Hey, That’s My Bag!

The bag is one of the most basic accessories of a woman. (Guys, you can read this too!) They come in different shapes and sizes, colours and shades (light or dark), function and capacity. A bag tells much of a person’s personality, her taste or even her line of work. It’s the place where personal belongings are stored to be carried from place to place or where secrets are kept that are not supposed to be left at home. From the very basic colour of the past, bags can now be can found in all the colours you can think of. 

But the personal story of the bag doesn’t end here. From the very expensive designer bags comes the production of the cheap and not so cheap knock - off or sophisticatedly called, Replica bags. Knock – off Louis Vuittons, Cartiers, and Gucci handbags are being made in factories in China. The craftsmanship is inferior in these bags that can be seen as puckered seams, low quality leather, and large and uneven stitching. A diplomat friend of mine mentioned to me once how surprised he was to notice the increase of designer bags being carried around by the women (young and old, rich looking and the otherwise, not so rich looking) in his country. But my question was, are they all real?

I think there are two categories of people who are trapped into buying the knock - off products. First are those who are not aware of such big designer names. They see the bag, they think it looks good, it will serve them the purpose for which they will buy it for, the price is okay then they buy it. Not even knowing that they were trapped into piracy or that they pay half more because of the fake logo that it carries with. My friend fell into this a year ago and until now, I hope that I was able to hide my sadness when I saw her with it. It was not the cheap imitation kind! The second ones are those who want to pretend to own a designer bag and thought that they can fool people especially when a real Louis Vuitton handbag sells for about 500.00 to 1,000.00 USD. And they are the ones that the Italian police will catch while they walk the streets of Rome. I saw this one instance while I was in Rome.

So what harm does it do to purchase a fake designer handbag? I know that it is a crime to manufacture and sell these bags. And they say that there are a multitude of reasons to not buy knockoffs. But that’s not the point that I’m trying to get here because I don’t really care if you buy them or not! I’m just trying to understand why we don’t give the local bag producers a chance to succeed. I have a favourite leather bag shop in Bangkok where I bought two of my bags. Of course, I can’t deny that they are not the cheapest but they are really durable and beautifully made. 

I think the brand doesn’t matter and fake ones won’t tell much anyway. But to seek the local manufacturers who are skilled in what they do is far more worth supporting than those who produce to deceive. Right? Admit it? There is truth in what I’m saying here.