State of the fake report. Research shows the most faked luxury items.
Seen a deal online that is too good to be true? Unfortunately, it possibly is. As anyone who has been on a holiday and visited night markets around the world, they have probably seen a range of “designer” goods at a fraction of the retail price. Luxury goods are some of the most highly sought-after items in many people’s wardrobes, and as a result the luxury fake industry is a multi-BILLION dollar global industry. This industry unfortunately is not regulated, and many goods are produced at low costs and often employ workers in squalid conditions. It displaces billions of dollars in legitimate business activity, which then reduces tax revenues for public services, investment, and innovation. Counterfeiting also contributes to criminality and exposes consumers to potentially dangerous and ineffective products. In 2017 alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies seized nearly 35,000 shipments of fake products, 15 percent of which were apparel and accessories.
At Bec and Bel we take our role of curators of luxury brands quite seriously. As a result, we are one of only a limited number of partners in Australia who work with Entrupy.com – the world’s leading authenticator of fake and imitation luxury items. At our Sydney consignment store we have the facility to check our consigned items and inspect them visually and with this incredible software.
So, how does it work?
Entrupy currently supports 15 of the world’s most popular luxury brands. Entrupy is used by hundreds of secondary retailers and marketplaces around the world to authenticate handbags and accessories from the most popular high-end luxury brands. In 2018, Entrupy performed authentications on nearly $50 million of merchandise, more than double the total in 2017. Most of the items not certified as Authentic (referred throughout this report as "Unidentified") were of “very good” to “super-fake” quality. The Entrupy authentication solution consists of a proprietary, handheld scanner and accompanying app that guides the user through the process of collecting microscopic images from different areas of the item. These images are processed using customized deep learning algorithms that have been trained with Entrupy’s proprietary database. The results, returned in seconds for most items, will either result in certification as Authentic or identification as Unidentified.
Each year Entrupy publishes a list of the most faked or “unidentified” items from its authentication database, each year the numbers grow as more checks are carried out, and sadly more fakes are produced around the world.
Number one on the list... Louis Vuitton is the most frequently counterfeited brand in the world. Not only a function of its own popularity, but this is also aided by the fact the brand has changed relatively little since it was founded 150 years ago. Because Louis Vuitton has produced many of the same styles and uses the same materials decade after decade, counterfeiters have had more time to develop near-perfect replicas – there are some seriously good fakes out there. This is even more reason why visual inspection alone is an unreliable way to tell a knock-off from the real deal.
The list changes from year to year, but consistently the top brands remain the most imitated brands on the planet. This is pretty similar to what we see at Bec and Bel. Desirability, rareness, and prestige drive this market. When looking to resell your items consider a partner such as Bec and Bel, or if buying... buy secure.
The list 2019
Source: Entrupy.com
Bec and Bel are a luxury consignment store located in Lane Cove - Sydney Australia. We work with trusted partners and use our experience to give you peace of mind. Check our online store for a range of luxury, curated items.
