Ah man, have I got a story for you. So, apparently a girl I know went out to the mall recently and wanted to treat herself to a nice Gucci messenger bag, but it was way too expensive so she was on the lookout for a knockoff one. As soon as she laid eyes on this one, she knew she had to get it. But it turns out it was a fake Gucci messenger bag in disguise!
I remember feeling like a ton of bricks had crashed into my stomach when she told me the news. She was so excited when she bought it, and here she was, duped again. I couldn’t believe how convincing the cheap copy was, it looked like the real deal, right down to the label. I couldn’t fathom that someone would stoop so low as to make a fraud Gucci messenger bag and try to pass it off as the real thing.
My friend was trying to keep a positive attitude, but it’s hard to be calm when you’ve invested your hard-earned money into something only to find out you’ve been tricked. No one likes to be taken for a ride, let alone for hundreds of dollars. All she wanted to do was buy something nice for herself and this happened.
So I poured myself a glass of wine and started researching how to spot a fake Gucci messenger bag and, man, there were some crazy things to look out for. Things that I would have never even thought of were presented in front of me – stitching, fabric, logo, color, trimmings, zippers, you name it. Some of the fakes even had tags that were written in some weird language, which was apparently a huge giveaway.
My friend actually started to laugh when I started to tell her some of my research as to how to spot a fake – she said that if she had known any of these details, she would have been able to easily spot the Gucci messenger bag was phony.
Well, all I can do now is advise her and others to be extra, extra careful when it comes to buying designer items. Sure, you might be able to get a good deal on something similar, but you’re always at risk for getting something that isn’t the least bit close to the real thing. So if it looks too good to be true, or the price is too low, it might be time to just look the other way because it could be a fake Gucci messenger bag.
Once we started to surface the need to be extra conscious when buying designer items, we started to dig deeper into why one should be wary of buying fake products. It’s hard to fight the urge of wanting to buy everything that looks good or is easy on the pocket, but one should keep in mind that fake products can not only cost more in the long run but also has a large industrial and economic impact; it creates huge financial losses for the companies and brands which then passes onto the consumer. Not only that, but it also harms the craftsmanship, creativity, and overall reputation of the brand(s).
We then honed in on the issue of ‘where do you draw the line between what is real and what is not’. With the rise of online counterfeit goods, it’s hard to tell the difference between a genuine and a fake products. Consequently, it becomes hard to tell which items a person should spend more money whilst avoiding the ones that don’t pass muster. So, be sure to read reviews on the products you are buying from trustworthy websites, and, if possible, check the materials and quality of the product in person before committing to the purchase.
It’s a shame that we live in a world where these fake products are being churned out like confetti, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t stay vigilant to make sure that the unique, creative craftsmanship of the designers and brands stay protected and respected. We need to be extra informed about what we buy and be aware of the implications it has on the product’s value, sustainability, and, most importantly, the trustworthiness of the brand(s).