible. The limited-edition travel bag spotted beside Norway’s team tailoring might overwhelm another wearer; next to his frame, it simply becomes part of the silhouette. Suddenly, one of luxury’s most conspicuous collector pieces resembles something almost practical.

That impression becomes even more logical once the bag is properly identified. Haaland’s rotation appears to favour the Haut à Courroies, or HAC, rather than only the more familiar everyday Birkin.

The Hermès Bag Built for Movement

Hermès began in Paris in 1837 as a harness workshop, and the Haut à Courroies became the maison’s first bag. Its tall trapezoidal body and high straps were originally created to carry riders’ boots and saddles. As motor travel replaced horses and carriages, the same design evolved into luxury luggage without entirely abandoning the scale and structure of sporting equipment.

The HAC then supplied much of the visual foundation for the Birkin. Introduced in the 1980s, the latter borrowed the older bag’s double handles, flap, and belted closure while adopting wider proportions better suited to everyday use. Haaland, then, is not merely carrying a Birkin made unusually large. He repeatedly gravitates towards its older, taller, and more travel-minded relative.

He also carries these bags without much ceremony. They accompany team suits, tracksuits, private flights and airport arrivals, usually held with the casualness of something expected to work for a living. What first appears to be an amusing collision between football and handbag culture begins to feel strangely accurate: a bag born from sport and movement has found itself beside one of football’s most physically imposing figures.

Inside Erling Haaland’s HAC Rotation

The collection becomes more interesting when its individual pieces come into view. Erling Haaland does not appear satisfied with collecting the same recognizable silhouette in a sequence of tasteful neutrals. His choices tend to emerge from the moments when Hermès becomes unusually graphic, technical, or slightly strange.

The clearest hero is the Hermès HAC Birkin 50 “Endless Road,” a limited-edition design whose broad surface carries a vivid landscape of highways, hills, and open sky. Erling Haaland has reportedly been seen with two versions of it, an advanced collector move even before considering that examples now circulate on the resale market for more than $40,000.

Its 50-centimeter width means the bag cannot quietly complete an outfit. It becomes the outfit’s main event. Against Norway’s restrained naval tailoring, the illustrated landscape supplies nearly all the color and visual mischief. Yet Haaland’s height prevents the scale from turning cartoonish. Instead of appearing to drag around a piece of Hermès furniture, he makes the bag look as though it might have been designed with his proportions in mind.

The Multipocket HAC Birkin 50 pushes the maison’s history towards utility gear. Its exterior compartments interrupt the polished leather surface, placing storage and construction visibly on display. The result is less ceremonious than a classic Birkin and considerably more engineered. It is a luxury that looks prepared to carry cables, documents, and several objects whose purpose no one else needs to know.

That preference continues with the Cargo Haut à Courroies 40, which combines canvas, leather, and a busy arrangement of external pockets. Erling Haaland has been linked to an Evercalf and toile version of the design, while another black-and-orange Casaque model adds strong color blocking to the otherwise traditional structure. These are bags whose materials and construction demand attention before the turn-lock ever does.

The HAC Rock 40 is tougher still. Inspired by the anatomy of a biker jacket, the design introduces asymmetrical zips, metal hardware, and pockets across a silhouette more commonly associated with equestrian restraint. It feels slightly aggressive, almost overbuilt, while remaining unmistakably precise. On Haaland, the combination makes sense: a classic luxury object has been given enough hardware to survive contact with football’s resident Viking.

Erling Haaland has also appeared with the HAC Casaque Birkin 40. “Feu” is the Hermès color name for its vivid orange tone, which is why searching only for a “black-and-orange Casaque” may produce several different bags. Its sharply divided blocks of black and orange make the traditional HAC structure feel more graphic and playful.

Then comes the Kelly Dépêches, a much slimmer and sharper proposition. Erling Haaland carries the narrow case almost like a clutch, allowing its modest scale to look especially small beside him. The contrast is funny, but it also proves that his interest is not solely a race towards the largest bag available. He seems alert to the different ways proportion can behave against his body, whether the accessory is monumental or nearly swallowed by one hand.

Taken together, the collection suggests remarkably specific taste. Erling Haaland appears most interested in Hermès when the house interferes with its own perfection: adding landscape artwork, canvas panels, visible compartments, biker zips, or exaggerated dimensions. Even the rarest pieces retain some trace of movement and function.

The World Cup has made that habit newly visible because football arrivals now operate as miniature runways. Players spend much of the tournament in regulated kits and coordinated team clothing, leaving luggage, watches, and a handful of personal accessories to carry the weight of individual style. One memorable bag can do more than an entire outfit.

For Erling Haaland, however, Hermès no longer feels like a one-off airport flex. Repetition has turned it into part of his character: equal parts elite athlete, internet eccentric, and unexpectedly informed collector.

Perhaps “Birkin boy” was never quite the right description. The bag he favours existed before the Birkin, before modern celebrity dressing, and before luxury travel took its current form. It began with riders, equipment, and the problem of carrying both beautifully. More than a century later, it may simply have found the right man for the job.