Just last week I visited Lisbon, Portugal and I was amazed by the city. The old buildings, alleys, old churches, and the tiled streets made it look like a postcard. One thing I noticed was the amount of fake designer bags – not the real ones – scattered all over the place. It made me feel like I was in a bad dream.
I was so shocked that I did a little research and learned about the fake bags being sold everywhere. It turns out that in Lisbon, there is no real quality assurance when it comes to buying designer bags, which means that a lot of people are buying fake ones. It’s no wonder why there are so many fake bags in circulation.
At first, I thought it was really unfair for all the designers who put so much effort into designing these beautiful designer bags only to have their designs replicated poorly with low quality materials. I even had to stop myself from getting them since I’m such a sucker for designer items. However, I’m glad I didn’t cave in as the quality difference between the real thing and the fake one was easily noticeable. I mean, it was obvious that it was fake even before I looked at the price tag.
A few locals and even some tour guides I talked to told me that it’s very difficult for them to differentiate between the real ones and the fake ones since it’s so hard to come across real designer bags in Lisbon. They were the ones that told me that it’s become a bit of an issue for some people. It does make some sense since without better quality assurance, it’s only natural for fake bags to appear on the market.
At the same time, I can’t help but admire the craftsmanship of the fake bags ‘makers’. Some of the fake bags I saw were actually quite good and only a few details were done poorly. For example, the shape and texture of some of the bags had been perfectly replicated from the original bag. If only these ‘makers’ used their skills to create something new instead of misrepresenting the originals, I’m sure they’d be successful.
All in all, I had a great time in Lisbon, except for the fake bags. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of quality assurance, but I think this is something the city needs to look into. In my opinion, if the city had better quality assurance laws, it would be more difficult for these ‘makers’ to reproduce designer pieces.