Word: fakes
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...luxury-brand companies' dragnets are pulling in folks who don't fit the usual criminal profile. In March, three women in suburban Detroit were arrested for selling fake Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry bags at posh purse parties...
...publicity has hardly put a dent in the trade, largely because China's factories are getting so good at churning out nearly perfect fakes. (Discounter Daffy's, for example, claims it was duped into buying high-quality fake Gucci bags--and promptly took them off the shelves when Gucci complained.) China's counterfeiters have a system for classifying their reproductions. Bags that are virtually indistinguishable from the originals are class AA. This merchandise is exported almost exclusively to the West. Grade-A or -B fakes sell for less in the bazaars of China--although some make their...
...International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. The factories disguise the contents of containers with foodstuffs or other consumer products like lingerie. For those brave enough to risk it, it's a spectacular investment, with as much as a 1,000% return--better than drug trafficking. A 40-ft. container filled with fake bags can turn a profit of $2 million to $4 million. And counterfeiters save the roughly 50% of that revenue that luxury houses would invest in innovation and marketing...
...Chinese end, the luxury-goods companies try to take legal action against the big production centers and close them down. But crackdowns on the fake factories are complicated by widespread official corruption and a general disrespect for copyrights that extends far beyond the luxury goods industry. More than 90% of all CDs, DVDs and computer software sold in China are pirated, according to various trade groups. Trade restrictions have loosened since Beijing joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, making it easier for Chinese manufacturers to escape government scrutiny. At the ports, investigators say, the counterfeiters who get caught...
Chemise Lacoste recently commissioned a poll in 12 markets to study the impact of counterfeits. When asked how they felt about the proliferation of fake luxury items, most respondents said the prevalence of a widely copied product considerably eroded the image of the authentic brand; 76% said the growing abundance of forged items and logos made buying the original far less alluring...