fake

Are Your UGGs Fake? A 'Made in Australia' Tag Means YES

Filed under: Shoes

Even if you consider yourself a savvy shopper capable of spotting a fake a mile away you might want to double-check your favorite UGGs, some of the counterfeits up for sale lately are more than a little convincing.

The tricky part is that the latest UGG knock-offs aren't made of chintzy materials or with poor technique -- they actually have some quality behind them. Both boots pictured here are made of quality sheepskin with reinforced seams. They're both heavy, comfortable, and substantial boots. The only obvious difference is in the logo -- the overly large one on right marks the black boot as the imposter.

So how to tell if you've got the genuine article or have been duped with a knockoff? Besides the logo we've got four other telltale signs to look for in the gallery below, courtesy of the WSJ.

Gallery: UGGs: Genuine or Knock-Offs? How to Tell the Difference

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Tags: counterfeit, fake, knockoff, uggs

Economy Spurs Knock-Offs of Lesser Known Brands

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Handbags

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.

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

New Museum Exhibit Takes A Closer Look at Fakes

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

When a fake is discovered the reaction of most museums is to quietly remove it from display and hope nobody notices, and although historically the National Gallery has done just that it's now offering all of its fakes up in a full-on display along with an education on the cutting edge technology used to uncover them. Infrared reflectography, x-rays, pigment analysis, and dendrochronology (a means of dating wood by looking at its rings) all make it more difficult than ever for fakes to get by, but even some experts admit that the work and skill needed to make some of the forgeries is impressive. One of the gallery's researchers, Rachel Billinge, says "Sometimes the faker has gone to such lengths you can respect their techniques – much more so than the originals, churned out in a workshop by some bored apprentice."

The exhibit will be open at the National Gallery from June 30th - September 12th.

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Tags: art, exhibit, fake, forgery, gallery, museum, national gallery

Can The Right Attitude Help You Pull Off A Fake?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Handbags

A few days ago my colleague Rigel Celeste wrote an interesting story about what your handbag says about you. In the story she posited that "carrying a knock-off bag can say that you're putting a fake front to the world." According to an intriguing story on Bloomberg, a study done by Renee Richardson Gosline, an assistant professor of marketing at MIT's Sloan School of Management, showed that if you want to get away with wearing a fake you need to have a certain attitude. Her research revealed that people are more likely to peg a handbag as being a real designer bag if the woman carrying it is wearing expensive clothes or has an aura of wealth.

Her methodology involved showing 100 owners of luxury handbags photos of bags alone and photos of bags worn by people in social settings. The study subjects were more able to ascertain an item's authenticity and potential cost of the item when it was in context. Gosline, who also happens to be a former brand manager for LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, found that even a nice fake won't fool many consumers if the rest of the package doesn't match up. I would suggest that a similar principle is often in effect with jewelry. A costume piece can appear more or less authentic depending on the person wearing it. Individual pieces of a person's wardrobe seen in context can elicit very different reactions from observers.

Gosline's research also showed that people are willing to pay twice as much for an item that they think will impress others and can be used to trumpet wealth and status. In another study she found that many purchasers who buy knock-off bags later gone on to buy real ones. Quoted in the Bloomberg article she says that the counterfeit served as a "placebo for brand attachment" leading people to become attached to a certain brand even though they never actually owned it.

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Tags: brands, counterfeit, fake, handbags, knockoff, luxury

Cuban Cigar Knock-Off Manufacturers Face Prison Terms

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Illegal cigar factories, called "chinchals," have been among the few alternatives for Cubans looking for work in the midst of this global economic crisis. Risking time in prison, employees roll counterfeit Havana cigars in order to make a living. The risk may be worth the return, but it's hard to say.

One roller refused to reveal the extent of his pay raise when moving from state factories to the black market ... but "raise" was implied. Working in the legit world, this employee earned $17 a month. Counterfeit cigars tend to sell for $30 to $40 per box of 25, a price that's up to five times lower than the official price set by the Cuban government.

The price competition is only one reason for the government's distaste for the counterfeit cigar business, but it's a powerful one. Cuba's official cigar company, Habanos S.A., saw a 3 percent drop in sales last year. The government also cites the need to protect the image of the brand and fight corruption on the island. Authorities confiscate 1,500 to 1,700 boxes of illegally manufactured cigars every month.

It could be a losing fight, however. Barriers to entry are low, as supplies are easy to secure. And, desperation plays a role. When you need to put food on the table, risks become more realistic.

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Tags: cigar, cigars, counterfeit, cuba, cuban, cuban cigar, cuban cigars, CubanCigar, CubanCigars, fake, fakes, havana, tobacco, tobacco industry, TobaccoIndustry

Lux Tip: Fake Jewelry You Can Get Away With

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Lux Tips

...Or, shall we say "fake jewelry with which you can get away?" One must be mindful of crossing their i's and dotting their t's when donning a faux anything.

The bling is expensive stuff. With the state of our economy, keeping up with the latest trends in jewelry is something few of us can actually do--but anyone can replicate it!

The thing to remember with fake jewelry is that it shouldn't look too costumey, and definitely shouldn't be so over-the-top that no one will ever believe it was within your means.

Five easy rules:
1. Less is more. Stick with smaller pieces of sparkle and you'll almost always get away with it.
2. When incorporating color, think about what stone the glass or plastic is supposed to look like, and make sure it looks like it.
3. Invest in two good neck chains, gold and silver, upon which to dangle fake charms in the latest necklace fashions. (In this season: Lockets, owls, and filigree.)
4. If the metal starts to lose its luster and you can't shine it up? Throw it out.
5. If anyone asks, just say it was a gift.

See the gallery below for some excellent inexpensive finds from Girl Props.

It's just another easy way to make life more lux for cheap or free.

Gallery: Lux Tip: Fake Jewelry

Tags: fake, girl props, jewelry, lux tip

Faux Ferraris?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

I've seen plenty of Italian fakes in the form of Gucci and Prada knock-offs sold on the streets but this is the first I've heard of a faux Ferrari. Italian police have busted a ring of mechanics who have been building fake Ferraris. Like some of the people who buy fake purses, most of the purchasers of these cars knew they weren't purchasing real Ferraris. The flashy fakes were made from a combination of body parts from other types of automobiles along with a few genuine Ferrari parts strung together to form sham versions of Ferrari classics. Some of them sold for around $30,000 which is about a tenth of what you'd spend for the real deal.

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Tags: fake, faux, ferrari, italian

Can You Spot the Knock-off?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Handbags

How well do you think you know designer handbags? We've all seen obviously bad knock-offs, but imitators are getting better and better every day and the good ones are making products that are all but impossible to tell from the originals sometimes. Here's a fun quiz from Portfolio.com that puts your fashion sense to the ultimate test of side-by-side comparisons of brand name goods. Handbags, jeans, and even designer ball caps are included -- take the quiz and let us know how you do. I got a better score than I expected, but I think it was mostly luck!

Via A Luxury Travel Blog

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Tags: designer, designers, fake, faux, handbag, handbags, imitation, imitations, knock off, knock offs, KnockOff, KnockOffs, quiz

Van Gogh Painting is a Fake

by Sandy Maple (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

When Rupert Murdoch's father, Keith Murdoch, staged a contemporary art exhibit in Australia in 1939, Vincent Van Gogh's "Head of a Man" was on display. It was later purchased by Australia's National Gallery of Victoria for $3,500 and has been a part of their collection ever since. However, last August, when the painting was shown at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, critics noticed something wasn't right. The work, dated 1886, appeared to be of a different style than other Van Gogh paintings during the same period. What's more, the painting was never mentioned in the artist's letters.

"Head of a Man" was then sent to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam where experts have now declared it to be a fake. Gerard Vaughan, director of the National Gallery of Victoria, says the painting was most likely the work of a Van Gogh contemporary and makes clear that the painting was simply misattributed, not a deliberate forgery. Had the painting been authentic, it would have been valued at around $21 million.

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Tags: art, australia national gallery of victoria, AustraliaNationalGalleryOfVictoria, dean gallery, DeanGallery, fake, forgery, head of a man, HeadOfAMan, painting, rupert murdoch, RupertMurdoch, van gogh, VanGogh, vincent van gogh, VincentVanGogh

Shanghai Knockoffs Get Knocked Off

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

Shanghai's most famous street market, Xiangyang Road Fashion and Gift Market, was shut down this week. The market was famous for its cheap, designer knock-offs and was hugely popular with locals, as well as tourists for many years. More recently, the government began to crack-down on forgeries on behalf of the foreign investors and businesses that they were trying to attract to the country, and the market crowds dwindled somewhat. Immediately after the close, some vendors moved to neighboring buildings and streets, but the area will never be the same again. The Chinese government plans to redevelop the area to have a metro line and, possibly, ultimately turn it into a residential sector instead of a commercial one.

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Tags: china, counterfit, fake, forgery, shanghai, Xiangyang market

Fendi Fights Fakes at Wal-Mart

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Handbags

Fendi has filed suit against Wal-Mart after accusing the retailer of selling counterfeit bags while representing them as the real thing. The bags in question were sold at the warehouse Sam's Club stores, which are owned by Wal-Mart. Fendi asserts that Wal-Mart never purchased products from them, nor did they inquire as to the authenticity of the goods they were buying from their suppliers. As the stores were selling the bags for 45% below retail, it does seem quite possible that they "fell off the back of a truck" somewhere, though Wal-Mart declined to comment.

Somehow, the "don't ask, don't tell" acquisition strategy seems like it is most effective when purchasing a single bag in a back alley somewhere - though still not great from the designer's perspective - than when the world's largest retailer, already under a lot of scrutiny, starts buying them in bulk.

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Tags: counterfeit, designer, fake, fendi, handbags, lawsuit, shopping, wal-mart