Authentic Items Verses Fakes

Before I start this, I want to say that judging the authenticity of designer purses, the primary point of this article, is difficult. Every time you think you have it nailed, along comes a spoiler item that makes you re-think your criteria. I study actual purses (mostly vintage purses), on line auctions, purse retail sites, and talk to retailers, but over the years there have been dozens upon dozens of changes to designer purse lines and their signature features, and nowadays may designers are having their purses assembled in China and other such countries. That leaves the main criteria to always look for is quality - quality - quality!

Some of the hottest items on eBay are designer fashions and accessories. Designer names are big money and that attracts counterfeiters like crazy, especially the duplicating of items such as watches and women's purses. A counterfeit today is not just a similar style product, but it can be a near duplicate. They say that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", but duplication for the soul purpose of stealing sales from another company and conning money from the unwary consumer is out-and-out theft. From what I have seen, these counterfeiters consistently use inferior parts, cutting corners and cost wherever they can, and they are sloppy in their workmanship so that the consumer gets, literally, a cheap product. Designer thieves have no shame, they go so far as to label their fakes with real designer names so as to fool consumers. I have never been to Canal Street in New York, but that is the most common location that I hear associated with counterfeit designer items.

There have been newspaper articles giving information that the huge sums of money scammed by counterfeit designer items is going directly to terrorists. Please consider this carefully before you knowingly buy a counterfeit purse. If it's for sale on the streets cheap then there's a good chance it is stolen or counterfeit. When I see someone carrying a counterfeit purse I am shocked and repulsed that they would help support terrorists.

Fakes are also common in collectibles and antiques, but that is a smaller market and many of us will never be exposed to that area of imitations. This article mostly addresses designer fashions, primarily women's purses.

UPDATE!

Distinguishing fakes has gotten more difficult now. With the changing times, many designer fashions are now out-sourcing to China, especially when it comes to accessories. Now it really requires you to look for quality and little touches that might be missing in a fake.

Below are some helpful ideas for authenticating purses. Please note that I do not claim to be an expert and I have no contact with any of these companies. What I am writing are my own observations and opinions. Before making a decision, you should do your own reading and research.

A general note about purses. In my experience, most of the "expensive", designer purses are leather, but not all, Kate Spade is big into fabric purses and spring purses are often straw. While some leathers can be hard and stiff to the touch, I have found that most high quality women's purses are made with softer leathers and nice linings, imitations often skimp on the linings. Just a cursory glance at a purse can give you an idea of it's quality. A plastic lining is generally a dead giveaway and a hard, stiff exterior (unless it is suppose to be that way) should signal you that you should take a good, hard, second look. Some western style purses are stiff and hard, but I think that is more of an exception.

The second general rule of thumb is that "vintage" items that once touted the fact that they were made in the USA, or France, or Italy, should not normally say "Made In China" or "Made In Korea", though some leather products might have been manufactured in places like South America. However, if the company normally did leather items (remember we are talking "vintage"), but they wanted to add products in a straw, weave, or fabric to their line, they might have contracted with a Chinese or Korean company so it can be confusing.

SPECIAL NOTE: Today many name brand designer companies out-source some or all of their products to places like China. they might buy their leathers some place like the USA, but have them assembled in China, this way they can say their products are made with USA leather. This choice by these designer companies makes it more difficult to distinguish fakes from real; the best that you can do is watch for details, as fakes still generally cut corners.

It is not easy to out-think the counterfeiters, even people who have been buying and selling purses for years can still get fooled. You have to think through ALL of the features of an item to determine if it is authentic.

In some areas of buying and selling on auction sites, the problem is not counterfeiters, but mistakes, counterfeit products can be difficult to determine and accidents can happen. Additionally, an item can be real and a novice can confuse it for a fake. Before you accuse someone of selling a fake item, contact them and open a discussion.

Books:

Stephen King First Editions
http://home.kc.rr.com/criticalpath/skfirsts.htm

Hardy Boys Books
http://hardyboys.bobfinnan.com/hb3.htm

Designer Products:

Other designer discussion web sites:

http://www.designersla.com/2007/11/made-in-china-designer-handbag-fashion.html

Brighton: Is very popular with the younger women, but equally fashionable for all ages. Their leather purses are extremely popular, but Brighton has a whole line of accessories including belts and jewelry. Brighton also has or had a line of items with a western flair.

Point 1 - Many of their vintage purses have a weave look.

Point 2 - Brighton's signature is a heart shaped hang tag on some items.

Point 2 - Their vintage leather purses were made in America. Today many designer purses and accessories are made in China. These companies might use American leathers, but the assembly is quite often done in China.

Point 3 - Brighton purses may have a statement on the inside pocket.

Brighton statement: Generally on a leather tag on the inside pocket. "Brighton - The Brighton Collection handbag are individually crafted from the finest American leathers. Any markings on the surface are part of the natural beauty, texture and character of the leather which make each bag unique. No. 429980". (Today it generally says made in China.)

Burberry: Is a very popular British fashion company. Their trademark plaid design is in huge demand, just the ribbon (such as is shown in the picture below) can sale for about ten dollars each on secondary markets such as eBay.

Coach: For the people really into leather, Coach is very popular for their nice leather purses, briefcases, and more. Like any company, they have many products and those products can differ, but the traditional Coach style, that they built their name one, is a soft leather exterior and rough-out leather interior purse and briefcase.

Point 1 - Coach places a quality "creed" statement on their leather items, such as purses and briefcases, which is normally stamped into the leather on the inside pocket. From my experience Coach has used a couple of variations in their statement (see below). While Coach has some purses with "justified" text in their creed statement, it is one feature that seems to be common to many counterfeiter purses and briefcases, the words in the statement of an item produced by a counterfeiter are often justified (justified is a printing term for the spreading of words and spaces out so that they fill each line, even if it looks silly by having large spaces between words and/or letters). Large gaps between the words might be a giveaway that it is a fake statement therefore a fake product. The difference seems to be that a counterfeit with justified text is poorly stamped and has huge gaps, maybe gaps between letters, it is hard to explain, it just looks wrong.

Point 2 - Coach purses may have a hang tag, which is often leather, that generally says simply "COACH"

Point 3 - Coach is a USA company. While I believe that at one time Coach did not out-source any items to China, from a conversation with a Coach employee, it seems they now manufacture much of their merchandise in China. So don't be shocked to see "Made In China" on Coach items, just look for the Coach quality and real leather.

Examples of Coach Creed Statements:

Coach Statement: "Coach - This is a Coach bag. It was handcrafted in the United States of completely natural glove-tanned cowhide. The variations in the grain are characteristic of natural full-grain leather. No. A8C-9098".

Coach Statement: "Coach - This is a Coach bag. It is made out of completely natural glove-tanned cowhide. The scars, scratches, veins, and wrinkles are natural markings characteristic of full-grain leather. Made In New York City, U.S.A. No. 736-3227".

Coach Statement: "Coach - This is a Coach bag. It was handcrafted in the Dominican Republic of completely natural glove-tanned cowhide. The variations in the grain are characteristic of natural full grain leather. No. F3X-9950".

Example of a justified text.

Dooney & Bourke: For years Dooney & Burke was famous for their durable, leather purses with tan leather trim and the "easy to see from a distance" duck leather logo that was prominent on most of their items. The world spins on and times change, today Dooney & Burke items are as colorful and as varied as the shades of a rainbow. These comments are primarily addressing the Dooney & Bourke traditional vintage leather purses, wallets, briefcases and so on.

Point 1 - The first thing to look for in an authentic vintage Dooney and Bourke is the tag; it is a very small, fabric tag in red and blue on a white background. One side of a vintage tag it says "USA" and the other side has a set of registration numbers. Fakes typically leave-off the set of numbers on the reverse side so always check the back side of the tag.

Point 2 - Dooney & Burke fakes range from poor imitations to very good counterfeits so you have to look at every feature special to a Dooney item, especially the purses. The poor imitation are a little easier to spot, they will typically be made from a stiff, shiny leather (almost plastic look) and the tan trim will be a little too orange.

Point 3 - A real Dooney & Bourke uses brass hardware for attaching the carry handles and shoulder straps, etc. Sometimes the attaching hardware will say "Dooney Bourke" on a real Dooney item, but mostly it will say "SOLID BRASS". Newer purses might lean towards their name on the hardware.

Point 4 - A real telling feature is the attaching hardware for the handles, on a real Dooney purse the brass hardware pieces are often little round balls, like metal beads, or sometimes round pointed brads, on something like a drawstring tote, but on many fake purses the attaching hardware pieces that are used are flat, round disk pieces.

Point 5 - Generally on the older leather Dooney purses, the outside is leather and the inside is rough-out leather, not plastic or vinyl.

Point 6 - Dooney & Bourke is a USA company and their vintage "Made In USA" leather items shouldn't say "Made In China".

Falchi: Is a big fashion name, they have colorful, active fashion purses.

Fendi: Is a very popular fashion name.

Ferragamo: Is another high class fashion name.

Fossil: Fossil purses and watches, etc. are very popular as mid-priced, upper quality products. Fossil has a nice leather line of purses, and they also feature very attractive spring straw and fabric purses. I particularly like Fossil purses myself.

Point 1 - Fossil purses have a quality statement on most of their leather items, but it is not an absolute, especially on small purses, it might only have their Fossil name logo. Straw and fabric purses often just have a leather tag on the inside pocket that says "Fossil".

Point 2 - Many Fossil purses sport their trademark metal "key" hanging on a strap or in the case of fabric purses the key might be wood and so on.

Point 3 - The Fossil purses that I have seen all have the "FOSSIL" name repeated on the purse lining.

Point 4 - From what I have seen, Fossil out-sources to China, which makes it harder to spot a fake. My own new Fossil purse, that was purchased at Macy's, says "Made In China".

Fossil statement: On the larger leather purses there is generally a square leather tag on the inside pocket which says "Fossil - All Fossil products are handcrafted from the finest top grain leathers available. - Genuine Leather Product. 75082".

Gucci: Gucci has long been an IN name in designer fashions and is a popular name to counterfeit. However, one of the biggest problems is with imitation purses, that are not counterfeits, they are looks-similar-too purses. These imitation purses don't steal the Gucci name, but the use a pattern that looks very much like the double GG that is the Gucci trademark.

Point 1 - Vintage Gucci purses were made in Italy.

Kate Spade: Kate Spade purses and their other items such as diaper bags are extremely fashionable and in demand designer products. They are known as Kate Spade of New York.

Point 1 - The number one telling feature of a vintage Kate Spade purse is that there is a tiny little tag inside the inside pocket that looks like a little American flag.

Point 2 - A huge give away with many fake Kate Spade purses is that the "kate spade new york" name tag on the outside is just glued on; a real Kate Spade name tag is sewn on. (Notice that a real Kate Spade uses lower case letters in the name tag.)

Point 3 - As mentioned previously, fakes are inferior products and in the case of Kate Spade knock-offs, the fakes are often so stiff that you can barely open them to even look inside. The difference between the fake and real is like the difference between poster board and cardboard; the real purse is firm, but flexible, the fake is cardboard stiff.

Point 4 - The real Kate Spade purses and their other fabric bags are make of a nice quality fabric and in fashionable colors or plain black, blue, brown, etc. Fakes are generally made with cheap, thin fabric and often in unfashionable patterns.

Point 5 - Don't expect a vintage Kate Spade of New York purse to have a "Made In China" label. They had "Made In USA" tags, but times have changed and they may out-source to China now.

Here is a site that has numerous pictures of Kate Spade tags:
http://ihatecounterfeitbags.info/katespadelabels

Prada: Prada is a modern status symbol designer name used in such movies as "Legally Blonde". Prada items are very popular and very much duplicated by counterfeiter.

Point 1 - Prada's is not a Chinese or Korean company, but they may out-source to China.

Ralph Lauren: Is an upscale fashion name for everything from purses and clothes to sheets, comforters, and pillows.

Sharif: Sharif is long been the popular designer name for leather, colorful purses.

Point 1 - Sharif purses normally have a metal"Sharif" name tag on the inside pocket.

Point 2 - Vintage Sharif purses were a USA product.

Louis Vuitton: Louis Vuitton makes very expensive fashion items. Their purses are in big demand and they are one of the harder designer items to spot a fake. In their monogram styles, the "LV" logo is repeated in certain patterns and quantity, especially noticeable on the smaller items such as wallets.

Louis Vuitton luggage is also a big demand item, below are some pictures of a couple of older luggage pieces.

Point 1 - Louis Vuitton uses some process on their monogram purses that lends a luster to their leather, so fakes that are shiny can sometimes be mistaken for real. The real leather LV purses are flexible and have some luster, verse the fakes I have seen that are stiff and too shiny. The leather straps on the real LVs are a true leather, while the fakes are a stiff, almost plastic look. (Some of the newer purses are harder to distinguish).

Point 2 - On some monogram LV purses such as the speedy bag (a basic carry hand bag) the LV logo pattern might wrap around from one side to the other with no seam so that on one side the "LV" is up and on the other side of the purse, as it wraps upward, the "LV" is upside down. But this is not always the case, sometimes the pattern runs the same on each side (see the pictures below).

Point 3 - The lining of a Louis Vuitton purse should be a good quality.

Point 4 - Louis Vuitton purses have a tag inside with a registration number; the tags feel sort of like paper. I have seen older LV purses that seemed real that did not have tags, I do not know if the tags were torn out or if older LV purses did not have tags.

Point 5 - Louis Vuitton is an Italian company and will say so on vintage items.