Nowadays, you can often find high-quality counterfeits of branded clothing from well-known brands such as Lacoste, Nike, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Wrangler, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and many others. Sometimes products cannot be distinguished from the original. Numerous companies, both in Russia and other countries, are engaged in this.
Is a Swiss brand not made in Switzerland considered a counterfeit?
If you do not understand this issue, then you have every chance of buying a fake. But to think that the answer will be unambiguous is fundamentally wrong. It’s worth looking into this and it’s better to do it using the example of Swiss watches.
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry is a non-profit organization in Switzerland. It consists of watch manufacturers (more than five hundred of them), most of which represent brands from this particular country.
However, in the list of industrialists you can see, for example, representatives of Hong Kong and a number of other countries. This suggests that not all parts for Swiss watches are made in Switzerland. And those models whose elements were assembled outside this country also receive the “Swiss Made” label.
In addition, not all Swiss manufacturers carry the “Swiss Made” label. The most expensive and prestigious brands mark their models in a special way, believing that such marking will be the best guarantee of their quality.
Insignia will not protect against counterfeiting. But a person who is planning to buy a real Swiss watch should know that only those models that have been tested after assembly in this country are considered made in Switzerland. In addition, a Swiss mechanism must be installed inside, and the installation procedure must take place only in the territory of this country.
All this means that the watch caliber was assembled in Switzerland, and 50% of all costs for the production of watches and their components were also made within the Swiss border. So the assumption that some parts are not assembled in this country does not make branded models any less Swiss.
There is only one conclusion: if you want to buy a real, respectable watch that emphasizes your status, study all the available information about this brand, including on the manufacturer’s website.
A style expert tells how to avoid getting caught in a fake and buy a quality item
Photo: portal of the mayor and government of Moscow
Marketer Larisa Sputnik, in a conversation with Moscow 24, commented on the results of the inspection of Rospotrebnadzor, which various items of clothing did not pass. The most common violations are dangerous fabric composition and counterfeit of well-known brands.
“To distinguish a fake, you just need to buy a thing only in branded stores. It is clear that counterfeit products are tens of times cheaper than the original ones. I think that there will always be people who knowingly buy a fake. It's popular in our culture. It all depends on the mentality. We have many poor regions that want to somehow improve their status through things,” said the marketer.
I would advise people not to get hung up on brands. It seems to me that clothes that are practical and aesthetically pleasing are popular now. Brands are no longer important. It is better to buy high-quality clothes made from good materials in an inexpensive store than to buy a fake. Larisa Sputnik
marketer
Stylist Olga Epifanova added that the risk of purchasing a fake is too great, since even these same copies can sometimes be given certificates. The expert recommends not to overpay and pay attention to various showrooms that bring clothes, for example, from Italy, Turkey or China.
“You can find a lot of interesting things there that you can’t find in the mass market. The price is about the same, but the items themselves are much more exclusive. There are also many good designers in Russia, whose items can be purchased at reasonable prices,” the expert emphasized.
The marketer noted: in order to avoid various allergies and other problems that can be caused by low-quality fabrics, you should wash a new item before wearing it.
“The fabric manufacturing process involves the use of various chemicals. Accordingly, counterfeit and low-quality products may contain more aggressive chemicals. This leads to many skin reactions,” Sputnik concluded.
Earlier it became known that Rospotrebnadzor withdrew from circulation 11.2% of clothing items inspected during the period from January to September. When translated into quantity, this means that every tenth item of clothing was found to be unwearable. The Izvestia newspaper reports this.
It is noted that the study did not include fur products in the “clothing” category, in which defects were much less common - only in 5.4% of cases among the tested samples.
The situation with shoes turned out to be satisfactory. During the study period, the department found flaws in only 6.1% of pairs. Among the violations were the use of dangerous fabrics and counterfeiting of world brands.
It is clarified that only products recognized as low-quality or dangerous are withdrawn from circulation.
In addition, it is said that the number of low-quality clothing has decreased compared to last year, but retail outlets are still infested with a sufficient number of fake Louis Vuitton or Adidas.
Why you shouldn't buy fakes
Wearing a fake is bad manners and a sign of bad taste. In addition, fake watches quickly fail due to poor-quality mechanisms. And the gilding will peel off even earlier, destroying any resemblance to the original. All that remains is to admire the famous name on the tattered body.
At best, the fake will work for a year, showing inaccurate time from the first day. Real Chinese models may even turn out to be more reliable and better.
But the main thing is not even that the replica will quickly break. Its owner has no idea what the case of the counterfeit watch is made of. The alloy may contain zinc, nickel, lead compounds, and harmful plastic. This cannot be determined by eye.
Like any illegal business, the production of counterfeit watches is illegal. Few people know where the fabulous profits from the sale of counterfeits go. Every year, 30 million branded watches are produced in Switzerland alone, and during the same time, only about 2,000,000 fakes are confiscated and destroyed. It is clear that most of the counterfeit goods remain in circulation.
Types of fake watches
- Superficial fakes
These are the easiest to determine. Usually such wrist copies are made in China, without particularly bothering with either quality or appearance. How to spot a fake watch? Carry out a thorough inspection, resulting in:
- You will be struck by a dial with asymmetrical numbers and divisions, perhaps made of ordinary cardboard. It won’t be noticeable right away, but if water gets inside, the cardboard will warp. There will be no engraving on such a copy, but the inscription “Made in Switzerland” will be required.
- After several days of wearing it on your hand, the coating will begin to peel off from the case.
- The clock mechanism is the know-how of Chinese craftsmen made from cheap materials. The service life will be short, but these Rolexes will be offered to you for pennies.
- Good fakes
Here the quality is an order of magnitude higher than superficial cheap copies; it will be difficult to find a discrepancy.
Take a closer look at the dial - there are no obvious irregularities, but the numbers may move slightly off the line assigned to them. Examine the surface - the paint layer may be uneven. Compare the shape of the arrows: how closely do they correspond to the original.
The main thing that should attract your attention and dispel doubts about the origin of the watch is the inscriptions that are written on it. When making counterfeits, stamps are used to apply them, which leave a clear imprint only on a flat surface. But the watch case has certain curves, and each manufacturer has their own. Therefore, the inscriptions are not uniform in brightness. And since the stamp is used many times, the print becomes blurry over time. These points should alert you when determining the authenticity of a purchase.
The gold body is replaced with a brass one with a thin layer of gold plating, which will definitely be erased, and in some places. The clock mechanism inside is often of completely unknown origin - either Chinese or Swiss, but obtained through smuggling. The type of mechanism may also not correspond to the original: instead of a quartz caliber, as in the original, a mechanical one is inserted into the copy and vice versa. Experienced managers also try to convince the buyer that this is an original modification. You can determine which mechanism is actually in the watch by the movement of the hands: with a mechanical caliber they move smoothly in a circle, but with a quartz caliber they “jump” along the scale.
A cheap fake has a handmade strap with numerous flaws. If they want to sell a counterfeit at a higher price, then the strap will be made better, but it will still be noticeable that this is not a corporate style.
Counterfeits of famous brands
Trends never cease to delight everyone.
Every day new things appear on the fashion markets, but, unfortunately, they are not affordable for everyone. In such cases, people start buying counterfeits of well-known brands because they believe that the difference will not be noticeable. And it makes sense to spend several thousand on the original, because you can buy a good and high-quality copy without overpaying. But free cheese only comes in a mousetrap, so there is also a catch in buying such things.
