At first I‘d like to say that I am not an expert. I just want to share my experience and show pictures of a „good“ fake Puzzle I bought preloved and an authentic one.
Few days ago I ordered a small Puzzle and the same day I found a medium pre loved one for a really good price. This already raised my suspicion but as I still have been unsure about the right size for me and returns were accepted for the pre loved one I ordered it and both arrived today.
Let me say I have been hunting for the puzzle since it’s release but I know about all the fake out there (mentioned it in the Loewe thread already) so I skipped a lot of offers over the past years just because returns are mostly impossible.
But because I am a very curious person I started this experiment.
Sellers photos looked quite fine but next to the authentic one it is obvious that it is a high quality fake bag. I took a lot of pictures for comparison and like to share my experience with you.
1. the smell
The real one has a deep leather smell while the fake bag smells like... plastic? It was described as „like new“, a few months old and „worn once“. If I didn’t have both lying next to each other maybe I wouldn’t have noticed it but the authentic‘s smell screams luxury while the fake smells like any average low quality leather bag out there.
2. The feel
Quite unsure if it is fair to compare them because the fake bag is made of smooth leather and the real one is pebbled leather.
I noticed the fake bag to be a bit stiff, not buttery soft like the authentic one.
3. the look
Here are the pictures:
The dustbag
The authentic dustbag feels much thicker and while the fake one looks nearly the same from the outside it feels flimsy in direct comparison. The inner seams look complete different and you can see the lack of quality at the inner seams.
The booklet
Do I need to say anything? The pictures speak by themselves...
The leather tag
Not easy to spot the differences but I noticed some deviation.
e.g. „Made in Spain“ ends in the middle of the „W“ from LOEWE on the fake one while the same lettering ends near to the beginnig of the W on the authentic.
The font looks also a bit different.
The leather tabs
The difference in stitching is obvious. On the authentic one the look even while there are a lot more and uneven stitches on the fake bag.
Here I was able to compare the quality of the leather because the tabs and the handle on the pebbled small puzzle are smooth leather. It definitely has a softer feel on the authentic one.
The tag
Plastic vs. metal / black string vs. white
Obviously different
The zipper
Leather piece looks different (no complete stitching on the fake bag but not sure if this is a red flag - maybe some legit bag don’t have the stitches), the angle of the fake leather piece is on the wrong side
The hardware
Hard to tell but in direct comparison the hw on the authentic bag feels heavier and the clasp on the fake bag is slightly more rounded. You can feel it but I wouldn’t have noticed it if I only had the fake bag.
The serial no.
Hard to tell because my authentic one doesn’t share a lot of numbers with the fake bag.
Still I would say they are different.
As I said I am no expert. But maybe my photos can help others.
The fake bag is already on its way back. The seller claims it was „a gift“ but refunded me immediately via PayPal after I sent pictures and told him what I think.
I hadn’t even arranged the return so why did he send me the 1.100 Euro? I am 100% sure he knew what he was selling right from the start.
Thanks a lot for reading and let me excuse for my english. I am not a native speaker and describing all these details in a foreign language wasn’t that easy for me.
Stay in good health!
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