I have drafted an article for Rehash that raises the question of fake (aka replica) goods. But I would like to hear the Rehash community’s thoughts about these items. Whether you love them, hate them, abhor the child labor issues or just don’t give it much thought. I’m interested to hear what you have to say.

Please post your comments here so we can build a dialogue. I will upload the article (after Orlando’s review) later this month!

Lomita (near Los Angeles), CA

i have to admit i own several replica goods. i like some of them & some of them are certainly not very good replicas. i am a fan of designer fashion but can’t afford them. there have been a few times that i have thought about the replicas being ripoffs to the original designers & i have tried to reason with myself that my one little bag doesn’t hurt anything since the designers are selling all of those things for such offensive prices but then that little person on my shoulder reminds me there are millions of knockoffs out there & in essence we are stealing. i have really mixed feelings about these things that i own & in reality the police could actually knock down my door, snatch my bags & haul my butt off to jail. i might as well be harboring a fugitive or stashing drugs in my home. good lord, who ever thought my cute little burberry (faux) backpack could cause such a dilemma. but in the end, find me guilty, throw the book at me but just don’t take my fake designer bag…...

orange beach, al

there is a big post on swapstyle about the same thing. there is a article in harper’s bazaar they used as a reference, now i really feel crappy about my stuff, but only for a minute is that wrong ? does anyone else have any thoughts???

orange beach, al

Where does everyone think the “real” designer items are being made? Most are not being made in the US by well~paid workers. These companies are making $ hand over fist & market to others who are making hand over fist.

Does anyone remember when Cathy Lee Gifford got caught? Ok, her Walmart clothing surely is not designer but she can certainly afford designer items.

Read: The young women working in the plant for Kathy Lee were found to be of thirteen to fifteen years of age 1 . The workers were not allowed to take breaks, or have a drink of water if they were thirsty. They were forced to work overtime and pull twelve-hour shifts if the plant had to meet with deadlines. Like many offshore assembly plants, Global Fashion was a humiliating place to work. About 80 percent of the sewers in Kathy Lee?s plant were women, the majority of them very young. The women had to raise their hands to use the bathrooms, which were kept locked. Bathroom visits were limited to two per day. The women were not allowed to talk to each other during work. They were physically searched on the way into the plant for candy or food, which was prohibited. The supervisors scream at them all day to work faster and faster. As a result, those workers who were interested in attending night school would not do so. Workers worked in hideous conditions where they were not allowed to take breaks, not even to relieve themselves. Furthermore, the machines they were using were rust laden and prone to accidents. Furthermore, the machines they were using were rust laden and prone to accidents. Additionally, those women were being paid only thirty-one cents, and they were obstructed from learning about their rights as laborers so that they could not voice their opinions about their rights. Global Fashion has hired at least four armed guards, who are used to intimidate the young women. Every attempt by the women to meet to learn their legal rights is disrupted. Every attempt to organize themselves to defend their most basic human rights has been met with threats and illegal firings. One more: Kathy Lee Gifford, a famous actress, a singer and a television talk show host, came under srutiny in 1995 because her line of women?s clothing was allegedly being made by child labor. Kathy lee obviously refuted the allegations. This is not an isolated case however. Nike, Gap, Guess, Bodyshop and many more manufacturing companies came under scrutiny in recent years due to their labor laws violations in overseas.

Now, should we feel guilty for even searching this site for clothing, etc. after reading the above articles?

I say count your blessings.

i don’t think this is limited to only clothing & such, look around your home & see all the different countries all of your belongings are imported from. most of the countries have little or no labor laws. yet if you look at the price of items made in the USA, they are so high a lot of people can’t afford them. it is a just a cold hard fact that child/slave labor will always exist. do we like it, no can we stop it, probably not. and don’t forget all of our beautiful diamonds & gemstones we all wear, how many people have lost limbs & lives for them. i wish i had the answer, do any of you ? if so, i would love to hear more on this subject…....

orange beach, al

This is awesome input. Please keep it coming!

Lomita (near Los Angeles), CA

I so agree with you Alicia! As long as there are people out there willing to purchase these items companies will be finding ways to make even more money. Almost ALL of the clothes we wear are made in other countries. Are we, the consumer to blame? Perhaps if the gazillionnaire CEO’s were willing to take a pay cut so AMERICAN workers can actually have jobs they can support themselves with. Ha!

The answer? I have the answer. Stop worrying about what truly is not important. Are designer bags truly important? Is keeping up with the Jone’s truly important? Is dressing a toddler in designer onesies truly important? No. If everyone thought this way & stopped purchasing there would be no need for fakes & knock-offs.

Unfortunately there will ALWAYS be the rich & powerful telling us what we “need” to be “happy” in America. There will always (hopefully not!) a 3 class system, the rich, the middle class & the poor. There will always be the Paris Hilton’s of the world that young girls aspire to be (lord only knows why!) & there will always be magazines, television, strip clubs or whatever other favorite past time to “pass the time” away that we should be thinking of what is truly important.

Just a short note not about clothing. My husband works for a company whose owner purchases a brand new Bentley every year with CASH. He also owns a factory in Japan where he pays his workers 25 cents per hour.

Is it all as simple as I stated above? Of course not. The have nots will always want what the have’s have. Perhaps what we truly need is for this recession to get as bad as the Great Depression to put things into perspective.

If you ask me I think we need to put Project Mayhem into action. :)

I guess we are already a small part of the solution….we trade….which means that we buy less and consume less which leads to less products that have to be produce by child-slave-labor-—-—- wait-a-min..——maybe we are part of the problem, since this will probably do some harm to the economy…if we don’t keep on buying more stuff, people will no longer need to produce those stuff and lose their jobs, etc…..and there goes my stocks….LOL (they’re already almost gone) But, seriously though: 1. I don’t think it’s fair to cheat and copy someone else idea, but however; this copying someone’s idea have lead us to better things as well. Take the first car, first computer, etc….by copying that idea and perfecting it, we now have better cars, computers, etc….and there are competitions so the prices don’t go up as high as they would if it’s a monopoly. 2. I feel very sorry for the people that were bought and sold into slavery and have no choice but do or die. which means they have to work non-stop or worse things happen to them. No one should live this way. As for the ones that get paid to do the job, they can just quit if they don’t like it. They have a CHOICE. I don’t know bout u, but if I get a job that make my life worse, then its common sense to quit. It would just sound even more stupid of me to complaint about it when I have a choice. 3. I know I start to sound very mean here. Just stating what I see through my eyes. I might be completely wrong in someone else eyes, but we are unique individuals. 4. I think some things are an issue out of selfishness anyways. Big rich company start loosing money, they start making a big emotional deal about something that’s not that big, putting thoughts in people’s heads and everyone get piss off trying to fix that issue for them. All the advertisements/commercials and thoughts that’s being put in our heads; we start becoming robots. Our feelings and who we are, are now define by what material things we have and own…........But…there is always a but….BUT….All those advertisements/commercials are also good for the economy, and keep us moving forward (as far as material things and knowledge about those material things goes—like the internet and this computer that I’m typing on)...(Not sure if this is good or bad, depending on the person i guess).

So, my answer to the original question. I think it’s both bad and good depending on which angle you’re looking from.

SHERIDAN, IN

I don’t think expensive name-brand bag designers should be worried if there are copy-cats….....If their stuff really is the Sh!t, then they will still get customers who are looking for that quality…..they should be somewhat flattered….unless they are worried about something(s) else, and they are playing the card “child-labor” to get everyone all emotional. (I’m totally against child-labor, and it doesn’t matter who we blame, (the parents, the company, the neighbor, the economy, the dogs, cats, ourselves, etc…..) Those children are still paying the price. — I think the NAME BRAND itself is causing a lot of this though, they put thoughts in people heads, people go crazy over their Name, so many wants it and so few have the money. That’s why there’s the Fake stuff which really piss-off the Name-brand company--so here we have lots of issues-—--

I honestly don’t think that the company that make a certain copy-cat of bags/clothes will go out of business if they can’t make copy-cat anymore.

They will still hire children to work for them and will still make something else…..They make money off these childrens, and it doesn’t matter what they make, they will do it as long as they make money-—-—-same goes for a lot of for-profit companies-——-

—--So much selfishness in this material/superficial world-- If we all try to do without and only use what we need, maybe we won’t have a lot of problems….(including money-issues LOL).......If in our heads everyone is just as cool as us no matter what material things they wear or own…..we wouldn’t be paying hundreds $$$ of dollars for a handbag.

SHERIDAN, IN

I would prefer a beat-up, used authentic bag to a fake any day of the week and twice on Sunday

Virginia

Replica goods are ok if they look completely like the original. And they should be worn to select places where fashionable names don’t matter a lot.

NewDelhi, Delhi

well if its true and most things are made in these conditions there is not much we can do. What are we supposed to do buy clothes we cant afford cause they’re made in the US or go naked? even if we did that there are enough people in this country who dont care so the forced labour will go on til, forever really (IMO)

just keep in mind not every gal can afford authentic

I think the real problem with people are their misgivings about ‘class’ and worries of how other people perceive them. I’ve seen women wearing plain white t-shirts and well fitting jeans look a hell of a lot better than a woman covered in logos. If you want to look good then it’s all about fit, proportion, color tones, etc. Take care of what you have! And guess what? If you really want a real Coach bag (or what have you), why not save up for however long it takes and then purchase one? Wouldn’t that be more rewarding?! People can be really impulsive and impatient for material things. :(

Isn’t seeing knockoff items on here kind of odd to anyone else too? You are wanting to make an impact on the planet or your wallet but are willing to trade items for the pretense of appearance? Superficial much?

San Antonio, Texas

My thoughts:

Designer goods are a mark of class. Some are perceived as a mark of quality. Designer goods have more value because celebrities wear them. Easiest way to become a designer: pay a celebrity to wear your designs. Celebrities are like gods in our society so whatever the “gods” wear, the people want to wear too, to indirectly emulate them. This has been proven several times and it is even considered a “strategy” in marketing to use a celebrity to endorse your product.

I’m not too fond of designer goods. It’s disgusting for me sometimes actually. I don’t understand why people would buy (and wear) a simple T-shirt (probably made in Vietnam) that will have something like the Armani logo. You’re paying $50 to advertise for this company. I just don’t get it. That money didn’t go the workers, it didn’t go to the host country’s government as a tax for polluting their environment or slowly killing their people, it probably went to pay Kate Moss or whoever they got to market them. There’s research that shows that most brand name products (are the same as and) cost more than generic ones because of the cost in marketing.

Anyway, back to the question. Are replicas bad? I don’t think so. There’s a reason why people who want these brands so there are people who are going to give it to them. All of us need people to look up to. We can’t afford True Religion so we’ll settle for the next best thing. Replicas create another industry for people. Sweatshops are bad but everyone uses them, as we can tell from Nike or Kathy Ireland or whoever. Exact replicas are against the law though… but Rebok isn’t Reebok.

Long Beach, CA

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Midwest, USA