3 ms·

So a forger can make a knock off and try to sell it for $1,800; or for $200; or a bad similar bag and sell it for $50. I don't know why they don't make nice bag

So a forger can make a knock off and try to sell it for $1,800; or for $200; or a bad similar bag and sell it for $50. I don't know why they don't make nice bags for $200. Interesting enough, this happens; there are high quality fakes as well as poor quality. I've sat down with the head of brand enforcement for a major fashion house, held the different fake items, and seen what can be made. There are different grades of counterfeit available, which basically boil down to three: the cheap and nasty; something nice (the $200 example); and something incredible. The latter is particularly interesting; sometimes a counterfeiter will understand the brand so well, the cuts, styles and use of materials that define them, and come up with entirely new ranges that have never and will never be made by the authentic manufacturer. I've had more than one brand manager tell me that in any other situation, the designer behind the items would be able to walk into a job with them due to their new designs being so good.

mmariani 14y ago
I've had more than one brand manager tell me that in any other situation, the designer behind the items would be able to walk into a job with them due to their new designs being so good. Thank you for telling us your experience. That was exactly the point I was trying to get through. The market that buys cheap to reasonable copies would never be able to pay the premium price of the original merchandise, thus there's no loss there. However, the role of the high quality counterfeiter and the market that they aim for should be better understood in order to be economically explored. Though not by litigation, but by normal market channels. In the end, instead of paying lawyers to pursue the lost revenue, we could create new brands that would fit the expectations of these unharvested markets.

mmariani 14y ago

I've had more than one brand manager tell me that in any other situation, the designer behind the items would be able to walk into a job with them due to their new designs being so good. Thank you for telling us your experience. That was exactly the point I was trying to get through. The market that buys cheap to reasonable copies would never be able to pay the premium price of the original merchandise, thus there's no loss there. However, the role of the high quality counterfeiter and the market that they aim for should be better understood in order to be economically explored. Though not by litigation, but by normal market channels. In the end, instead of paying lawyers to pursue the lost revenue, we could create new brands that would fit the expectations of these unharvested markets.