How do you explain your designer bags?

pyrexia

pyrexia

rosed.
O.G.
Sep 10, 2006
4,787
97
#1
Two nights ago I was walking down Chinatown in NYC with a male friend and he was teasing me about my bags. He was pointing out the fakes sold in Chinatown and asked "How do you feel about plonking down so much cash for the same bag that you see here? Makes you feel cheated, doesn't it?"

I said "No, I don't." and then tried to launch into the merits of a REAL bag with good quality leather etc but he didn't get it. :rolleyes:

How many of you have had problems "explaining" this mentality to your friends?
 
#2
The easiest way I can explain it is to relate it to something important to that person (guitars, video game consoles, cars, jewelry, etc.). If cars are important to him, I'm sure he'd shell out the payments for the real dream car over some cheap replica version. KWIM?
 
#3
ok, maybe i've said this a lot of times in this forum, but here's how i defend my authentic bags :
ok, if i bought a fake bag which of course i want to find fakes with the closest quality with the authentic one that can cost me maybe 150$. if i get bored with the bag, it's just a 150$ sits in my closet.
and if i bought an authentic bag for like 1000$ and take care of the bag's condition really well, when i get bored with the bag, i can sell the bag for about 20% off retail (depends on the bag's condition) which is like 800$.so i only lost 200$ for the pleasure of having an authentic bag.
and i'd truly rather buy 1 authentic bag, than maybe 5 fake bags that i can't resell. with my authentic bag, at least i can rotate my money to afford another bag. it's like an investment actually :P
 
#4
it's about quality and integrity

additionally in Jewish law, which few of you I am sure hold by intentionally(not being rude- jsut I know there aren't many religious Jews on here) you are not to buy something which is clearly in imitaiton of something elese- ie by buying the imitation you are then denying someone their livelihood.

we all know these large designers aren't hurting for money
but i view it as how do fakes hurt the designers and their customers on a yearly basis.
 
#5
pyrexia said:
Two nights ago I was walking down Chinatown in NYC with a male friend and he was teasing me about my bags. He was pointing out the fakes sold in Chinatown and asked "How do you feel about plonking down so much cash for the same bag that you see here? Makes you feel cheated, doesn't it?"

I said "No, I don't." and then tried to launch into the merits of a REAL bag with good quality leather etc but he didn't get it. :rolleyes:

How many of you have had problems "explaining" this mentality to your friends?
Click to expand...

Counterfeit production is so widespread that not many people realize that most of these sales are illegal.

You could never be too sure of what you might be funding when you purchase replica bags. You could very well be indirectly supporting child labor, sweatshops, drug trafficking and even terrorism.

Simply tell your friend that saving a couple of dollars, even a couple hundred, is not worth that much. :heart:
 
#6
Yes, I think when I was much younger I used to think "What does it matter if it's a fake...who is it hurting?" I think if people would start educating themselves more about what is behind all the counterfeiting (exploitation..etc)...they would realize it hurts EVERYONE!! I had a friend who carried nothing but fakes, but since I've sent her articles about how evil the whole industry is, she got rid of her fakes and now has a coulple of authentic pieces. It's all about thinking of yourself as "authentic" too.

AJ
 
#8
Q: "Makes you feel cheated, doesn't it?"

A: "We are obviously worlds apart on who is getting cheated here. If I were debating who is really being defrauded by counterfeiting, I would have said first, the consumer, who is being duped into the notion that a replica has any intrinsic value; and second, the designer, whose trademark has been falsified, and whose name and reputation are damaged immeasurably, but I guess that didn't occur to you since it is not YOUR name on that bag, and your business is not being undermined by unscrupulous street urchins."
 
#9
pyrexia said:
Two nights ago I was walking down Chinatown in NYC with a male friend and he was teasing me about my bags. He was pointing out the fakes sold in Chinatown and asked "How do you feel about plonking down so much cash for the same bag that you see here? Makes you feel cheated, doesn't it?"

I said "No, I don't." and then tried to launch into the merits of a REAL bag with good quality leather etc but he didn't get it. :rolleyes:

How many of you have had problems "explaining" this mentality to your friends?
Click to expand...

To me, it's okay, even normal, for people who are not interested in handbags (most guys, for example) or those who do not appreciate the beauty of authentic handbags to not understand the merits of an authentic bag, so long as they don't question me.

When they do question me, I get kind of annoyed and then it brings me back to the root which is, "Why can't they just understand??!!"
 
#10
Shopaholic Isis said:
When they do question me, I get kind of annoyed and then it brings me back to the root which is, "Why can't they just understand??!!"
Click to expand...

Lack of information. Under these circumstances, a gentle imparting of knowledge may be the way to go.....after all, everyone can't be expected to know everything, and where information is lacking, good humoured teaching can't do any harm.
 
#11
^True. :yes: But sometimes after umpteen times of explanations and whatnot... they still don't get it. Some might choose to doubt. After that, I leave it to them.

Sometimes I feel that there is no need to explain anything at all. It's my bag and I use it and love it.
 
#14
I was talking to someone about buying a designer handbag. They scolded me about how they'd never fund designers handbags who mademillions while having people slave away at making their handbags. i reminded him I was interested in authentic handbags and not fakes. He spoke to me and belittled me and I wish I had the facts to have told him off.

He said something to the effect, "Do you really think because it says Italy it still wasn't produced by someone making pennies a day?"

how do i know the average income of a purse maker :sad:
 
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