"The Rich New York Women Who Love Their Fake Birkins" article in The Cut - thoughts?

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This is OT, but I'll say I'm not convinced of this. No need to elaborate why.
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To topic: The article's premise is that the ultra rich have a hobby of pursuing "good" fake bags and do so competitively. To me that's the nonstarter. Sure, people of any tier are buying fakes, but I think the story is sensationalized.

Not really OT as I wrote it in response to the last paragraph of the article about selling the fake Gucci product to a reseller. H knows the reseller market is strong for its products, and it would be a great additional step of authenticity
 
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The article is a very telling sign of the times. I took my youngest son to the orthodontist yesterday to get his braces removed and then they took him to fit him for his retainers and used a 3d digital scanner to get an exact image of his teeth and gums to make the custom retainer. A simple 3d image of a deconstructed Birkin bag would give a counterfeiter the exact details that they would need to construct a duplicate. I am sure that some of these Chinese factories get incredibly good material and hides to make the “super-fakes”. If Hermes doesn’t start micro-chipping their bags, it’s going to get to a point that boutiques won’t be able to tell real vs. fake and the bags stamps will need to compared to the manufacturing ledgers to confirm one way or the other. Putting a small chip into a bag that a boutique could read would give the company and its customers peace of mind.

Microchipping bags actually increases the likelihood of resale fakes. 1. The microchips would be read by H (and unscrupulous counterfeiters) not the customer, not Zeko nor Enrupty, but consumers seeing a microchip/readout will take it a sign it's authentic (just as many think a receipt serial card or box do now). Chanel have completely changed their system but not to microchips but reading plates, they are registered to its first owner (Chanel & Moi) and warranty. That indicates they've already thought about it and decided against chips. 2. Microchips are far more easily faked than bags.
 
Well, I just read the article (and then this thread) and honestly, it is pretty disgusting.

IF it’s real (and not made up as @papertiger very persuasively suggests) these are really sad people indeed. They basically spend the entire article trying (endlessly trying, which shows to me that they know they are failing) to justify what they clearly know is wrong.

It's still all heresy and hocus-pocus. The whole article smacks of carefully worded padding of longtime myths centred around the fake/authentic debate. In fact, it goes through the whole 'man (or woman) down pub' chat cliche after cliche. Friend of a friend, everyone's doing it, can't tell the difference, even richer/better people than us are doing it, brands are evil, branding is just a logo, luxury is a con anyway, people who buy authentic are stupid, real (authentic) rich people are cleverer than stupid wannabes, mystical Chinese factories in the middle of nowhere, Millennials do it differently, posh reseller duped.

All I can say is the person who write this has never mingled in really rich circles. And 'Lisa and her mates' need to get a life, the more authentic the better.

Agree, agree with that last bit. The truly wealthy do not care. If they’re not currently active in business they’re busy writing books, running foundations, heading up charities…Anyone who has worked to make money and build a quality life generally has an appreciation for what goes in to creating/building things. Now, spoiled people who did not work for it may be a different story…

I am wondering about the clearly psychological aspects of this kind of behavior - wanting the mere superficial appearance of the fake object while failing to appreciate the virtues of the genuine, and completely ignoring the various moral, legal and ethical problems. Narcissism?

The time, and energy, and money, spent developing these ridiculous dissertations on the "value" of counterfeit goods, would be much better spent in therapy, dealing with the very obvious cognitive dissonance required to still spend thousands of dollars on fake versions of goods that are simultaneously claimed to be of diminished value.

There is no requirement to own an ultraluxury good. In the vast majority of social circles, there is neither any applied pressure to do so. So, the fact that these counterfeit connoisseurs have built for themselves a social club dedicated to "outsmarting" a non-existent luxury handbag requirement, is a bizarre form of self-delusion. At what point do these women admit to themselves that the entire reason they're dedicated to finding "the best fakes" is because they care too much that strangers and social acquaintances perceive them as wealthy? And then, at what point do they realize that, if they suffer anxiety from the thought of--or financial distress from the purchase of--luxury goods, that they are not wealthy? And then, following that, at what point do they realize that whatever "social currency" they gain through fake goods... is fake?

Loved all of this. I think the social circles that care about this sort of thing are not, in fact, the wealthy ones - its the people trying to be/appear wealthy.

I think it genuinely is an NYC thing because while I don't care to own fakes, I also could give a crap if someone had a fake. It's weird to me reading posts that look down upon those that do. Especially ones with "ethical" considerations. Like, if you gave a crap about ethics, you would never buy from these luxury houses! Their environmental impact is probably ridiculous.

As someone who has read Hermès corporate reports, you make assumptions which diverge from reality. Their employee relations/programs are beyond impressive (even during lockdown, everyone got paid 100%, all benefits were maintained or increased, etc). They are working towards ZERO excess materials very soon, and they make products intended to last for generations (I can’t imagine the environmental impact of fake bags which can never be repaired or resold). Their relationships with suppliers are similarly aboveboard. I’m assuming that you are also not bothered by all the legal issues (to say nothing of the moral issues previously cited, which you dismiss because you don’t like the corporations, although they are generally regulated). Or even extrapolating the concept of fake bags to other fake products, such, as, say - medicine?
 
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people are going to want to know your bag's story.
True, but at that point, you’ve probably known them for a while -or I hope that’s the case.

Collecting fakes is such a niche hobby, that most likely the only people who will ask about your newest acquisition are those who collect fakes too. If you’re proud of your fakes and a stranger or friend asks, I doubt you will be embarrassed to answer someone honestly. If your friend doesn’t like the answer, they’ll probably avoid asking again, to save them from the same awkwardness.
 
She gets an offer for it, but it does not say if she completed the transaction. And as they say, pics or it didn't happen.

Yep, I am very very curious about that. That whole article is incredibly shady and feels like it is 99% fabricated, but if she bought a fake bag and sold it as authentic, she is guilty of fraud. Assuming the resale place actually DID offer her that much for her fake, which is another huge leap.
 
Ewwww, call me a snob, but I would not want to be friends or hang out with anyone who proudly wears fakes. Not only is it tacky, it is criminal. If you are knowingly fraud in one area, you are probably a fraud in other areas. If you are purposely buying fakes, you are not likely “rich” either, but want to convey the illusion of wealth, ie Real Housewives like Taylor Armstrong who discovered her deceased hubby gifted her fake Birkins.
 
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Ewwww, call me a snob, but I would not want to be friends or hang out with anyone who proudly wears fakes. Not only is it tacky, it is criminal. If you are knowingly fraud in one area, you are probably a fraud in other areas. If you are purposely buying fakes, you are not likely “rich” either, but want to convey the illusion of wealth, ie Real Housewives like Taylor Armstrong who discovered her deceased hubby gifted her fake Birkins.

I agree this article is really gross.
 
Some gems from the article:

It is, however, tight-knit with a distinct culture marked by a kind of derision for authentic goods and the belief that buying replicas is a way of subverting the system and sticking it to the man; reps “take a **** on the you can’t sit with us mentality of designer brands,” as one RepLady put it in a post.

“I don’t just want a thing; I want to feel like I’ve gotten it for a deal.”She claims to own “hundreds, probably thousands of reps” including nearly a hundred bags and a rep Bulgari necklace set that cost more than $10,000. (The real thing can run you over $75,000.)

Still, most of Lisa’s rich friends ignore her suggestions to buy reps. “It’s just a snobbery thing,” she says. “They’ve literally told me, ‘I’m too good to buy reps.’” Instead, “they’re out here buying authentic Hermès, and they are stressing out every single day. ‘Will I get the bag?’ ‘What if it runs out?’ I’m just like, You literally don’t need this stress in your life; you can just be happy.”

Take Cindy, a stay-at-home mom in Flushing who found her way to reps after spending a couple thousand on a Dior that fell apart at the seams. “Imagine we were just spending all of our money on authentic handbags,” she says. “You would never grow your wealth that way, right?
thank you @oshinex for pulling out the relevant portions of the article. Also, +1 with @haute okole, @Notorious Pink, and others above. The last quote from Cindy a SAHM caught my eye. If she truly feels buying authentic handbags would prevent her from growing wealth, then she truly cannot afford the real thing, and perhaps she shouldn’t be spending even a tenth on replicas.
 
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Ewwww, call me a snob, but I would not want to be friends or hang out with anyone who proudly wears fakes. Not only is it tacky, it is criminal. If you are knowingly fraud in one area, you are probably a fraud in other areas. If you are purposely buying fakes, you are not likely “rich” either, but want to convey the illusion of wealth, ie Real Housewives like Taylor Armstrong who discovered her deceased hubby gifted her fake Birkins.
100% agree. Also I would feel complicit in their crime. I don’t understand why people think telling their friends they are wearing fakes makes the entire practice okay. You are just asking your friend to look the other way and to go along with pretending your bag is real. Isn’t that pretty much asking your friends to lie on your behalf?

but back to the article, I wish they would stop throwing around the word Asian so much even if it were true. Why did they have to point out the well dressed woman selling birkins was Asian? What purpose was that for which couldn’t have been conveyed by calling her a well dressed woman?
 
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100% agree. Also I would feel complicit in their crime. I don’t understand why people think telling their friends they are wearing fakes makes the entire practice okay. You are just asking your friend to look the other way and to go along with pretending your bag is real. Isn’t that pretty much asking your friends to lie on your behalf?

but back to the article, I wish they would stop throwing around the word Asian so much even if it were true. Why did they have to point out the well dressed woman selling birkins was Asian? What purpose was that for which couldn’t have been conveyed by calling her a well dressed woman?

As a fellow Asian, that did stuck out to me as well. Playing devils advocate here , but since this article was written about super fakes from China, I believe they were trying to tie that in to a whole black market. Sorta like insinuating there is some vast network of manufacturer + sellers that are mainly Asian (or even Chinese in this case). Also Cindy in this article is also mentioned to be from Flushing, a place in NYC that has a high population of Chinese Americans. The article also mentions Canal Street (located in Chinatown) which is where fakes were / and still are sold on a daily basis.

I didn't want to say it before, but I would not be shocked if a good number of the people on this repboard is Asian, consider how they are even teaching other members how to communicate with this black market dealers.

It's fine to have an attitude of "i dont care about what the next person has". But keep in mind that developing negative stereotype like "Asians uses fake bags, " (which is a narrative that this article seems to be playfully pushing) may impact the ones that do work hard, save up and purchase real bags.
 
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Loved all of this. I think the social circles that care about this sort of thing are not, in fact, the wealthy ones - its the people trying to be/appear wealthy.
Yes yes and yes again!
It's the wannabes, the influencers and so forth.
I firmly believe that 'fake' people wear fake goods.
In my job I work with many extremely wealthy individuals.
As previously mentioned they are actually too busy to indulge in this rubbish, And the female clients I have who don't need to work buy HV (high value) jewellery and watches and designer bags and often mention they will leave them to their daughter, grandchild etc.
truly wealthy often buy with investment value in mind rather than just for 'show'.
I waited years to buy my 1st Hermes bag (vintage) when I knew I had no debts, no mortgage etc.
I've traveled the world in my former job and even been 'invited' to visit a 'store' that sells AAAA+ fakes more than once (In the US, Turkey, and Far East) several of my work colleagues did go to these places and came back with Hermes,Chanel, Dior,LV reps etc.
I never did because I would feel ashamed and 'fake' carrying a fake-even if others thought it was real I just couldn't go there!
I'd rather have a scratched up battered vintage bag that I can get spa'd than a shiny new pristine fake-Ugh the mere thought of carrying a knowingly fake bag gives me the horrors-I'd rather carry my 'stuff' in a walmart carrier-at least its authentic!
 
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As a fellow Asian, that did stuck out to me as well. Playing devils advocate here , but since this article was written about super fakes from China, I believe they were trying to tie that in to a whole black market. Sorta like insinuating there is some vast network of manufacturer + sellers that are mainly Asian (or even Chinese in this case). Also Cindy in this article is also mentioned to be from Flushing, a place in NYC that has a high population of Chinese Americans. The article also mentions Canal Street (located in Chinatown) which is where fakes were / and still are sold on a daily basis.

I didn't want to say it before, but I would not be shocked if a good number of the people on this repboard is Asian, consider how they are even teaching other members how to communicate with this black market dealers? Apparently she can, or is it Lisa? Isn't that hearsay? is she seeing her/them as she writes?

It's fine to have an attitude of "i dont care about what the next person has". But keep in mind that developing negative stereotype like "Asians uses fake bags, " (which is a narrative that this article seems to be playfully pushing) may impact the ones that do work hard, save up and purchase real bags.

Not only s the 'Asian' in the story well-dressed but she looks like a 'mom' - which makes her into a Tiger mom, another voraciously aspirational stereotype. How can you tell if someone looks like a mom unless they have a child with them that calls her mom? Does she see this Asian-mom woman? Is it Lisa who describes her? Isn't that hearsay?

Flushing (where Fran Fine in The Nanny comes from - a huge style reference point with Gen Z atm) is associated with immigrants from many places, now many Chinese, but also with Italian Americans and Jewish Americans.

The Yiddish word "chutzpah" is also used in the article in ref to her SAHM 'Cindy' - and it's used to denote a positive trait, yet more often in Yiddish 'chutzpah' is used in a derogatory way as a put-down meaning the person has bare-faced cheek. The author uses it to authenticate her NYC 'insider' sources, . if someone was blatantly ripping-off (illegally defrauding) a business this 'chutzpah' would not be positive or even benign, another cultural slur.

The only man in the piece is the only person with a surname and credentials. Total sexism. We never hear Lisa and crew's jobs, we hear about anonymous women who say they have seemingly high income jobs, but they don't have names. Words like 'Hamptons' etc are thrown around but they are not attached to any names or anon-with-job tittles.
 
Let's play conspiracy here.
Perhaps this article was written with the purpose to drive more traffic to this RepLadies subreddit.
Perhaps even written by someone is already in the subreddit.
Perhaps even written by someone who is influenced by someone in these fake bag network to help sell this lie.
Perhaps to lend some credibility to these so called "super fakes".
 
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