Fashion and Fakes

This is probably quite a controversial topic especially for a blogger to write and I think that it is probably an area in which everyone has an opinion.  Before I start I just want to say that this post is only my thoughts/opinions/experience and that everyone is entitled to theirs and I’d love to know what you think so make sure to comment.

I’m going on holiday to Spain during the summer and for some reason I thought of the markets and the fake/replica bags that I’d seen there and I thought that it might make an interesting post.  There are so many opinions in this area and with a quick search of the internet you can find hundreds of sites that sell fake/replica bags and even sites which recommend which ones are best to shop at.

I found out that there was a study conducted by Professor David Walls entitiled ‘Jailhouse Frocks’ suggests that  fakes were actually not affecting the fashion market as much as was claimed.  It was argued that as not everyone would be able to afford to but one, and therefore the company wasn’t really going to be losing that money.  I have also seen internet post claiming that the fashion industry should not complain as the brand was effectively getting advertising as more people would be walking about with the bag.  I’m not sure I full agree with this – I feel that I can usually always spot a fake bag and I can understand why brands wouldn’t like this ‘free advertising’ as they may not want to be associated with the people that have a replica version of there product.

There was a lot of mixed opinion about the quality with some saying that the fakes/replicas were terrible quality and others saying that there were one that were really good.  I’d never bought any fake/replica products and felt that I couldn’t really give an honest thought without seeing any first (I’d always just walked by them at the markets).  So I bought one online – I bought a replica Mulberry Double Zip Bayswater; just because  know that I will be buying at least one real Mulberry as soon as can.  You can find the real Mulberry Double Zip Bayswater here.

So here it is…

 

I bought this for about £23 and I like it.  I chose this one as I wanted it to look different from the real ones – the real ones don’t come in this colour, and the closest one to this has different hardware, the leather is also different and the one I have has no padlock.

I posted a couple of pictures with me with it on Instagram (I didn’t use #mulberry or anything as I didn’t want to mislead people) but out of the people who had seen or liked the picture no one mentioned or asked if it was fake.  I mean I wasn’t expecting to be bombarded with comments but I though maybe someone might have noticed or perhaps someone did but just didn’t want to say.  I’m not the kind of person that would try and pretend that it’s real; if some was to ask I’d tell them that it was fake.

I know that this bag is no where near the quality of Mulberry bags but I find that for a bag just to throw things in when your going somewhere it’s great; and you can fit so much in.  I have to admit when I bought it although it said it was leather I wasn’t actually expecting it to be.

If there is something that I really hate it’s when people sell fakes/replicas on places like Ebay and try to pass them off as genuine.  I think that this is really unfair on people buying the products believing that they’re real.  I can’t even imagine how I would feel if I’d spent a lot of money on a product that I believed was real only to find out if wasn’t.

There is so much more to say on this topic that I decided to try and condense it before the post got any longer than it was.  I know that there is so much that I haven’t commented on but I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the post.

TL;DR – There are so many opinions about fake goods; both for and against.  The fashion industry may not be losing as much money as they estimate.  Everyone has to make their own choices when it comes to this BUT don’t try and sell fakes pretending that they’re real!

I really want to know your thoughts on this so please leave your comments below! 🙂