If you’re a young, working fashion lover like me, you’re probably working hard & slowly saving up to buy yourself a pair of designer shoes or a fancy designer handbag. All that would be for nothing if either you or I had to shop at the Louis Vuitton store located at the Oberoi Hotel in Marine Drive. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the police raided the store and seized fake handbags branded as Louis Vuitton. The bigger shocker (yes, even bigger than selling dupes) was that the store was even manufacturing them in their very own loft. Talk about being self sufficient!
Many customers obviously caught on to this and contacted the headquarters in Paris and even called in the Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights who seized a total of 64 fake bags from them.
From LV bags to Kylie Lip Kits, the dupe market is thriving in India simply because we fail to discern what’s real and fake. To save yourself and your hard-earned money here are a few things you can keep in mind while buying your next Louis Vuitton handbag:
1. The Monogram
The monogram will be one of the biggest signs that show whether a bag is real or fake. The fake bags will have the LV touching or weirdly distant whereas the authentic one will have the V perfectly placed over the L like this:
2. The Design Pattern:
Any authentic LV bag will have an diagonal design pattern which goes; LV monogram > Four petal fleur-de-lis > Circular flower > Four petal fleur-de-lis > LV monogram. Take note that if any of these symbols are begin half or even 1/4th on one side of the bag, the other end of the bag it must also end with the other half like this:
3. The Handles
Authentic bag handles are made of vachetta leather which fades to a darker colour over time. If your bag handle isn’t darkening, you’ve probably been duped into purchasing a fake LV. You can test this out by rubbing the leather handle with baby wipes to check. If it darkens, you’ve got a winner! (Image Source: Lollipuff.com)
4. The Main Stamp
Here are a few simple things to observe on the Louis Vuitton stamp next time you purchase a bag.
- The tail on the L of Louis is short.
- The O’s are very round and almost look larger than the L.
- The T’s are so close that they almost touch each other.
- Lettering will always be crisp, clean & thin.
Check out the difference between the real and fake stamp below:
(Image Source: Lollipuff.com)
Authentic Louis Vuitton (Source: Lollipuff.com)
Louis Vuitton Dupe (Source: Lollipuff.com)
7. The Date Coding
The date coding or the date stamp is one of the biggest indicators that will tell you whether a bag is real or fake. To find the date on LV bag, check behind the pocket and you will find an alpha-numeric code that will always begin with two letters which indicate which country the bag was manufactured in. You can easily find which date codes stand for which countries anywhere on the internet.
(Image Source: Lollipuff.com)
Let us know if you know any other tips and tricks to identify a fake designer handbag in the comments below!
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