Real Versus High End Fake VCA

I will say that I can't bear to wear fake jewelry and am very particular about quality. But a purse is mostly a utilitarian piece for me (although I do try to buy styles I like). If I bought a Birkin or Chanel CF, I guess they'd be enshrined in my closet, because I couldn't bear to actually use them on a daily basis and potentially damage them. My world is also too casual to justify $10k+ purses, and while I NEVER plan to buy a fake, I'd actually feel freer to USE a fake more than one that costs 15-20 times more. Instead of fakes, I just buy purses in the $500-2500 range. My luxury buying is pretty much limited to jewelry!

Let me add, though, I do enjoy seeing all the beautiful luxury purses from members here! :loveeyes:

I'm totally the same. My lifestyle with young kids prohibits use of expensive bags as I'm paranoid about maintenance and scratches. Carrying an expensive bag only when I occasionally go out feels like an overkill to me plus in my country one has to store such things very carefully otherwise the climate will destroy the bag: I've seen a lot of pre owned luxury bags which even developed mold!

This is why I go the same way: I buy jewellery which is an easy maintenance and easy storage, some pieces I can wear daily and casually like earrings and pendants, some I wear only when I'm out alone or for an event and I'm fine with that.

But never it had crossed my mind to go and get a counterfeit bag and carry it around like it's authentic! Plus I'm pretty sure that people with a good eye would spot a fake since a lot of people here own Hermes and/or Chanel but that's not the main reason. It just feels so below par, especially while collecting all this jewellery and learning to authenticate. I don't mean to show off but I personally authenticate Chanel jewellery very well and also other jewellery brands and partially this made me appreciate the brands and all the work they are doing, amount of thinking that goes into each piece, something we don't really see or recognise but it's there and that's what got them to where they are plus clever marketing, service, etc.
I buy cheaper (but not cheap) bags which I can just wear and not worry too much about whether I scuffed it or not or whether my kids knocked it off the chair etc.

On the point of dupes now I understand why Cardi B posted all these pics of her buying this jewellery at the boutique lol :biggrin:
I highly doubt that real celebrities (not the third tier "influencers" who just want to feel important) have to go through the normal "mortal" process to buy a piece, it's such an advertisement for the brand when they wear around their merchandise.
 
saw this in the comments from the article in Purseblog. Discusses a case in Turkey and the lengths the gangs went through and all the dirty money. They trick legitimate businesses into selling their stuff. Also discusses how they were following the Boston Bomber brothers and how they used the money from fakes to buy the explosives that ended up killing and maiming people.




"How fake handbags fund terrorism and organized crime​

What's the harm in buying a knock-off purse or a fake designer watch? According to counterfeit investigator Alastair Gray, fakes like these fund terrorism and organized crime. Learn more about the trillion-dollar underground economy of counterfeiting -- from the criminal organizations that run it to the child labor they use to produce its goods -- as well as measures you can take to help stop it. "Let's shine a light on the dark forces of counterfeiting that are hiding in plain sight," Gray says."
 
I have wealthy relatives (multiple luxury homes, cars, etc) who do this. They don’t try to pass them off as real, but rather buy multiples to pass around to nieces and assorted as trinkets. And they openly discuss that theyre not real brand but a good buy and a fun fashion thing. No serial number, no VCA stamp. No logos. They also may have made comments that I’m an idiot for buying at the boutique bc to their mind, MOP or colored stone clovers aren’t real jewelry anyway. They are proud of the dupe. And, if they like a place, they will introduce their friends.

I made a comment to one of them why buy this dupe. and she responded, well if I don’t like it, I dont want to be stuck with the real thing. When I said, if you don’t like it, don’t buy it, this literally hadn’t occurred to her. To them it’s like buying a skirt. If they like it, they’ll order one in every color and multiples for sisters, nieces, cousins. If they don’t like it, they just give away to someone (who knows it’s a dupe). Culturally no one would think of reselling bc they literally don’t know how to use the internet. I used TRR once to sell a bunch of premier designer stuff, and when a family memebr found out, she was aghast. She said, don’t do that, your cousins daughter; second cousin once removed; or niece would like that. To her, even giving it to a personal assistant or favorite maid would be better. I gave up lol. This may be cultural, but i don’t even try to persuade any member of my family who is older otherwise. JMO and YMMV.

what I would hate to see is someone who wants the real VCA brand and gets lured in by a deal that is too good to be true, or by a replica that purports to be real VCA. If a deal is too good to be true, then it is.
I know ppl who’s mind is the same lol they just think brand is a way to scam ppl the money and honestly mop and gemstones and even diamonds don’t worth that much, but they have millions of dollars of property, stock and authentic business lol

Another woman I know is she would commissioned her trusted jeweller her vca pieces to get a replica herself so she can wear it to holiday without worrying too much about it, she showed me the fake one when worn on the arms you literally cannot tell the difference until you hold it in your hand which is lighter in weight than the real deal, her jeweller is using DEF color diamonds with at least VS1 clarity so the bling is so real, she said if she doesn’t like it she can ask them to do a reset of the diamonds and thro away the mop and gemstone which to her is “cheap stuff”
 
saw this in the comments from the article in Purseblog. Discusses a case in Turkey and the lengths the gangs went through and all the dirty money. They trick legitimate businesses into selling their stuff. Also discusses how they were following the Boston Bomber brothers and how they used the money from fakes to buy the explosives that ended up killing and maiming people.




"How fake handbags fund terrorism and organized crime​

What's the harm in buying a knock-off purse or a fake designer watch? According to counterfeit investigator Alastair Gray, fakes like these fund terrorism and organized crime. Learn more about the trillion-dollar underground economy of counterfeiting -- from the criminal organizations that run it to the child labor they use to produce its goods -- as well as measures you can take to help stop it. "Let's shine a light on the dark forces of counterfeiting that are hiding in plain sight," Gray says."

Not trying to defend the fake market, but crime is not only limited to fakes, it is well known that ppl launder money through buying luxury, they almost goes hand in hand smuggling a coloured diamond/ jewellery, watches out of country is easier than wiring big sum of money out of town when there are foreign currency restrictions. No judgement from me for ppl wearing fake, so long as she was not scammed into thinking that it’s the authentic piece and pay for such price as well
 
Not trying to defend the fake market, but crime is not only limited to fakes, it is well known that ppl launder money through buying luxury, they almost goes hand in hand smuggling a coloured diamond/ jewellery, watches out of country is easier than wiring big sum of money out of town when there are foreign currency restrictions. No judgement from me for ppl wearing fake, so long as she was not scammed into thinking that it’s the authentic piece and pay for such price as well
Yeah, the margins on owning operating a fake purse making business and getting skilled craftsmen to replicate various designs is not going to profit anywhere near the ballpark of profit that you’d get from manufacturing/selling drugs. That’s what really funds war and terrorism. The folks making fake Birkins are just funding their second house.

With drugs there’s low barrier to entry, low-skilled folks that you can pay with the product, and you’re basically printing money the margins are so wide, the only issues are how to smuggle the drugs and launder the money. They could lose half their product and be fine. If the fake purse factory loses half their product, they may be out of business.

You know what’s free? Human trafficking. What’s not free? Buying high-end leather, investing in sewing equipment, hiring skilled artisans, etc. Again, human trafficking is another low barrier activity, no one is going to opt to make Firkins if they’re trying to find terrorism. The ROI is not nearly as profitable as the more hardcore illegal activities.

Why buy stuff to resell and build a customer base when you can just steal and scam money out of people with just a phone or computer?

I took an anti-terrorism course for a few months last year. Super interesting, but there’s tons of blanket statements about what funds terrorism.
 
Not trying to defend the fake market, but crime is not only limited to fakes, it is well known that ppl launder money through buying luxury, they almost goes hand in hand smuggling a coloured diamond/ jewellery, watches out of country is easier than wiring big sum of money out of town when there are foreign currency restrictions. No judgement from me for ppl wearing fake, so long as she was not scammed into thinking that it’s the authentic piece and pay for such price as well

I was getting ready to say the same thing.
There are gazillion and one ways to launder money and its not exclusively just through replica bags. Hello random art that looks like crap and gets “sold” for billions of dollars…
I have zero judgement for people wearing fake. Why should it bother anyone that a random person you know nothing about on the street is wearing a fake vs. real thing.
If you want the satisfaction of buying from a boutique go for it. Someone else just wants the name for whatever reason and are paying fraction of the cost and are okie to get it from somewhere else. This shouldnt ruffle anyones feathers.
Whether folks on here like it or not super fakes are incredibly hard to tell apart from real things now. It is what it is.
And if you are hawking bags on the streets just to have the satisfaction that yours is real and they have a fake .. then idk I feel like there is bigger internal reflection to do there lolll
 
I was getting ready to say the same thing.
There are gazillion and one ways to launder money and its not exclusively just through replica bags. Hello random art that looks like crap and gets “sold” for billions of dollars…
I have zero judgement for people wearing fake. Why should it bother anyone that a random person you know nothing about on the street is wearing a fake vs. real thing.
If you want the satisfaction of buying from a boutique go for it. Someone else just wants the name for whatever reason and are paying fraction of the cost and are okie to get it from somewhere else. This shouldnt ruffle anyones feathers.
Whether folks on here like it or not super fakes are incredibly hard to tell apart from real things now. It is what it is.
And if you are hawking bags on the streets just to have the satisfaction that yours is real and they have a fake .. then idk I feel like there is bigger internal reflection to do there lolll

I don’t think anyone here was ‘hawking on bags on the streets’; just wanted to clarify that this thread is discussing real vs fake VCA jewelry and many of us take issue with the fakes because they flood the second hand market and fool a lot of unsuspecting buyers. Some are sold at even higher markups than the retail for fakes of limited edition pieces. It’s more of an ethical issue in that sense and I don’t think anyone here enjoys to be scammed.

But for the people who knowingly buy fakes, that’s entirely their preference and choice. So long as they don’t try to sell it as the real pieces there is no issue :flowers:
 
I was getting ready to say the same thing.
There are gazillion and one ways to launder money and its not exclusively just through replica bags. Hello random art that looks like crap and gets “sold” for billions of dollars…
I have zero judgement for people wearing fake. Why should it bother anyone that a random person you know nothing about on the street is wearing a fake vs. real thing.
If you want the satisfaction of buying from a boutique go for it. Someone else just wants the name for whatever reason and are paying fraction of the cost and are okie to get it from somewhere else. This shouldnt ruffle anyones feathers.
Whether folks on here like it or not super fakes are incredibly hard to tell apart from real things now. It is what it is.
And if you are hawking bags on the streets just to have the satisfaction that yours is real and they have a fake .. then idk I feel like there is bigger internal reflection to do there lolll
It bothers some of us because these superfakes are often sold under the pretense of being authentic with fake serial numbers lifted from authentic pieces to unsuspecting buyers. These are high priced items so it definitely bothers me for anyone to potentially duped out of thousands of dollars
 
My mom owns a ton of premier designer stuff already (mainly stuff I pick for her bc she doesn’t like to figure out style or fit). Her favorite bag happens to be a cross body nylon le sport sac which she drapes over her favorite TJ Maxx soft flannel shirt. Last year for her 75th birthday, I bought her a craie togo 30B GHW. She clips four phones onto it, and I’m sure she’s destroyed it with ink marks bc she’s absent minded and doesnt think about stuff like that.

But, where I buy VCA or other premier jewelry or RTW or Hermes, she happens to like going to auctions or dealers to buy expensive mid century art or fancy real estate. She also loves deals. Since she’s my mom, I just shut up when she says I’m extravagant for buying MOP at VCA.

The truth is there are many different kinds of wealthy people
You are very lucky to have a loved one who likes collecting art pieces. They are worth collecting when one knows how to distinguish the authentic ones from the fake ones. Also, collecting arts from modern artists means supporting them and supporting arts.
 
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I started this thread to inform TPFers that the fakes were scarily close to real VCA and to be extremely cautious when buying VCA in the secondary market.

Personally, I have decided not to buy fake/replica VCA. I work in a creative field. My DH is an attorney. Intellectual property theft is wrong. Manufacturers of exact replicas are stealing VCA’s intellectual property.

Just because intellectual property theft happens all the time does not make it right.

I know people who have purchased high end fake VCA with the serial numbers etc. And at some small level, it does color my judgment of them as people, especially if they can afford the real thing.
 
I started this thread to inform TPFers that the fakes were scarily close to real VCA and to be extremely cautious when buying VCA in the secondary market.

Personally, I have decided not to buy fake/replica VCA. I work in a creative field. My DH is an attorney. Intellectual property theft is wrong. Manufacturers of exact replicas are stealing VCA’s intellectual property.

Just because intellectual property theft happens all the time does not make it right.

I know people who have purchased high end fake VCA with the serial numbers etc. And at some small level, it does color my judgment of them as people, especially if they can afford the real thing.
I was absent from this forum for a while and upon return, I am shocked to discover that members here actually encourage other members here to wear fakes without shame. When plagiarism is not ok in university or any fields, I don't know how it's ok to wear a fake and see it as no one else's business.
 
I was absent from this forum for a while and upon return, I am shocked to discover that members here actually encourage other members here to wear fakes without shame. When plagiarism is not ok in university or any fields, I don't know how it's ok to wear a fake and see it as no one else's business.
I don’t think anyone on TPF encourages members to wear fakes. For my part, I cannot help what family or friends do, but re VCA it is my understanding that it failed to register alhambra IP decades ago, and has not succeeded in deopfending it in international courts. (I would welcome clarification or correction on this if anyone knows it). My one alhambra six motif necklace c9me s from the boutique, and I’m considering pieces that are not so popular like the liane or buton dor line as future purchases :smile: