Increasingly Difficult To Identify Counterfeit Luxury Goods

A handle of Karineh Gurjian Angelo's Yves Saint Laurent handbag was broken. She took her handbag to a YSL boutique to repair it.

Not only did it not be repaired, but the sales assistant also told her that the handbag was fake.

The sale showed that the bags were not lined correctly, and the details at the bottom were not stamped to prove that the package was not true, which made her feel very ashamed.

"I feel like I am going back to school and being educated in the headmaster's office," Ms. Gurjian-Angelo said.

She is a New York photographer. She often shoots accessories and is very familiar with high-end handbags.

She bought eBay YSL black handbag from 300 dollars to keep her happy.

The low price had made her suspect that it might be a fake, but when she got it, and when the price tag looked like a genuine product, she said she thought, "Wow, it's true."

The new generation of fashion forgery is well made, which makes more people believe that Ms. Gurjian-Angelo has become a victim.

These imitations are completely different from those that sell to consumers who know that they are buying fake goods on sale at the corner of the street, selling cheap imitation packages with "Prado" or "Cucci" logo.

These goods are made of high quality materials, with a brand on the zippers and buckles, as if the place and date of the product are also stamped in the right place.

Even smart shoppers are fooled by them, especially online.

Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer of MarkMonito, says that sellers of counterfeit goods can easily build e-commerce websites that look legitimate. They look like a sale of genuine websites with complete product descriptions, promotional pictures and signs.

They also buy keyword ads for search engines to attract consumers who want to buy cheap products.

MarkMonito is a company that helps companies to protect their brands.

The prices of imitations are rising, making the consumers who want to buy their products at a discount.

Nevertheless, the high price of counterfeit products is only small compared with the price of a genuine product.

Ms. Gurjian-Angelo, YSL genuine.

Second hand markets are often counterfeiters selling fake goods to unsuspecting consumers.

Ebay said it vigorously cracked down on counterfeit goods, and partly used special tools to report products to brands or other intellectual property rights holders.

Ebay says that when the brand thinks the product is untrue, the product will be deleted within a few hours.

Ebay will also independently examine the list of millions of counterfeit products.

EBay Dougherty Dan, a deputy general counsel for intellectual property rights, said in a statement, "counterfeit products on the website are very rare. Buyers' protection will be protected through our buyer protection program."

If the product is not promised by the seller, this protection plan will enable the buyer to return the merchandise.

Ms. Gurjian-Angelo did not take action on her package.

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Some manufacturers are introducing the covert security measures into products, looking for online unauthorized product sales websites, and trying to prevent them from fighting back.

The International Chamber of Commerce estimates that the value of counterfeit and pirated products around the world is about $600 billion, which doubled in 2015.

According to a report from the US customs frontier Protection Agency and the Immigration Customs Law Enforcement Agency of the United States, last year, American law enforcement officers handled nearly 20000 goods infringing intellectual property rights, an increase of 34% from 2010.

In 2001, there were about 3600 pieces.

Government agencies said shoes were ranked first among the items seized, and clothing and handbags ranked third and fourth respectively.

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Vickie Laliotis is a student and a fashion blogger. In a local consignment store, she saw a Chanel bag that she thought was antique.

Before buying it, she looked at the bag carefully.

Metal parts represent the company's name. The front cover is the signature of the brand, the double C logo.

Miss Laliotis even sniffed the scarlet quilt bag to see if it was genuine leather.

Miss Laliotis believed it was true, and bought the bag for more than 100 dollars.

The 27 year old lady living in British Columbia Victoria said, "I think, why do they make a fake product with that nice leather?"

Later, miss Laliotis deduced from the lining and other signs that she bought a fake.

She put the stuffing in her wardrobe.

She said, "I can't bring it. I feel like a cheater."

A new quilted Chanel handbag will cost thousands of dollars.

A spokesman for Chanel said in a statement, "Combating counterfeit goods is a key issue."

And added that the brand spent "considerable financial and human resources" to pursue producers of counterfeit goods.

Chanel said, "some counterfeit leather products do look like genuine products."

The only way to ensure that a handbag is Chanel genuine is to buy directly from Chanel or its authorized retailer.

More than 60% of counterfeit goods seized by US law enforcement officers came from China last year. China has a large number of skilled labor force, and is becoming an increasingly important manufacturing base for luxury goods.

Counterfeit goods from China were increased by 18%, partly due to the seizure by frequent mailing pactions.

Tom Onda, chief intellectual property lawyer at Levi Strauss, said that selling fake products online has made the task of counterfeiting more complex than ever before.

Instead of regulating the flea market and regulating retailers, he said, "it is a difficult task to try to monitor the Internet."

The jeans manufacturer has a team of 40 employees worldwide. Besides, they sell their products on their unauthorized websites.

Levi s said that when the letter of prohibition does not work, the company will shut down the website with internet service providers.

Civil proceedings will also be instituted.

However, the successful closure of the website does not mean that products disappear from the market, Mr. Onda said.

Such sellers often build a new domain name website.

In order to fight against fraud, more brands are applying certification methods to their products.

Levi 's is studying a new labelling technology to help its anti-counterfeiting team determine the authenticity of the product.

Mr. Onda declined to provide specific instructions.

Deborah Greaves, general counsel for legal safety, said the high-end Cowboy brand True Religion clothing company put anti fake design into each pair of jeans.

Mr. Onda and MS. Greaves declined to give specific details, which they fear will affect the safety effects of these measures.

The Applied DNA Sciences company, headquartered in Stony Brook, New York, has a new technology that allows plant DNA to be embedded in fiber products and then made into garments.

The DNA can be detected under a special light and can be specified for a specific brand.

It can not be duplicated.

Applied DNA Sciences's customers include two luxury brands in Europe, but they refuse to reveal their names.

A spokesman for Chanel said that the company used a unique coding method to control the production process of each handbag, which is a bit like the vehicle identification number on the new car, and then printed the unique code on a card and sold it along with the handbag.

For consumers, when they take the product to a formal store for identification, these anti-counterfeiting means will play a role.

Elizabeth Bernstein is a staff member of Portero, an online luxury luxury retailer.

She is responsible for investigating sellers of handbags and leather goods on the website.

Portero guarantees that all the goods sold are genuine, otherwise buyers can refund them in full.

Ms. Bernstein said that luxury metal accessories should have specific markings, texture and weight.

Metal parts should not feel like plastic. They should not sound like tin when they hit each other.

The zipper is pulled effortlessly without any sense of blockage.

Opening and locking should also be very easy.

Most luxury goods are hand sewn, which is one reason why they are expensive, she said.

Imitation is often made by machine.

Manual elements can bring a certain degree of imperfection to the product, but most fake products do not.

Ms. Bernstein is tracking the improvement of counterfeit products.

Recently, a fake Louis Vuitton handbag she found also printed genuine products, such as the year of production, the week and the place of origin.

"These imitations do better every day," Ms. Bernstein said.

LV group (LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA) did not comment on this.

Counterfeit manufacturers are becoming more and more smart, focusing on the quality of those replicas.

Portero website jewelry director Elizabeth Bernstein and WSJ website Holmes Elizabeth are talking about how to identify authenticity.

The manufacturer of Zippo lighters provides a guarantee for life-long maintenance of consumers, but the company will not provide this service for counterfeit goods.

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Elizabeth Bernstein, a luxury testing expert, said that a copy of the Herm s bag can imitate the leather veins of genuine handbags, but it can not imitate the genuine leather's soft feeling.

Other

The pattern on a genuine LV will not be zipped.

How to identify authenticity

New generation

* buy directly from a brand store.

A safe and reliable way to purchase genuine products is to buy new products in the brand's own boutiques.

* find authorized retailers.

If you can't buy directly from a brand store, you can ask for a list of authorized sales.

Chain Corporation, such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, are also reputable sales outlets.

* confirm the authenticity policy when purchasing second-hand goods.

If you purchase goods from a second-hand luxury website or consignment shop, please read carefully or inquire about its sales policy.

To ensure that the Seller guarantees the authenticity of the goods.

* watch out for discounts.

Top luxury brands rarely have deep cut prices.

If a luxury price is more than 25% discount than the retail price, it needs to be cautious.

* check website sales products carefully.

Counterfeiters are becoming more and more smart in selling goods online.

Check the effectiveness of the website, including product pictures and prices.

Another clue: frequently asked questions often contain grammatical errors.