Handbag Ethics Question?

#61
heather123 , my b-bag is actually good quality. i haven't used it in awhile...but, i really wouldn't throw out the notion of using it. it's a good bag, holds my stuff...and i like the color. however, i wouldn't pass it off for the real thing if i were ever asked. if someone asks me, i'll admit it. if they wanna assume, they can.
 
#62
Samia said:
I don't think there is anything wrong with your donation. I have been given knockoff LVs in the past with a certain relatives Thialand trip, I did not want to be rude and not accept the gift. I gave it away to our Maid, she needed a bag and she uses it happily. Its function is to carry things around and I told her that its not real.
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heh that's kind of the same thing with the Tod's i had that i have to my ex boss... fake but useful, functional... told her it was fake and that was that. she was okay with it, and uses it happily as well. not my personal preference but i feel like i KIND OF broke the chain, she'll never try to pass it off as real and sell it, and she didn't pay for it therefore, she wasn't ripped off... my mother on the other hand WAS ripped off when she originally bought it, which is sad. fakes suck.
 
#63
i guess if you take the tag off or whatever so it doesn't say the name, it's technically not selling it as a fake, but a replica, but that just bothers me for the simple fact of stolen art. *shrug* kinda like buying a poster instead of a painting.
 
#64
I think there are a lot of resale shops selling fakes and they don't care and the people who buy probably know they are fake if they have high end bags but the average person is not going to think they got a "real" bag for $5.00 in a shop. I personally could not carry a fake but have NO harsh judgements against people who do. It is none of my business what others do nor is it their business what I do.
My best friend has a few fake LV's given to her by this sweet little old lady who thought the bags would brighten her day (while going through a bad illness). She gave her the bags out of love and my friend will carry one when she goes out with her but then they stay in her closet. She is not willing to throw them out because she smiles when she thinks how this woman thought about her. My friend has had LV and Chanel for 40 years and is not one to buy any fake bags but here she is wearing them every now and them.
Does that make her a bad person--NO.
I think people get way to bent out of shape about judging people and laughing at people carrying fake bags. It is their right and people on this forum seem to get such joy in making fun of the fake bags. I think that is a bit shallow if they have nothing better to do in life then judge what others do.
 
#65
Interesting thread..I read through the whole thing...The key here is to each his own...I bought a fake wallet years ago on ebay and knew it when I got it..I threw it out..I would never buy/carry a fake bag/wallet etc....If I did have any I wouldn't donate or give to a friend either..it's just passing on a dirty deed..IMO by not destroying fake items or 'paint balling' them (lol-LOVED that!!) we are tolerating and encouraging a very very awful counterfeit disgusting misleading ugly illegal business...JMO...I don't agree with all the posts here but respectfully towards other members I wouldn't put anyone down..it's a personal 'moral' thing..and we all have different morals..hehehe...Kudos to the OP...very thoughtful thread..!!
 
#66
chloehandbags said:
From my perspective, realising, before I had donated the fake, that either of these occurrences were possible outcomes of my (albeit well-meaning) actions would make me feel morally responsible.

I would also not feel comfortable, from an environmental point of view, destroying a perfectly useful bag; so, I would prefer to find a practical use for it, within my home. :smile:
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Hi CHB :smile:. I think you have zeroed in on what is interesting about this question regarding ethics.

Which is worse and which is better:

-to donate a bag to a charity (positive), or even just give it away to a friend, yet in doing so keep a counterfeit product in circulation (negative)

-to destroy a counterfeit bag, taking it out of circulation (positive), but by doing so being environmentally wasteful (negative).

Which issue is more morally important- the ethics of counterfeit goods, or the ethics of environmental waste? I guess those who have an answer either way have a clear mental perception of which issue is more important to them. Personally I am not sure. I think perhaps the environmental issue is more important to me.

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer though, it is certainly not a straightforward question.
 
#67
I had been given a fake handbag years ago. I also needed a something to keep my household tools in, as a single woman I did my own repairs.

It was a fairly strong bag and had a nice strap. So I use it still as my tool bag - over the past 20 years it has held up pretty nice. It carries my hammer, screwdrivers a socket wrench and the inside pockets are great for holding small flash lights and little screws.

I don't know if its unethical to use it as a tool bag, but I don't feel guilty, since it was a gift.

I would never carry a fake. I have a handbag I purchased through ebay, (which after that purchase I will NEVER do again), and carried it for a while, but then I saw a website that sold fake Isabella's and one of the styles was the from that point I put her in the closet and can't bring myself to carry her. I just feel in my heart that she is a fake. I have her separated from all my other bags and won't even look at her.
 
#68
This is an interesting question, but I think that it needs to be thought of out of the realm of Purse Forum and in reality.

I will be the first to admit that I have not experienced suffering. I work my butt off at my job, but I am rewarded by being able to afford housekeepers, a nice house in SoCal, a nice car, and nice things. I can say that I would not own a fake and condemn their production and existence. But if I step back and realize how lucky I am to live in the land of opportunity and wealth (USA) and how so many others that share the world with us have so little, the fact that we are destoying perfectly functional bags and purses because they are fakes is pretty excessive and superficial.

I have been involved in different organizations that travel to third world countries, one of them called Rotoplast. They travel to desolate regions of the world to perform surgery on deformed children. While I couldn't personally go on the trip, I helped organize the trip and the stories that they returned of were stunning.

There was one family in South America who was especially touching. The mother had four children and the dad and one of her sons had died recently from some farming accident. The youngest child had cleft lip and cleft palate and was ridiculed for his severely deformed appearance as well as his poor speech and drooling. Obviously, they never even dreamed it could be fixed. So when they came to our clinic, the whole family had to come. They had to walk 10 miles over 3 days and then take two buses to get to the clinic over the course of five days. They had no money to offer us, so they had chosen a batch of their best grapefruit from the farm they worked on and carried in a burlap sack as well as in the pockets of their kids to offer the clinic in payment. By the time they arrived, the mother had blisters from clutching the burlap sak and she kept apologizing for their lack of money pay us and even explained that she had more grapefruits when they started their trip, but they had run out of food and she had let the kids eat a few of the grapefruits. They were so thankful and we had to keep assuring her that the grapefruits were like gold because we knew that was all they had to offer.

Surgery went well, and they left after about a week. We gave her some dressing changes and antibiotic ointment which she had to put back in her dirty, beat up sack. But they were still overwhelmed with gratitude.

So wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have put her gauzes and medicines in a nice leather but knocked-off bag. One that was sturdy and clean and had a shoulder strap so she could carry her stuff easily on her 10 mile trek. To me, it is pretty insane that we have come to a point in our society that we live in so much excess that we would destroy a brand new bag because it is a knockoff which others in this world have so little. I have no doubt this mother would have treasured a bag like the ones we so quickly discard and used it to its last thread.

OK, enough preaching from me, sorry. I have many luxuries and enjoy them with little guilt. But I do try my best to not be wasteful.
 
#69
LaurelLee123 said:
This is an interesting question, but I think that it needs to be thought of out of the realm of Purse Forum and in reality.

I will be the first to admit that I have not experienced suffering. I work my butt off at my job, but I am rewarded by being able to afford housekeepers, a nice house in SoCal, a nice car, and nice things. I can say that I would not own a fake and condemn their production and existence. But if I step back and realize how lucky I am to live in the land of opportunity and wealth (USA) and how so many others that share the world with us have so little, the fact that we are destoying perfectly functional bags and purses because they are fakes is pretty excessive and superficial.

<snip>

So wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have put her gauzes and medicines in a nice leather but knocked-off bag. One that was sturdy and clean and had a shoulder strap so she could carry her stuff easily on her 10 mile trek. To me, it is pretty insane that we have come to a point in our society that we live in so much excess that we would destroy a brand new bag because it is a knockoff which others in this world have so little. I have no doubt this mother would have treasured a bag like the ones we so quickly discard and used it to its last thread.

OK, enough preaching from me, sorry. I have many luxuries and enjoy them with little guilt. But I do try my best to not be wasteful.
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Excellent point! :tup: I totally agree that using a fake for a utilitarian purpose is perfectly ethical. Sure, tag the inside/outside with "FAKE", but it doesn't make sense to waste/destroy something that can be used practically. Use it to hold dirty gardening tools!

I've repurposed some of my tote bags instead of giving them away. For example, my suede Club Monaco tote handbags now hold magazines in the bathroom. :P
 
#71
As for the ethics of condoning terrorism by buying fake bags, I think the jury is still out on that, and welcome further discussion about this on a thread I saw earlier. For many people, donating a fake bag doesn't amount to a hill of beans, so far as evil acts are concerned.
 
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