Millions around the world buy and sell counterfeit.
You may even own a counterfeit bag, yourself.
It is not a victimless crime
Don’t fool yourselves.
I am far from being able to judge anyone for owning a counterfeit anything, but do not kid yourself.
Sure, no one has to know that you don’t own the real thing, but counterfeit bags are a big business, and it has a lot of indirect effects that you may not be aware of.
Tourists, flea market merchants, and people like you and me who think that buying, selling or owning a fake is a victimless crime, are horribly wrong.
Child Slavery is in full blast
Yes, everything we buy unless it’s directly from the artisan or designer (like on Etsy), has a worrying tinge to it.
“Was it made by child slaves in third world countries?”
We don’t know, and sometimes we turn a blind eye to it.
But counterfeit bags, are definitely one area that is so much more lucrative than making cheap t-shirts without any brand name on them.
The profit margins are much, much higher.
There is human trafficking going on, when children have been sold into labour by their parents, who have mistakenly believed that their kids would have a better life in the city, fed and working hard for their keep.
They are kept in the factories, locked in there without proper care, supervision or cleanliness.
I read somewhere once that there was a luxury bag assembly plant in Thailand, that kept 6 or 7 little kids under the age of 10, assembling counterfeit purses.
The owners had BROKEN the children’s legs and tied the lower legs to the thigh so their legs would not mend.
Why? Because they said they wanted to go out and play.
All for the want of a logo.
It DOES fund crime organizations
You might think I am being paranoid about this, but it’s true.
When you buy a well-made, hard-to-suss-out counterfeit bag, where do you think it comes from?
Not from someone trying to make a buck on the street corner.
Not from someone’s basement, doing a small run of bags to revolutionize and democratize the fashion and luxury brand industry.
That kind of operation, to make a perfect replica of a designer bag, has to be funded by a lot of money, and well-run to the hilt.
All of these profits, helped by child trafficking, slave labour, lower cost materials (mostly from China, the biggest source of all of these counterfeits), fund gangs and crime organizations, who then use the money to live large and buy arms so they can expand their operations, or take over other gangs.
It is a nasty world, and we’re helping it.
All for the want of a logo.
Stop buying all this crap just to get your hands on a (fake) logo
The only way to stop this, or to do your part, is to stop buying counterfeits.
No demand, no supply.
But others might say: “Well how am I going to get an LV bag on my arm if I can’t afford to shell out $1000 for one?“
I don’t have an answer for that because I am not into designer logos, or designer bags.
All I can say is, do you really want a fake LV bag anyway?
Wouldn’t you rather own a piece of the real thing?
And have the experience of saving up for that beautiful bag, walking in, paying for it, opening that well-packed box, and bringing it out and ogling it?
Or having a sense of pride that what you are carrying is REALLY a genuine bag?
I don’t know about you, but knowing it’s a fake, makes it feel less satisfying, and more like a little girl playing dress up.
Even if you tell everyone you got an LV bag, but people KNOW you didn’t spend the real cash, it just looks worse, and less admirable than if you didn’t own one at all, but are currently saving to buy one.
It’s more stylish to buy the real thing.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
If having a designer bag on one’s arm is the goal, why don’t people rent one? It’s still cheaper than buying and avoids subscribing to all the issues with fakes.
Amen sister! I have never understood the appeal of the logo. I worked a few feet from 5th avenue and I have also worked on Madison avenue and I see all of the people desperately chasing the logos to somehow make themselves feel more important? There would be LINES in the middle of winter just to get into Abercrombie. I don’t get it. But then again, I did say that I grew up poor. Just having clothes was good enough.
Sorry, even the real thing don’t appeal to me. Why pay big bucks and do free advertisement for them? This is another reason I never buy anything with their name or logo splashed for everybody to see.
And yes, I totally agree with your post. The child labor and funding money laundering and funding illegal activities is defintiely NOT where I want my money to go.
As Stephanie pointed out, companies are violating human rights everywhere. As you’re a big fan of jewelery yourself, have you ever wondered where the gold or the diamond hanging from your necklaces come from ( you might not have any gold / diamond necklaces – fair enough )? Tracing gold and diamond is one of the hardest thing to do… and there are lots of illegal mines in the world, esp Latin America (gold) & Africa ( gold / diamond). The working conditions there are appalling and lots of kids/young adults lose their life on a daily basis. Suddenly, just like fake designer bags, the gold chains & diamond rings sold on the high street do not seem so appealing…
I admit, I do like expensive handbags. I get a lot of satisfaction carrying around the real thing that I worked hard for, saved for and will use for a very long time because the quality is there.
I’ve never understood the appeal of knockoffs…I would feel like a big fake, carrying around a fake purse. yuck.
My Favourite Wife, by Tony Parsons… a great novel on that topic!
But others might say: “Well how am I going to get an LV bag on my arm if I can’t afford to shell out $1000 for one?“
Short answer: There is absolutely no viable situation in which someone can justify spending that much on a bag that does nothing more than hold your stuff. No matter where it was made, no matter who made it, no matter the ‘quality,’ it is an extremely illogical, childish, and contemptible decision. One who would essentially throw money out the window in a decision like this is quite foolish.
I am well aware that this is happening. Companies are violating human rights everywhere, and getting away with it, mostly because not enough people know the truth.
So in my case, I like to look for quality in the products I buy. Designer brands are generally considered to be marks of quality. How can I tell real from fake?
I’m so glad I don’t care to want to own any designer goods original or otherwise, and reading about what they do to the children is just horrific!
I have
is there any link we can read to support this? for reading only
A lot of people say it’s the big luxury brands who are funding these “rumours”, but you just have to think about it. How can a well-made leather bag cost $60 for such a design/leather without cutting back on something? Labour (child and slave) is a big one, the other is quality. Neither are appealing.
http://www.wisn.com/news/2191330/detail.html
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2011-06-01/article-2551566/RCMP-confirm-seized-purses-are-counterfeit/1
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/counterfeit.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/introducing-the-latest-accessory-to-organised-crime-fake-handbags-500700.html
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/feature-articles/the-fight-against-fakes-0109_
To support it, I am not sure what organizations are out there for this. What you can do to “support” this, is not buy counterfeit items just because of a logo.
I have never owned a fake one, and never will! I’m not a logo chaser, but a quality chaser. Some of my best bags are not recognizable as any designer in particular; they are made so well that they stand up to a lot of punishment. I travel a lot, so I get to test this out often. Naturally this has a price. 😛 The tradeoff is that they last for years and years. I am unabashed in my love for beautiful, quality bags!
Thanks for posting this!
I was about to buy a fake from Vietnam because in reality, I wouldn’t be able to afford it. But my sister stopped me and I am glad that I didn’t buy it. I feel really guilty that I even THOUGHT about buying it, because I don’t think I would’ve used it because I know it’s a fake.
But yes- no demand = no supply!
I used to go to NYC a lot and hit up China town for their designer purses. I had no idea all this was going on. I stopped buying designer gear a few years ago. I just lost interest. If I would have known all this I would have never had interest in the first place. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely. If you there’s no way of knowing the provenance of the bag, it’s definitely worth steering clear. Who knows what you could be inadvertently endorsing? I’m not one for the designer logo either.
I don’t understand the designer logo trend, either. If I wanted to advertise for a company, they should be paying me the big bucks :). I do understand wanting a nice bag/pair of shoes/etc. but I don’t need the world around me to know what I bought. My interest in anything designer (which doesn’t exist much) is having something well-constructed and a good design.
THANK YOU for mentioning this. Human trafficking and slavery are the third-largest organized crime in the world today, behind only drugs and weapons, and right now it’s the lowest-risk crime because law enforcement does so little about it, and many times they sanction it. Hopefully we can change this!
It’s everywhere even in the U.S. In Canada, someone told me girls are brought over from other countries and shackled to beds in Toronto. Where, I don’t know but he said it was not an uncommon thing.
Update: We can change it by using our buying power to NOT buy fake designer bags and so on.