The Dark Side of the Counterfeit Industry

Counterfeit designer products are on the rise and the last thing I'd want is for anyone to fall victim to the allure of polished plastic.

A bit of a controversial topic, many people are still in the process of deciding whether owning fake or "replica" items are good or bad. I'll provide a bit of insight into why supporting the counterfeit market produces a few less than desirable repercussions and proceed by explaining ways to authenticate products before finding yourself on the receiving end of a billion dollar scam.

Around 460 Billion US dollars within the last year to be exact.

Designer products can carry quite the hefty price tag. Does that mean we should resort to purchasing counterfeit alternatives instead?

It goes without saying that the production and distribution of counterfeit products is illegal yet people seem to be unaware that possession of these products in many countries can leave the owner being held equally accountable. In France for example, being spotted with counterfeit items could result in a pretty hefty fine or jail time.

Realistically the police are not going to stop every person carrying a "channel" bag or wearing a pair of "praduh" sunglasses so the question remains, why should we care whether an item is real or fake if it all looks the same?

For starters, the bag you purchased out the trunk of someones car will break in a few weeks and that "Gucci" t-shirt would see its green and red stripes fading after too much time in the sun. At the end of the day, when you are purchasing designer products from long standing luxury fashion houses you are purchasing something which is made to last. Hours and hours go into ensuring the perfect stitch length, fabrication and finish.

When you purchase counterfeit items you are buying from groups of people whose primary intent is to take your money. If they are able to convince you that their products are heavily discounted or less expensive as they come straight from the factory they consider their job done and if you know the products are fake and decide to buy them anyway well, you've practically done half the job for them. Either way they will be laughing after the entire transaction.

I'm not saying you should all be buying designer bags. Unless you're an avid fashion lover invested in brand history or have a ridiculous amount of savings in the bank, cashing out that extra bit of money is probably not the most necessary thing in the world. There are plenty locally made items capable of handing the job just fine if you do not find yourself in the position to be spending a couple thousand on a fashion accessory. There is a sort of status however associated with boasting a designer name and the problem arises when people craving this status pursue shortcuts in search of a sense of superiority.

This way of thinking feeds into the expansion of the counterfeit market and the statistics are not pretty.

The counterfeit industry has seen a large spike in recent years due to its "not so serious" nature and the tendency of people to view it as a victim-less crime. Criminals have acknowledged this loophole and turned what was once essentially a quick cash grab into an underground nightmare. A large amount of money made on the sales of fake clothing from the streets of New York to night markets in Hong Kong go straight into the funding of terrorism and other criminal related activity. The purchasing of weapons, explosives, ammunition and development of terror training camps are all made possible through the selling of counterfeit goods. It only gets worse when you discover that the production of these goods are the result of child labour. The children are abducted from their homes and forced into the clutches of a worldwide human trafficking epidemic before they are finally distributed to factories. These crime rings have been hiding behind a smoke screen of what has for some reason become socially acceptable and we are all suffering as a result.

You may assume that the person on the other side of the counter seems innocent enough so there's no way they could be guilty of such crimes right? Well have you ever stopped to consider where exactly they are obtaining their product? The people higher up ensure that products travel through multiple levels of the network prior to reaching the consumer so as to distance themselves from the line of fire should things end badly.

It's scary to think that those pair of shoes you purchased from an Instagram account today could mean an extra bullet in a gun being pointed towards someone's loved one tomorrow.

The primary solution to preventing these attacks and acts of violence carried out by terror groups would be to cut their funding. This means no longer buying counterfeit products, reporting online accounts which are clearly selling fakes and educating those around you of the dangers associated with supporting the counterfeit market.

This is understandably easier said than done when you consider the amount of detail some fakes possess in an attempt to fool even the most educated buyer. I am in no way an expert on the matter although years of doing fashion research and spending time in designer stores admiring clothing I could not afford has allowed me to learn a few things along the way.

1. Place - Always buy either directly from the designer's store or a trusted retailer. If the retailer is unfamiliar to you, there's no harm in doing a quick internet search and reading a few reviews. In most cases the designer's website should list all of the official stores authorized to sell their products.

2. Price - If a bag costs $2000 and someone is trying to sell it to you for $200 then there is a high likelihood that it's a fake. Trust your instinct.

3. Pattern - Brands such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry have instantly recognizable patterns and monograms which grace their products. Ensure these patterns are aligned accurately across the various panels.

4. Print - Any sort of printing either on tags or the product itself should be clear and not faded or fuzzy. Graphics should be clean unless intentionally distorted for design purposes while words on the interior labels should be legible.

5. Proportion - Analyze the proportions of the item in question and note anything that may appear "off" or strange. Are the placings of the logo, buckles, pockets and flaps accurate to that of the original?

6. Material - Leather goods are meant to be soft, supple and meticulously constructed while cheaply made knock-offs smell of plastic and feel as if they are going to break easily. Metal hardware and details such as chain straps should feel sturdy with sufficient weight and once again, not light or made of plastic. Greater weight is in many cases a good indicator of quality.

7. Branding - Assess logo's and brand names for inaccuracies and inconsistencies such as, for example, an incorrect font or use of punctuation. Compare the brand tag to that of an authentic item from the company's official site. Branding for each design house has a tendency to change periodically so note whether the branding is accurate to that of the time period in question.

8. Label - Check the label for details such as material composition, place of origin, date codes and serial numbers. A Chanel bag stating "Made in Paris" instead of "Made in France" could be the deciding factor in determining whether your prized possession is counterfeit or a timeless classic. Certain brands will include the date of an item's construction while serial numbers are unique and act as a fingerprint. If you have received an authenticity card, ensure that these numbers correspond.

9. Stitching - Luxury houses pride themselves on having their pieces hand stitched by exceptionally talented artisans (in most cases). Assess length and overall quality of stitches both on the exterior as well as interior lining.

An item will often have some sort of dead give-away as to it's obvious counterfeit nature although there are a few instances where it may pass every quality check and slip through the cracks of the authentication process. If you are still unsure as to whether your item is a real or a fake, I would suggest taking it to someone trained in the practice of authenticating luxury products. Yes, they do exist.

Beyond questioning an item's authenticity, this was an attempt to spread information in the hopes of initiating a conversation around our purchasing habits as a society. We have been blind to the world around us and while we cannot change the past, we can change the future. The power still lies with us to make things right.