Comments on: In the News: A Miamian hunts knock-off purses in New York

By: wholesale Underwear

wholesale Underwear — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:10:40 +0000

It all comes down to common sense really

By: Jaime

Jaime — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:51:54 +0000

Sadly these REAL handbags cost little to make in the first place and that is the sad part. I’m sure they cost about $100 and then retail them for $800+. So basically the designer is ripping us off and we don’t seem to really care!

By: Tom Andrea

Tom Andrea — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:49:19 +0000

one more nice topic in your blog and nice comments too keep it up, If you advise some more related links to this topic.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:05:02 +0000

Get over it! This country has way more important issues than Fake purses!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:25:14 +0000

Oh all you people of BOTH sides…LIVE AND LET LIVE!!!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:58:25 +0000

It seems that law enforcement is going after those who are selling a high amount of fake bags. Understandable. I am getting tired of resale shops selling them. Many of the owners of resale shops can’t even tell the difference. I have siz resale shops in my immediate city all of which are selling fake bags. Disgraceful. Juts to make a buck. They need to be reported also.

By: dela

dela — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:04:19 +0000

You argument would be sound if we were using a universal currency. $1/hr in India means about 40 rupees/hr and that would mean as you said “a stable well-paying skilled career.” That might not make a person rich but you can still lead a comfortable life. Remember, these are countries where you can still lead a comfortable life on one person’s salary and we can’t say the same about the working class in the US. The problems in these countries are not because of wages, but because of corruption and greedy governments.
A computer engineer outsourced in India will only make a faraction of their US counterpart, but within in the context of the country he has a job of a lifetime (with a multi-national company).
With in the US we experience the same thing. In the Bay Area salaries are much higher than a place like NC, on the other hand so are the real estate prices.
Here were are vocing opinion against illegal operations ie theft not against companies like Apple or Gap, which are taking advantage of the diff. costs of living and at the same time opening oppourtunites for workers in third world countries.

By: buyer

buyer — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:50:34 +0000

I have several comments aimed toward all the people on this forum who are so self-rightous as to think they don’t own anything from a sweatshop.

Look around your home… at least 90% of what you own or consume was produced by someone making the equivalent of $1 USD or less per hour, but did it stop you from buying it. If you don’t believe it, then get on a plane, fly to China or Cambodia or Vietnam and see for yourselves.

If you’re so against buying something from a sweatshop why didn’t you think about that before you bought the computer you’re using to read this blog? Or the Apple IPod you listen to? That very genuine IPod, sold by Apple, was made in Shenzhen China by someone making $1 per hour in a factory that employs 260,000 people. The circuit board inside that IPod, and indeed those inside you’re genuine cell phone and DVD player, were made in another factory by someone making .44 cents per hour. I know this, I have seen the factories, I have seen their payroll figures, I have met the people making the products. To them a factory job like that is a stable well-paying skilled career. Why? Because as long as we keep buying those IPods, toothbrushes, t-shirts, etc. they get a paycheck. If those items were made by our pay standards you wouldn’t be able to afford to buy them. This is the sad reality of the global economic situation. Read this…
www. theatlantic. com /doc /200801 /fallows-chinese-dollars

And also… The GAP (and other designers) did not just realize their clothes were being made in factories like that. It would be more accurate to say they “just realized” it in the media. They chose those factories to produce their clothes for a reason, so their profit margin on cheap “diposable” clothes Old Navy brand would be higher.

By: jessica

jessica — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:36:33 +0000

when you are in europe, if you get caught just purchasing a fake, you are fined over a thousand dollars.

not for nothing, but why should i pay higher taxes so that these people can buy a crummy knock off? it took me 4 months to save for my marc by marc bag.

By: Chi

Chi — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:29:23 +0000

& then you’ll put out people who are so desperate for a job that they’ll go into slave labour out of a job! Yes! lets do that! Our conscince as clear as a crystal! AND we get to sport a rediculously overpriced handbag while people starve in said swearshops because they aren’t being paid.

By: laurice

laurice — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:40:22 +0000

id like to add that this article does sound like my experiences shopping in chinatown.

By: laurice

laurice — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:38:34 +0000

personally i buy fake bags bc im a college student and im broke.. i do have real designer bags but i got those when i was living at home with the support of my parents and a part-time job. now i live off easy mac and ramen noodles, and the money i do get from my parents goes to books, tuition and whatever else i need to survive. i would love to buy the bags i want but i need that $200 for my chemistry book which costs me like double.. haha. i guess thats my excuse.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:10:54 +0000

Gotcha. Yeah, that always worries me. I never buy ‘designer’ anything on ebay unless i’d want to have it even if it wasnt designer (ie – a pretty dress).

By: Jahpson

Jahpson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:14:21 +0000

oh I meant like place like ebay, where people claim its real and scam the buyer.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:00:36 +0000

Vivi, totally agree. Basically, people just need something to be self-righteous, holier-than-thou about. At the end of the day we’re all promoting terrorism any time we get into a car or any gas-powered vehicle – US imports 50% of its oil, and 10-15% of THAT comes from ‘friendly’ Saudi Arabia (home of Osama and most of 9-11 terrorists). So go figure. How many stories have we seen about Nike using sweatshop/child labor? Perfectly legal, right?

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:53:03 +0000

I think what ’sunny’ is refering to is the sweatshop laborers. Counterfeit bags arent made by lower-class americans who, to at least some degree, do have a chance for a better life.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:49:05 +0000

‘For instance, Marcia Van Wagner, a deputy comptroller for New York City, estimates the overall knockoff market costs her city ”$2 billion in lost revenue” yearly.’
– what does this figure represent? lost tax revenue? or the value of the bags sold have they not been cheap knock-off? if the latter, it is ludicrous to think that a middle-class teenager buying the fake for $30 would be in a position to spend $500 on the real deal. The ‘brands’ are not loosing money to the fakes because they dont compete with them. they market to the upper class, and un uptown fashionista WILL save up to buy the real deal once per season.

”Morally, there is the possibility that the counterfeit merchandise was produced in sweat shops utilizing child or slave labor,” Woodward says.
– there is the near-same possibility when we buy anything from any large retailer.

To Jahpson re: ‘but when you told that the bag you purchased is real and you spent a lot of money on it, only to find out it was worth barely a fraction, well thats fraud. and THATS what I have a problem with!!!’
– who would ever think that a $30 bag purchased in Chinatown is EVER the real deal? In the earlier days when unless you lived in NYC or LA, it was nearly impossible to get designer items, and possibility for being fooled was much greater, but right now, you can be anywhere from Montana to Tijuana, and order the real thing directly from designer site or the likes of eLuxury/net-a-porter.

By: Jahpson

Jahpson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:41:24 +0000

might I also, add that although some folks dont think buying a fake is a big idea..fine.

but when you told that the bag you purchased is real and you spent a lot of money on it, only to find out it was worth barely a fraction, well thats fraud. and THATS what I have a problem with!!!

if I spend even a dollar on a bag, it better have some use into it. no threads coming loose, no “leather” fading away. it has to be of quality.

I can get a nice handbag at Macy’s for about $20 and it lasts me about 5 years. I have a Chanel handbag for over a year now and it STILL looks brand new.

what am I going to get out of a fake? be it “quality” or not? waste of money and waste of time!!

By: Jahpson

Jahpson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:13:42 +0000

why oh why would anyone buy a fake? when there are better quality bags in middle of the line department stores? doesnt make sense to me.

By: Chi town Chanel

Chi town Chanel — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:31:12 +0000

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