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I say more power to them! I really don't understand why some fashion accessories are so darn expensive in the first place. If all it means is that a few rich f
by osrec 5y ago
I say more power to them! I really don't understand why some fashion accessories are so darn expensive in the first place.
If all it means is that a few rich folks will feel bad because some poorer people have the same handbag as them at a party, I'm okay with that. They could probably do with being a little less materialistic anyway.
- culturestate 5y agoSo you're saying that it's alright if people commit fraud, as long as it's in an industry that you don't much care about?
- osrec 5y agoNot exactly. I just think the materialistic culture such products perpetuate does more harm than good.
- inopinatus 5y agothe fakes are produced without any supply-chain transparency, so there’s no-one to pressure over using sweatshops, non-renewable materials, toxic production chemicals. but hey, pretty bag is cheaper, that’s what mattered? if you want to stop humans wanting the pretty bag at all, good luck. that’s a hiding to nothing, right there.
- osrec 5y agoMy extended family is responsible for manufacturing a selection of these "luxury" goods, for the official brands. Unfortunately, the supply chain is not quite as clean and ethical as you envisage... Sweatshops are involved in the production of the $20k bags too (or at least the subcomponents).
- inopinatus 5y agoWell, I'm not claiming they are all ethical (although many are); I said that transparency provides leverage to demand improvement, and I'll double down on that by pointing out that real improvement has occurred through exactly these means in sectors from the rag trade to consumer electronics. So, that’s not an effective counterexample, quite the opposite: you’ve identified a specific case that activists could lean on. This is how the world becomes a better place, through transparency enabled by authenticity. Pleas for for everyone to be less materialistic have never moved the needle one iota, but an appeal to ethics is a superficial measure that nevertheless has systemic consequences.
- kortilla 5y agoIf you think designer handbags have any relationship to ethics or sustainability, guess again.
- culturestate 5y agoThat may be true, but it still sidesteps the whole "they're committing fraud" thing. It's not like LVMH or the glitterati that shop in the back room of an Hermés boutique are the ones who get hurt, either. It's the indie designers and the normal people who save up to buy something nice for themselves who pay for it.
- toast0 5y agoDoesn't have to be fraud to be a good counterfeit. It could be sold honestly as a counterfeit.
- culturestate 5y agoI'm not a lawyer, but this just seems like a different kind of fraud - two parties knowingly engaged in a transaction involving counterfeit products, where the victim is the original designer rather than the buyer.
- toast0 5y agoIt's probably a trademark violation, and maybe copyrights and patents do depending on the specific facts, but I wouldn't call those fraud.