[ambidextrous]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hopelessly Often luxury goods are priced like that for a reason - they are made by skilled artisans with the finest quality materials in the world.

true, but they are also priced like that to make the buyer feel more exclusive and special than people who cannot pay for it.

I own both auths and fakes, but the majority is auth. I started out with auth, strayed to the fakes, found out I'm too anal about details, quality and craftmanship of most fakes, they didn't feel the same and now I'm back saving for the auths lol.

[Blodeuwedd]

I know the book “How Luxury Lost it’s Luster” has been mentioned a lot, but there’s another book someone else mentioned here in tFS about an Italian mob family that owned or controlled one of these fashion houses. If someone could point out the book I think that would be great.

[tigerrouge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Street_a_Licious oh god. not the "counterfeit purses fund terrorism" thing again.

I live somewhere with a lot of local terrorist activity, and because it's on a smaller scale, the links are much more immediate and obvious. While the producers of the conterfeit goods are often people from other countries who have no connection to this particular sort of terrorism, they sell those goods within a market that is strongly controlled by certain people who take their cut. And taking a cut of a lot of sales from a lot of sellers - no matter how small - soon adds up.

Some people of that nature do choose to control all stages of the process - production, importation and sales - rather than simply keeping a heavy hand on the marketplace. But some don't bother - because why get caught making or selling the goods when you can let the 'small fry' do all of that, and you'll still get your money in the end. It's smart for them to be as invisible and untraceable in the process as possible.

And unlike some other places, the outcome of the funding is also rather local.

[kryptoniteAKA]

I don't buy fakes.

Most of the people I know that buy fakes do so because they cannot afford the real thing. However, I finally got one friend of mine to see the light when I showed her that by saving all the money she was spending on fakes she could get a nice, quality bag that would last longer. She stopped buying the fakes.


As for why people who have the money to buy them will still buy fakes, I don't know. I feel that if you think there is something wrong with spending that kind of money on a bag, then you should be consistent in your stance and not buy a fake that makes it even LOOK like you DID spend that much on a bag. In my opinion it says that you are still too focused on giving a certain impression, even if you don't want to spend the money to give that impression.

I just don't like the fact that it basically it supporting a form of "plagiarism." I never get into discussions about whether it supports terrorism or drug cartels, but I still think that it is bad.

[lollicandy]

huh, I don't buy fakes. But then I've never been a big label whore so while I understand why people buy it, counterfeit goods do not appeal to me at all.

[michyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanitizedfashion Just curious, where and when did you see "it" with your own eyes ?

Just realized that you had replied to my post. Sorry for the lateness. Anyway, it is a VERY, very long story so I will try and give you the condensed version.

I lived in China for 8 years, in a small town not too far from Shanghai. (Our family had been sent there because my father's boss gave him an incredibly job opportunity that was branched in China) I hung out at my father's office frequently afterschool. I was very close to one of his employees - her name was Xiao Feng. She was absolutely beautiful, and she had such a warm heart too. My parents would always get her to babysit me & my brother when they had to go away on business trips. She took great care of us, and even though she was from a very poor family, she refused to be paid for babysitting us, no matter how much my parents insisted. She had strange scars all over her body though, and whenever I asked she said that it was from dropping stuff when she was cooking. I was very young then, so I believed her.
4 years after working at my father's company, she had to leave for the Shenzhen countryside because her mother was very, very sick. Our family insisted on paying for the healthcare, and she agreed, but after she left from Shenzhen she was no where to be found... She never contacted us, nobody ever picked up the number she gave us. I still don't know where she is, and what she's up to, but I really miss her.

2 years ago, when my parents finally decided I was "old enough," they decided to tell me the truth about her. Xiao Feng was an ex-prostitute who like many other young Chinese women was tricked into the prostitution business. The "pimps" took advantage of how naive and gullible they were, and promised them high-figure salaries working at a "massage parlor." They would supply them with food, housing and just about everything if they agreed. Of course it was all lies - they were treated horribly, they were beaten up, tied and raped if they didn't make enough money. The only thing the pimps really paid for was makeup and revealing clothing. They were NEVER given any form of contraception and weren't allowed to insist that their clients use condoms. (The pill was also unheard of to them... Sex education was strictly forbidden back then.) So they were considered lucky if their clients offered to wear condoms. Most of the women stayed in the business, because they needed the meager salary... Xiao Feng couldn't stand it though - she ran one night, far, far away to Suzhou where she had heard had a new & developing zone with far more job opportunities. She was right to go there.

But yes... Xiao Feng learned a lot from 2 years as a prostitute. She met a few friends, and the more highly-demanded prostitutes were let in on some more secrets of the business. (Heck, some of the prostitutes were assigned management/client-hunting positions that would mean no more prostitution for them once and for all. I think that is what motivated some of them to stay in the business too.) ALL of these pimp's actions weren't just limited to opening prostitution parlors. Their main revenue actually came from counterfeit goods, only through this revenue were they able to afford the fancy facade and interior of the parlors. The counterfeit branch in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing made them SO much money. The pimps reaped millions and millions from the trade. They also used the money to bribe the police not to shut their parlors down and keep quiet about them. The police were INCREDIBLY corrupt then (still are, really). Of course, the pimps were also infamously known for their links to a gangster group of hitmen so no one really dared to file complaints about them.

Many people that live in China today (including expatriates) are well aware of this problem. They just choose to ignore it - I don't even know why. Some people just don't care. Of course, several others are aware of it and they do their best to employ as many girls that have escaped from the prostitution business. They're not too hard to identify. Nobody deserves to go through what any of these girls did, and still do...

Like tigerrogue's experience, some of this stuff has to be witnessed on a local basis. Nobody's gonna tell BBC a story that could get them shot, and BBC isn't gonna report a story unless you have video footage, pictures, witnesses that dare to speak about it... Of course, I'm not in China anymore, and I don't think any of these pimps read TFS... So I'm pretty much safe, at least I hope I am!

Agh, I cry everytime I write about this

[luckyns]

michyed - Thank you for telling us the story. It is so touchy and sad. I wish Xiao Feng is alright.

[laboheme]

I think this might be relevant.

Quote:

Simulacra and Simulation identifies three types of simulacra and identifies each with a historical period: First order, associated with the pre-modern period, where the image is clearly an artificial placemarker for the real item. Second order, associated with the industrial Revolution, where distinctions between image and reality break down due to the proliferation of mass-produced copies. The item's ability to imitate reality threatens to replace the original version. Third order, associated with the postmodern age, where the simulacrum precedes the original and the distinction between reality and representation breaks down. There is only the simulacrum.[2] Baudrillard theorizes that the lack of distinctions between reality and simulacra originates in several phenomena: Contemporary media including television, film, print and the Internet, which are responsible for blurring the line between goods that are needed and goods for which a need is created by commercial images. Exchange value, in which the value of goods is based on money rather than usefulness. Multinational capitalism, which separates produced goods from the plants, minerals and other original materials and the processes used to create them. Urbanization, which separates humans from the natural world. Language and ideology, in which language is used to obscure rather than reveal reality when used by dominant, politically powerful groups...

...more @ source/credit page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

[IAmLordZen]

I own a fake LV luggage, actually. Anyway, it was cheaper and looks a lot like the original product. The seller offered me a great deal too. I can't resist so I bought it. Nothing beats the original though, because quality-wise, the imitation is no match. Besides, people have a knack for knowing fakes because unless I actually get driven around in a car, lugging an LV and riding public transpo only equals to a (more often than not) fake.

[michyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckyns michyed - Thank you for telling us the story. It is so touchy and sad. I wish Xiao Feng is alright.

I hope so too... Thank you for taking the time to read it

[MayMay]

When I was at college, my roommate and I, we both bought fake Balenciaga motorcycle bags from online store. The photos of Nicole Richie with this bags(in whatever color and whatever size)are so persuasive and we can not afford it at all, so we bought fake.
Well, the design is OK because they are professional fake maders. The quality is very bad.
That's my only fake bag. I do not buy fake becasue 1 they are not so well made, 2 I am not so confident. If the fakes are as good as original ones, it's cheaper, why not buying it?
One of my friends got a "A-class" fake birkin this summer, light blue, very beautiful. I haven't seen any original birkin, so I cann't tell the differences. The fake one is as beautiful as the ones in Hermes windows.
It is reported that Victoria Beckham and Celine Dion bought lots of "A-calss"fakes in Shanghai when they visited there. If you are confident, rich and strong enough, people won't doubt if you are carrying a fake or not.

[Dianochka]

^^^ I'm guessing it's a rumor to just increase sales of fakes. I doubt Victoria would carry a fake, or Celine, too. They are filthy rich.

[Larita]

I wouldn't be caught dead carrying a fake.

I don't really understand people who do it, I find it repulsive.

There is no excuse for carrying a fake.

[laboheme]

^^ I used to feel strongly opposed.. now I feel pretty much neutral. I don't judge the people who go for them anymore.

I don't own any copies but I am fascinated by the different perceptions & issues:

Who is more likely to buy fakes or real? & How some people are seen as automatically above using fakes because of status/wealth?

Quantity vs. quality (having a closet full of fakes versus a few authentics)...

"Truth" issues in general (not just about the ladies carrying copies and passing them as real, but also "truth" from the original companies..How much are these items really worth if they can be copied so closely and sold for much less?)

I'm also interested in how the copies can sort of suck the juice/magic/glamour out of the original's image.

The entire thing reminds me of _The Sneetches_ story by Dr. Seuss.

http://www.amazon.com/Sneetches-Othe...3769551&sr=8-1



credit: amazon.com


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDaNjbTEpA

credit:youtube.com...user The011784

animated musical version of The Sneetches

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln3V0HgW4eM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0LgM...eature=related

credit: youtube.com user NamEniKin

[Larita]

^ ^ This story is really nice