Have you already bought a fake without recognizing it?

On our awfully long car drive back home from our summer break at the Northern Sea island Sylt my husband and I came into a fierce discussion – not that we don’t have these discussions every now and then – but this time the topic was totally unusual. It was regarding fake & counterfeit in the luxury goods industry. While I held the strong believe that buying fake pieces is tasteless, he defeated the opinion that the confusing production and sales policies in fashion industry themselves feed and trigger the fake market!!!!

Louis Vuitton lawsuit

After the launch of a bestseller by one brand it not unlikely that the market is flooded by a huge amount of similar products from other brands at the same or more often a lower price range soon after, photos: mytheresa.com, shop bop.com. dior.com, pinterest.com

Season after season a brand launches a bestseller and soon after the market is flooded by similar pieces from other brands. May it partially be a similar source of inspiration, but more than often that might not fully explain the similarities. As most fashion brands neither assign a trademark nor patent to seasonal pieces the case never comes to court and in the end its the customer, who decides what to buy. This happens with brand that operate on the same price range in a way very similar to those that operate on another range. Its absolutely not only Zara, which is inspired by!!!

Louis Vuitton lawsuit

The newest trademark infringement lawsuit – Antonio Brown blames LV of copying its signature toe plaque, photos louisvuitton.com, LVL XIII

As soon as a brand has a trademark assigned to a complete product or product feature and spots a copy a well publicized trademark infringement lawsuit starts. These lawsuits are as integral to the fashion industry as fashion week! The newest one, if you haven’t heard yet: Atlanta based high end sneaker designer Antonio Brown blames Louis Vuitton of copying his signature toe plaque in the brands “On the road” footwear line, which has been released in March 2014.

Both surely results in a loss of credibility in the core values of a fashion brand among consumers! Besides that the fashion press also draws a somewhat contradicting light onto how customer should handle fake. Acclaimed personal shopper Betty Halbreich from Bergdorfs and fashion stylist Nina Garcia recommend in their respective style guides “Fake it until you make it!”. On the other hand huge fashion initiatives state “No fake” or “Stop fake”.

What else might draw a customer into fake. First of all I feel a lack of fashion knowledge. Very often I see young girls and teenager walk into my practice carrying a Chanel Boy or classic flap lookalike. Mostly I try to avoid a discussion because I simply feel that its the wrong place. But at other times I ask them whether they know about the origin of their purse about its history and about what the real brand stands for. Many of them have never heard of a Chanel Boy purse and were surely not aware that they were buying a counterfeit product.

Sure other people might be driven into buying fake because they really want a product but can’t afford. The amount of those customers might be increased by random and heavy price increases at luxury brands, like Chanel.

Another thing that is likely to drive some customers into buying a lookalike might be sale and waiting list policies in store. If you want the damn Birkin bag and you are willing to pay the price why the hell are you told everywhere that Hermes doesn’t have them in store! If you want it now there is no other option than going for a well made fake!!!

But what are the reasons not to buy fake or counterfeit. Its illegal? Depends on the product – its not illegal to buy a YSL red sole shoe although YSL had to discontinue all shoes with a contrasting red sole after a process in 2011 against Louboutin. What about morals – It can give you second thoughts? As long as you don’t have market share in a fashion brand why should it actually? The fashion brands themselves produce lookalikes every now and then and at many points they do not really care about their customer. Ok then lastly its the quality? Maybe, this is the most important issue. However, one incident in 2012 shows that even the quality issue is not always an argument. At that time active Hermes craftsmen stole materials and made bags for an illegal distribution network – guess the bags were absolutely not of inferior quality compared to a real Hermes!

In the end would I go and get a fake in the near future? Hmmm, maybe not or have I already done without recognizing it?

5 thoughts on “Have you already bought a fake without recognizing it?

  1. christa

    Very, very well written! For me its some kind of bitter sweet that the brand that always puts itself at the forefront of all the fake victims has been blamed for copying for the second time already within just a few years! And just think of the racist happening in the London store … For me a very very bad taste that coincides with the launch of Nicolas Ghesquière’s inaugural collection!

  2. nfh

    LV lost the trial against New Balance in 2009 and discontinued its sneaker! Guess they loose again in this case 😉

  3. piaH

    I didn’t know those things about Vuitton. I always considered them as the victim of the fake industry.

  4. masi

    A little cheating is part of every persons life I guess! In case of the lv sneakers I don’t feel that they look slightly similar to the other brands shoes. Maybe its a way to raise media attention for the other brand. I absolutely don’t feel that this is going to interfere with the sale of the new collection!

Comments are closed.