Class is everything in American society today, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the rage for designer labels on virtually everything. Where there is fad, however, there is also greed. Avoid being taken to the cleaners by manufacturers of designer "knock-offs."
According to one reputable source, approximately 90% of the handbags listed on eBay as “designer” are actually fakes. Do you know how to tell the difference? If not, you might be better off avoiding the rabid designer market entirely or saving up for that one great bag (or scarf, belt or other accessory) from a designer’s approved retail location.
If you are really into saving money, however, you can occasionally find actual designer items on eBay and elsewhere if you know how to identify them.
Designers most often copied
The most popular accessory designers among the knock-off artists are:
Louis Vuitton
Coach
Kate Spade
Prada
Fendi
Chanel
Cole Haan
Ralph Lauren
Others are also imitated, but these top-of-the-line makers are currently highest on the hit list. Why so many fakes? Because the current designer-branding fad has buyers fighting tooth and claw to outdo each other, and because finances have not kept up with fashion. All of the makers listed are at the high end of the scale and boast easily-recognizable labels. It’s pointless to join the labeled throng if no one knows you’re there! A recent special report by the New York Times on “class” in the US reported that older buyers—Baby Boomers and their parents—are more interested in flaunting their wealth (real or imaginary) by purchasing personal services. Personal chefs, for instance, numbered only 60 nationally a few years ago and are now in the hundreds due to the increased demand. Younger buyers, however, are all about the bling, and have created a huge river of cash flow for the scrupulous and unscrupulous alike.
Why buy designer at all? In a word, quality. A real Coach bag is incredibly well-crafted of top-quality materials and likely to last for a long, long time. Coach and Vuitton both offer amazing lifetime warranties on their products. This is a fact worth noting, as it is possible to pick up a returned bag at a legitimate outlet for half or less of its original price, and the return probably had nothing to do with quality or workmanship, but more with the currency of the style.
Where to begin
The absolute novice will have a hellish time sorting out the real from the fake. It is important to know basic facts before shopping.
Designers bring out a new line each year. They produce a few items in the year’s new style and discontinue producing last year’s models. They often name or number the styles, making it easier to identify what you are looking for.
Designers rarely create nonsense items. One internet site devoted to helping buyers avoid Louis Vuitton fakes offers a photo of several, including a rubber duck covered with the Louis Vuitton logo pattern. Hilarious, and obviously fake.
Designers do not need to sell their “seconds” and Coach is one of the few companies that do. You will not find discount tables at high-end designer stores, nor will you see quantities of “seconds” online.
When a designer does discount an accessory, it is still going to be expensive! Learn the designer you are most interested in, learn their current styles, and look at the actual prices. If you think you will be able to buy a true designer bag for $45, you might as well take that money in the yard and burn it. The result will be the same.
Understand that there are very good fakes available. In fact, some of the European fake makers who have defected to the Orient due to the availability of cheap labor would do everyone a service if they would simply stop pretending and just make the nice-quality bags they are capable of producing. The fake designer logo fabrics and stamps may appeal to the equally fake upwardly-mobile buyer, but they do nothing to enhance the product.
Go to the closest store where real designer bags are sold, and look very, very carefully at one. Memorize every detail. The fake-makers are good. They will put one over on you if you’re not obsessively aware of the facts.
Only the facts, ma’am
Online research is a dandy place to begin to learn how not to wind up embarrassed. A multi-engine search is the way to go. Look for sites on each of the various designers in whom you are interested. Along with numerous sites offering “inspired” items or “reproductions” (both terms used for fakes) will appear legitimate sites selling the items at their full retail price. One of the premier sellers is eLuxury.com. Inputting “Counterfeit handbags” turned up 75 links, including several informational and many sellers of reproductions. Take your time, visit the sites, and learn what you can.
It is, as has already been mentioned, easiest to pick one designer to start with. To attempt to memorize the details of all designers’ products at once would be frustrating at best, and since they change styles annually, it might also be a bit overwhelming to deal with all of the various items available.
Which designer should you choose? Start by buying a magazine that features pictures of the rich and famous. Whose bags are they carrying this year? If you are going to be a style maven, you need to make sure you are truly in style. It simply would not do to show up dragging a Prada bag if everyone who is anyone is carrying Kate Spade this season! Silly as that sounds, if you intend to fake it, at least fake it well. Buying the current hot label also may allow you to recoup your loss by reselling it on eBay if you decide you’ve gone too far in your quest for class.
What you need to look at:
Labels. Few designers use hanging tags on their items. None of the high-end ones do. They also rarely sew labels inside or out. There will be a logo somewhere that will identify the bag to those in the know. The big name tag on the outside is reserved for cheap tee shirts and the rear pocket of off-the-rack jeans.
Linings. Know what your chosen designer uses to line bags. If it’s a signature logo fabric, know what it looks and feels like. If it’s leather, know what kind. Color is vitally important as a clue.
Dust bags. Don’t be impressed because your eBay “find” has a labeled dust bag. Anyone can make one of those. It means nothing. Some designers do use them, though, so find out about the one you’ve chosen.
Logos. Where does the logo appear and in what form? Louis Vuitton is very specific about logo placement. The LV imprint in the leather pattern has to appear in specific locations and a set number of times. There will, for instance, be three LV’s on the front of a bag, period. They’ll be right-side-up on the front. They will never, according to the Louis Vuitton expert, be outside the feet on the bottom of the footed bags. Details like this may seem insignificant, but they scream “fake” to anyone who knows the real deal.
Serial numbers and other stamps. Louis bags are stamped with the date of manufacture. The stamp appears in a specific spot and only in that spot. Naturally, even the fakes are stamped now, but not in the right place. “Made in __” stamps mean nothing and generally signal a fake. Be particularly wary of designer bags with “Made in China” stamped or tagged inside. There are no European or American designers producing bags in China, Taiwan, Japan or Thailand. Designers do not need cheap labor. They charge as much for their bags as some families pay for six months’ groceries!
Beyond these basics, things get very complex. The dimensions of the leather trim on the bag, the size of the stitching and color of the thread, the type of metal used in rivets and studs . . . all play a part and all are very specific to the individual designer.
If you insist
The market is rife with designer labels right now. If you feel that you absolutely, positively must have a few to feel complete, start by checking out the designers’ retail outlets for returns that are offered at a discount.
It’s possible to find real stuff on eBay, but you have to know where to look. One friend, for instance, began a few years ago with a real Vuitton bag purchased at a year-end sale. She carried it for a year, then sold it on eBay for more than she paid for it, putting the cash towards the new year’s model. She’s made a habit of this—not as a business, but to keep herself in style without trashing her budget—and so have others. Find them by checking their feedback—not just how many reports they’ve earned, but the details—and by asking pointed questions. If a seller can’t produce the original sales receipt for the item, don’t bother.
At all costs, avoid “purse parties.” These are the latest hot ticket in the direct sales marketplace. Tupperware is dandy, but designer labels bring out the buyers in hoards and the evildoers along with them! It is absolutely positively not the place to find real designer stuff.
Read the news. There have been a number of federal and state law enforcement “sting” operations of late, busting sellers of replica accessories. Bankrate.com, the highly-respected online banking and finance company recently posted an article in their News and Advice area in which they report that international anti-counterfeiting organizations say that as much as 7% of all retail merchandise is counterfeit. Their internet search for “fake designer handbags” returned 5000 links. One by one, the authorities are weeding them out and shutting them down, but they pop up elsewhere just as quickly.
Flea markets are another haven for the replicators. It may be possible to pick up a used real designer purse from a seller whose item are gleaned from estate sales and consignment shops. You would do better, however, to visit the closest high-end consignment shop yourself and cut out the middle man. In every wealthy community there is a shop where the truly elite deposit last year’s fashions for resale. The items are rarely abused, so you might find a real bargain if you’re willing to search.
Many designers—Ralph Lauren and Anne Klein, for example—produce a low-end, less expensive line of products aimed at the label-conscious retail consumer. Even the traditionally high-priced automobile makers are reaching for those dollars in the pockets of the newly-graduated by creating a “sub-luxury” line of vehicles. A new Mercedes can now be had for $35,000, still a high price by some standards, but close to half of the price of the true luxury models in their line. The off-the-rack lines of clothing and accessories are readily available at quality department stores. End-runs, leftovers, past season versions, and occasional seconds are available at discount resellers like Marshall’s and Loehmann’s. The designer names on the labels are real, but the items are not the ones you saw on the runway at the spring show. They are of lesser quality, often geared, style-wise, to the younger buyer.
Of course, the simplest option is usually the best. Given how quickly fads grow and die in this society, you might just want to find the best fake you can afford and know that most of the other designer products being flaunted by your friends and associates are fakes as well. The label frenzy is only the latest cultural diversion, and it happens to be a rather innocuous one. Enjoy it, ignore it, or wait a while. A new fad will be along that might be more your style.