Why do we love the brands but buy the fakes?

[emanuelle]

So true. I read about prada using sweatshops last year. Has anyone actually believed the fashion industry was nice? From my experience it's full of the most superficial, narcissistic, inhumane people I've ever had to spend time with. The idea that anyone actually cares about sweatshop laborers is laughable to me. It's just a way to manipulate people into buying the real deal. Also, designers even here in new York use victims of human trafficking as labor. There were hundreds of them caught a few months ago in queens and southern connecticut being imported as seamstresses and for the sex trade.

This is so true, people forget that when they walk into Target or Old Navy or Nike and see labels of items made in Vietnam, El Salvador, Hong Kong - how do you know how the labor laws are monitored or are they being hidden? But hey, we love a bargain everywhere else, don't we?

When you buy food & produce you are more than likely buying cheap labor - both in the U.S. and overseas. If you haven't heard what the company DOLE/Chiquita is doing to its workers in Nicaragua, you are missing the big picture. One documentary: http://www.bananasthemovie.com

Do any of you own any Apple products? They are not above having miserable work conditions for their workers in China either, for example, making them work 90 hours of overtime without being paid for it and forcing them to sign anti-suicide clauses: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/30/apple-chinese-workers-treated-inhumanely

These are just some examples. Everything from ballpoint pens to flatscreen tv's to cleaning products are made overseas in factories that may have conditions we may object to, this is not including animal factories that provide leather.

I remember reading on the TPF forum a while back that the Chinese factory that produces Alexander Wang's 'real' bags is the same one that produces the fakes, to their horror. For them it's just a different design but another day at work. If one really cared about such exploitation of their workers, then you would look at the label of the product and if it's made in some third or second world country you should not buy it, regardless of the store shelf it's sitting on.

 

[Mignonne]

I will never buy a fake. It's so sad that so much people buy the cheap bags. When you love the brand, so buy an authentic. I think it's better, but for the people who havn't enough money it's not very easy, I can imagine, but the quality is higher and you are much happier with an authentic. It's my point of view.
When we love the brand-so buy and help so to stop the fake production-

 

[Kanyaret]

I live in Thailand otherwise known as the land of copy. Here the problem is to be able to actually find and buy a authentic bag or anything for that matter they even found a factory that was making fake classic Ferrari sports cars for export. And like some people say the quality of some of the copies is better than the real thing. They sell fakes in authentic brand shops here as well which makes it even more difficult to get the real thing.

Nevertheless in my opinion its wrong to buy a fake if you want it bad enough save up to buy a bag even if it means saving for months or get creative and make your own, anyhow that is what i decided to do.

 

[SMKelly]

Did the OP ever do her thesis?

 

[SylviaMR]

I think that all the articles by Bazaar are pretty interesting, you can read them here : http://www.fakesareneverinfashion.com/luxury_report.asp

I am strongly against fakes. In fact, I have thrown and hidden all of my Mom's fake (and she -IMO- finally came to her senses) and I really tend to look down on people who wear fake.

I really don't get the line that says "it's because I can't afford the real deal". Honestly I'm just a student who earns just enough money to go out and buy clothes at H&M or sometimes at Vanessa Bruno when they're on sales, but I've never thought about buying fakes. Because I wouldn't be buying the same thing at all. It's like saying I'm buying Walmart water instead of Evian. Okay, it's just water but it doesn't taste the same, it wasn't made the same way, etc...
To me, if you don't have money, it is alright, no one will look down on you for buying a bag at some chinese store or at Zara (except if they're stupid). Whereas buying fakes means that you're trying to front, pretending you're wearing something worth 1000$, something whose design was stolen from another company and you're basically saying that you can't be fashionable without the brands. It means you're buying a name and not a design, and that's totally absurd. You buy clothes because you like fashion.

Let's take the Speedy for example, there're tons and towns of cute looking bowling bags that have the same shape but not the same logo and thy're just as nice, if not better looking. Buying a fake speedy means you want to flaunt a monogram and a brand just because it says "luxury", however it is everything but luxurious. It's cheap and tacky, it means that you want to be like everyone else. Buying that sort of bag is an investment (LV stuffs are life guaranteed, and they don't go out of factories if they're not absolutely perfect), but if you don't have enough money you can invest in a nice leather bag that you can find for 150$ and that will last for years, and you wouldn't have to say to everyone "it's a fake" "i'm a poser".

And I'd rather buy something made from H&M, I know they might exploit people in China, but at least, since it's a big company, it is under control, they have the lowest salaries but they don't have to put with illegal stuffs or money that will help prostitution or drugs.

Honestly i'd rather wait till I can afford such items and buy Authentic bags, because I'm sure they'd be done in real factories, with people with a decent salary (well, as far as I know, I've worked in a warehouse for a luxury brand, and people there work really hard but they're not exploited, they're carefully chosen, have a good work environment and it's the exact same for people who craft the bags, even if it is not as artisanal as Hermes)

 

[kokobombon]

I never bought either, I can´t afford the real ones and even if I could most labels don´t sell in my country... but I´ve been tempted to buy fakes only because I love a specific print that I can´t get anywhere else. But at the end of day I rather buy leather goods from local labels that I know are of high quality than the cheap thrill of a fake.

 

[marusenka]

I never bought either, I can´t afford the real ones and even if I could most labels don´t sell in my country... but I´ve been tempted to buy fakes only because I love a specific print that I can´t get anywhere else. But at the end of day I rather buy leather goods from local labels that I know are of high quality than the cheap thrill of a fake.

I can't afford designer bags but I would never spend much money on a bag even if I can. You can buy really good leather bag on very good price.

When I see LV logo on a bag I always think "This look so boring!" but when I see good bag that don't scream "I'm a designer bag!" I always wonder where I could find the same one.

Sorry for my English, I know it's bad.

 

[SylviaMR]

I can't afford designer bags but I would never spend much money on a bag even if I can. You can buy really good leather bag on very good price.

When I see LV logo on a bag I always think "This look so boring!" but when I see good bag that don't scream "I'm a designer bag!" I always wonder where I could find the same one.

Sorry for my English, I know it's bad.

I totally agree! The material of a bag is of major importance. Non-leather bag can be spotted from miles away and they don't last at all.
I'd rather spend 100€ on a nice looking leather bag that doesn't have a brand than 100€ on a well-copied fake made of plastic.

 

[KhaoticKharma]

I inadvertently bought a LV M51980 today at a thrift store thinking it was the real deal (I don't research real vs. fake handbags AT ALL, just like most people), but came home to do a little research and found that it is not only a fake, but a lazy one at that (it's got the little white round plastic LV thing and bags attached to the bag, etc). I'm really debating whether or not to carry it... chiefly because I go to a school where there just might be people that can spot a fake. It's a cute, small bag which is definitely making a comeback- case in point, the re-release of the Fendi Baguette. I've certainly realized that I don't have a moral dilemma at all; it's really all about the semiotics, the messages carrying that bag would convey. Best part- the bag actually feels really smooth and silky inside, and the outside leather is alright, too. It's amazing how psychological labels can be!