Economy Spurs Knock-Offs of Lesser Known Brands

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Aug 12th 2010 at 9:01PM

First the shoppers, then the retailers, and now the counterfeiters. It's official: the recession really is affecting everybody. The economic downturn hasn't exactly hurt the multi-billion dollar knock-off industry but what it has done is change the way counterfeiters do business. The usual victims, high-end retailers like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Coach, are being replaced by less expensive luxury brands like Samantha Thavasa, Anya Hindmarch, and Kooba. Smaller labels are appealing to counterfeiters for many reasons: they're easier to sell online, can often be priced higher, and because the designers run smaller operations they're less likely to trigger a lawsuit. One of the most common new tricks is to offer brand name bags at fairly small discounts, i.e. $190 for a $250 bag, on small but well-designed websites. The result is unwitting consumers who think they've found a good bargain on a genuine article and buy, often being none the wiser until it's too late.

Unfortunately there's not a lot that can be done as there will always be crooks out there looking to make a buck (and the internet is notoriously difficult to patrol) so your best bet is to always buy from reputable retailers you trust and to remember: if that bargain looks too good to be true it probably is.

Tags: counterfeit, economy, fake, knockoff, news, recession

Filed under: Handbags

Source

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

lausrebel Aug 13th 2010 10:41AM

I own a small luxury accessories brand. i wish the counterfeiters would attempt to clone my exotic snakeskin handbags or swarovski and brass clutches. I would burn their kiosks and cut their eyelids and pour..no..sprinkle salt one grain at a time on the cuts. Then I would design a piece chronicling the torture..and the money I make from that I would buy a human shredder..and slowly shred their skin off..beginning from their fingertips..ending with their pinky toe nails. While I am shrediing their skin layer by layer, I would drill on their teeth with a mini-saw. Slowly