As I posted earlier in this thread, I am always amazed how it's okay for people to pass off buying fake jewelry under the aspice of "travel jewlery", but if someone tried to make the same argument for Hermes, it's out of the question.
I reiterate that while my bags and jewelry are real, people have their reasons or comfort levels for buying fakes. Maybe it is so they can have brands that they otherwise could not afford. Desire, affection for a brand and the ability to afford that brand is a very gray area.
And that's fine but then we get into the argument of supporting child labor and other such issues that have been linked to the fake trade.
Who says that just because you carry the real thing means you can afford it? I once read a mind blowing thread in the Hermes section about what people will do to "afford" a Hermes bag. Among them, people brown bagging lunches and denying themselves other things in life in order to save for their purchase. When you have to change your standard of living for a bag, you cannot afford it.
People make sacrafices based upon what is important to them. If a Hermes Birkin will make you happy and you can do so by cutting out luxuries like going out to eat every day, that's fine so long as you're not going into debt over it. Not being able to afford something = charging it and not paying it off or being charged interest while paying it off. If the same money is being used on a different purchase, that is not an indicator of not being able to afford something. It is shifting money around based upon evolving desires.
Moral issues aside with fake and real items, I just don't pass judgment on anyone who buys them. I also won't accept the hypocricy that it's acceptable for people to own fake diamonds (cz's) as a "safe alternative" to wearing real, but doing the same for a bag is a considered a horredous offense.
CZ's aren't stealing someone's intellectual property (unless of course it is a patented cut or the setting is an exact replica). Carrying a bag that has LV plastered all over it when it is not in fact a genuine Louis Vuitton product is.
Lastly, there were the comments of "investing" in real. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with trying something fake to determine if some day you want the real one. I actually think it's a better financial decision to try something out first, then spending a ton of money on an item you may regret buying later. That's why it's called a "test drive". And let's face it, some items we covet cost more than most cars!
I see plenty wrong with it... but that's where the morality comes in. If someone chooses to support it, then that's on their own conscience. Continuing to purchase fake bags you are "test driving" will only continue to promote the trade itself along with all the horrible things that go with it. And let's face it... how many people that buy a fake do so just to test drive before they buy the real one. I'll be honest, that is the first time I have ever heard that.
