Why Do People Buy Fake Designer Bags Or Fake Designer Anything?

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#2,117
Interesting post and not surprising at all!

I don't have a problem with people buying fakes. Some people are actually proud of being able to find a really good imitation and are not afraid to say so. I think that buying fakes doesn't make a person any less than a person buying real things as long as they don't pass it off as the real thing. That is just dishonest.
 
#2,118
venusfly said:
I don't get angry when I see people with fakes. I'm just thankful I'm blessed enough to afford the real thing. I hope this doesn't provoke a barrage of angry nasty posts. That's just my take on the matter on the fake versus real debate and everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.
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ITA with this post. What someone does with their money is their business, and what I do with mine is no one else's, especially if we're talking about people who aren't family members or close friends. I am usually too busy to even notice fakes and won't notice unless someone points it out to me or it's blatantly obvious. Even then, I don't care.

However, straying a little from the topic, I think that carrying the real thing doesn't automatically indicate someone is wealthy. There are plenty of people going into credit card debt to buy bags, and there are also a lot of people who can afford dozens of authentic designer bags but choose not to spend the money for them.
 
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#2,119
I saw my first in person fake the other day! A woman came in where I work and she had what looked like to me a brown Coach patchwork, I thought it looked nice. I complimented her on her bag and she said..Oh, do you know what it is? And I said..A Coach patchwork bag? And she said, no, it's a knock-off. Her daughter sent it to her for her birthday and told her jokingly if she would have purchased the real thing she couldn't afford her mortgage. The woman thought it was funny and said she never would have known if her daughter hadn't told her. I thought it was interesting though that she felt compelled to tell me it was fake, she didn't have to because I never would have known. She's carrying it and enjoying it but not really trying to pass it off as the real thing.

Interesting article above by the way, I guess we don't have to bring the Gap into this conversation after all to address labor issues with authentic vs counterfeit goods.

Linda
 
#2,120
LindaP said:
I saw my first in person fake the other day! A woman came in where I work and she had what looked like to me a brown Coach patchwork, I thought it looked nice. I complimented her on her bag and she said..Oh, do you know what it is? And I said..A Coach patchwork bag? And she said, no, it's a knock-off. Her daughter sent it to her for her birthday and told her jokingly if she would have purchased the real thing she couldn't afford her mortgage. The woman thought it was funny and said she never would have known if her daughter hadn't told her. I thought it was interesting though that she felt compelled to tell me it was fake, she didn't have to because I never would have known. She's carrying it and enjoying it but not really trying to pass it off as the real thing.

Interesting article above by the way, I guess we don't have to bring the Gap into this conversation after all to address labor issues with authentic vs counterfeit goods.
Linda
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yep. i was surprised, but at the same time, not really.
 
#2,121
tadpolenyc said:
very, very interesting article at the huffington post.

Alexandra Sinderbrand: Fashion's Fight Against Fakes: An Exercise in Hypocrisy


Fashion's Fight Against Fakes: An Exercise in Hypocrisy

Let's be honest: The equation, Made In China + Prada Logo - Child Labor Laws = Designer Knockoffs, isn't all that shocking for anyone whose reading material extends beyond Vogue. We're vaguely aware of the counterfeit industry's use of sweatshop labor; we'd just rather not think about it. It kinda kills our shopping buzz.

Acknowledging the connection between retail and the rights compromised to produce what we buy is a rarity in the world of material goodies. Guilt of the socially conscious ilk is (and always has been) toxic for business. At least that's what the Fashion industry's banking on with its crusade against counterfeit goods. Welcome to the Fight Against Fakes.

The story goes that buying cheap replicas ($) of authentic luxury goods ($$$$) isn't a victimless crime; that child labor and human trafficking are intimately connected with faux Louis Vuitton bags and Chanel "inspired" shades. According to editorial authorities (Harper's Bazaar, in this case) Fakes Are Never In Fashion. Seeing as what's In Fashion is obvs more important than what's in our checking accounts, we're to boycott the Fake in favor of the Real. We're decent, law-abiding, compassionate fashionistas, after all; anything that's So Cheap, It's Criminal isn't for us.

2009-07-20-95237Fakebag.jpg That knockoffs come with a side of sweatshop labor isn't just a valid argument against the counterfeit industry. It's a brilliant marketing strategy, one that paints Fashion -- an industry notorious for its elitism and exclusivity -- as a beacon of altruism, a sartorial crusader all-too-eager to right the wrongdoings of its evil spawn.

Boycott counterfeit goods, and Fashion will save the "sad, tired and dirty children" in Thailand from slave-like working conditions in which they suffer continual abuse; boycott counterfeit goods, and Fashion will provide the 750,000 American jobs outsourced by the industry of Fakes.

The message so artfully implied by the propaganda surrounding Fashion's crusade is clear: Authentic luxury goods don't damage the world, knockoffs do, and if we care about the world at all, we'll embrace the former in lieu of the latter. It's a classic case of Good vs. Evil where the evidence against designer replicas is simply too damning to make us question its source. And that's no coincidence.

Unfortunately for Fashion, the notion that expensive and real is any less criminal than cheap and fake is a massive crock of ****.

Activism might be like-so-hot-right-now. But it wasn't in vogue last summer, when Turkish leather factory DESA harassed and fired any worker foolish enough to protest "extensive and mandatory overtime" and ask for benefits and minimum wage. DESA management even sanctioned kidnap attempts on the children of its workers. Since this sounds like the same kind of morally questionable crap embraced by the counterfeit industry, it's logical to assume that DESA-produced leather is used to make fake designer bags... Right?

Wrong. So effing wrong. The main buyer of DESA-manufactured leather isn't Pvada. It's the real thing. When Prada learned of these offenses via labor rights activist group Clean Clothes Campaign, the coveted brand elegantly distanced itself and refused to take action in support of the workers' case.

There it is -- that placid, self-contained sigh breathed by the luxury goods industry whenever the world outside of its privileged target market asks to be heard. It's time to lay the smackdown on snobbery. Get excited.

Activism was also Out in 2002, when luxury goods conglomerate PPR took some heat for contracting supplier factories engaged in similarly subpar treatment of their workers. What family in India can't live on 10 cents an hour? Workers in the Philippines want to be paid minimum wage? The nerve!

Guess who PPR's all-star player is? Gucci. And we can't talk about Gucci without double airkissing all the labels it owns -- I wouldn't want anyone's feelings to get hurt. So, if you've ever wondered about the origins of those bags we covet, dream on and drool over -- the Yves Saint Laurent Bowler, the Balenciaga Satchel, the Alexander McQueen Messenger, the Stella McCartney Clutch, the Bottega Veneta Tote -- wonder no more.

They're all owned by Gucci, who's owned by PPR, who once got their goods from factories where workers were denied basic human rights. I'm using past tense here because PPR canceled contracts with its sweatshop abuse-riddled supplier factories shortly after reports of violations surfaced.

Crisis of conscience? Hardly -- try damage control. PPR didn't attempt to rectify the abuse suffered by the hands behind its bags. Tres drag. Instead, it pulled the money plug, and it put those hands out of work.

Prada, Gucci. Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta. All high-end heavyweights frequently ripped off by the counterfeit industry; all entities poised to benefit from the mockery of a cause that is Fashion's Fight Against Fakes; all labels happy to expose and condemn their counterfeit competition for crimes that they, in all their brandtastic glory, too have committed. Hypocrisy must be the next big thing.

Ultimately, this isn't a judgment on anyone who's ever bought anything Real, Fake or otherwise. Shopping in a fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible way is no easy task, and few brands are as free and clear of offenses as Fashion would have you believe. The best way to shop sustainably is to recycle what's already out there, but the argument for thrift and re-sale is another post for another day.

Buying an authentic designer goody in lieu its counterfeit alternative isn't a step toward ending sweatshop labor: It's playing into Fashion's latest and greatest, activism-focused marketing initiative. If the industry really wants to educate consumers about what they buy, perhaps it should start by doing what it regularly encourages us to do: Take a good, hard look in the mirror.
Click to expand...

Sigh. Sadly, too true. :sad:
 
#2,122
tadpolenyc said:
very, very interesting article at the huffington post.

Alexandra Sinderbrand: Fashion's Fight Against Fakes: An Exercise in Hypocrisy


Fashion's Fight Against Fakes: An Exercise in Hypocrisy

Let's be honest: The equation, Made In China + Prada Logo - Child Labor Laws = Designer Knockoffs, isn't all that shocking for anyone whose reading material extends beyond Vogue. We're vaguely aware of the counterfeit industry's use of sweatshop labor; we'd just rather not think about it. It kinda kills our shopping buzz.

Acknowledging the connection between retail and the rights compromised to produce what we buy is a rarity in the world of material goodies. Guilt of the socially conscious ilk is (and always has been) toxic for business. At least that's what the Fashion industry's banking on with its crusade against counterfeit goods. Welcome to the Fight Against Fakes.

The story goes that buying cheap replicas ($) of authentic luxury goods ($$$$) isn't a victimless crime; that child labor and human trafficking are intimately connected with faux Louis Vuitton bags and Chanel "inspired" shades. According to editorial authorities (Harper's Bazaar, in this case) Fakes Are Never In Fashion. Seeing as what's In Fashion is obvs more important than what's in our checking accounts, we're to boycott the Fake in favor of the Real. We're decent, law-abiding, compassionate fashionistas, after all; anything that's So Cheap, It's Criminal isn't for us.

2009-07-20-95237Fakebag.jpg That knockoffs come with a side of sweatshop labor isn't just a valid argument against the counterfeit industry. It's a brilliant marketing strategy, one that paints Fashion -- an industry notorious for its elitism and exclusivity -- as a beacon of altruism, a sartorial crusader all-too-eager to right the wrongdoings of its evil spawn.

Boycott counterfeit goods, and Fashion will save the "sad, tired and dirty children" in Thailand from slave-like working conditions in which they suffer continual abuse; boycott counterfeit goods, and Fashion will provide the 750,000 American jobs outsourced by the industry of Fakes.

The message so artfully implied by the propaganda surrounding Fashion's crusade is clear: Authentic luxury goods don't damage the world, knockoffs do, and if we care about the world at all, we'll embrace the former in lieu of the latter. It's a classic case of Good vs. Evil where the evidence against designer replicas is simply too damning to make us question its source. And that's no coincidence.

Unfortunately for Fashion, the notion that expensive and real is any less criminal than cheap and fake is a massive crock of ****.

Activism might be like-so-hot-right-now. But it wasn't in vogue last summer, when Turkish leather factory DESA harassed and fired any worker foolish enough to protest "extensive and mandatory overtime" and ask for benefits and minimum wage. DESA management even sanctioned kidnap attempts on the children of its workers. Since this sounds like the same kind of morally questionable crap embraced by the counterfeit industry, it's logical to assume that DESA-produced leather is used to make fake designer bags... Right?

Wrong. So effing wrong. The main buyer of DESA-manufactured leather isn't Pvada. It's the real thing. When Prada learned of these offenses via labor rights activist group Clean Clothes Campaign, the coveted brand elegantly distanced itself and refused to take action in support of the workers' case.

There it is -- that placid, self-contained sigh breathed by the luxury goods industry whenever the world outside of its privileged target market asks to be heard. It's time to lay the smackdown on snobbery. Get excited.

Activism was also Out in 2002, when luxury goods conglomerate PPR took some heat for contracting supplier factories engaged in similarly subpar treatment of their workers. What family in India can't live on 10 cents an hour? Workers in the Philippines want to be paid minimum wage? The nerve!

Guess who PPR's all-star player is? Gucci. And we can't talk about Gucci without double airkissing all the labels it owns -- I wouldn't want anyone's feelings to get hurt. So, if you've ever wondered about the origins of those bags we covet, dream on and drool over -- the Yves Saint Laurent Bowler, the Balenciaga Satchel, the Alexander McQueen Messenger, the Stella McCartney Clutch, the Bottega Veneta Tote -- wonder no more.

They're all owned by Gucci, who's owned by PPR, who once got their goods from factories where workers were denied basic human rights. I'm using past tense here because PPR canceled contracts with its sweatshop abuse-riddled supplier factories shortly after reports of violations surfaced.

Crisis of conscience? Hardly -- try damage control. PPR didn't attempt to rectify the abuse suffered by the hands behind its bags. Tres drag. Instead, it pulled the money plug, and it put those hands out of work.

Prada, Gucci. Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta. All high-end heavyweights frequently ripped off by the counterfeit industry; all entities poised to benefit from the mockery of a cause that is Fashion's Fight Against Fakes; all labels happy to expose and condemn their counterfeit competition for crimes that they, in all their brandtastic glory, too have committed. Hypocrisy must be the next big thing.

Ultimately, this isn't a judgment on anyone who's ever bought anything Real, Fake or otherwise. Shopping in a fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible way is no easy task, and few brands are as free and clear of offenses as Fashion would have you believe. The best way to shop sustainably is to recycle what's already out there, but the argument for thrift and re-sale is another post for another day.

Buying an authentic designer goody in lieu its counterfeit alternative isn't a step toward ending sweatshop labor: It's playing into Fashion's latest and greatest, activism-focused marketing initiative. If the industry really wants to educate consumers about what they buy, perhaps it should start by doing what it regularly encourages us to do: Take a good, hard look in the mirror.
Click to expand...


Good read and interesting article....
 
#2,124
Great article. And I totally believe it. The fashion industry is out to make money, just like every other business.

What I don't get about people who buy fakes is why they would want a fake that costs $50- $200?? That makes no sense to me. Even the more expensive fakes are cheaply made. I mean the worst materials, the worst craftsmanship...

For under $100 you can get a Coach purse at the outlet. Heck, you could get a Fossil purse that's super cute at the mall!
 
#2,125
buttercup784eve said:
Great article. And I totally believe it. The fashion industry is out to make money, just like every other business.

What I don't get about people who buy fakes is why they would want a fake that costs $50- $200?? That makes no sense to me. Even the more expensive fakes are cheaply made. I mean the worst materials, the worst craftsmanship...

For under $100 you can get a Coach purse at the outlet. Heck, you could get a Fossil purse that's super cute at the mall!
Click to expand...

those LV superfakes also have leather which patinas. the cheap ones are made of cardboard and such, but the superfakes aren't
 
#2,126
I was just wondering...

For those who have seen the superfakes out there...How can you tell those from the real thing? I mean the stitching and placement are nearly the same, and as sw0pp said, they even have patinas now for the fakes...
 
#2,127
from pictures it's really hard to tell unless it's speedies with curved handles (have seen wrinkled vachetta handles). even though the vachetta of superfakes patina, I have yet to see vachetta which looks exactly like LV vachetta, the size of the pores e.g. if it's in real, not pics, your best bet is to compare side by side with an auth. sometimes it's also the feeling of the canvas. if you inspected your auths a lot you might be able to 'feel' something's not right. but depends on how familiar you are with the whole line and such... some vids from alwaysauthentic.com to show how good (or not) they've become

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cqpvk0ye_s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzrDHBkvdjU

here are the links since I'm too stupid to post it as videos lol
 
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#2,129
I was out today and standing next to a woman with the most fake Balenciaga City. It was in a color they didn't even make. I live outside of Austin, Texas, so I highly doubt anyone else is going to be able to tell the difference.
 
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