To think many designer bags I see are actually fakes

If I see anyone carrying a bag I think they've spent 1000's of £s on, then to be honest I just think they're a bit of a twat 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's interesting hearing people say that essentially if someone doesn't have perfect hair and teeth, then their assumption is that their designer bag must be fake.

My hair has always been the sort to go fluffy at the slightest hint of moisture in the air, no matter how sleek and shiny it looks when I leave the house. Add to that it's gone all peri menopausal, and I've never been much good at styling it anyway, and, well, you get the gist - it looks a bit messy most of the time.

My teeth have always been straight, but have also always been quite yellow, since I was a teenager. I did do a couple of courses of tooth whitening, but the conclusion from my dentist is that my enamel is so (naturally) thin, that it is the inner yellowness showing through and no tooth whitening can fix that. I absolutely refuse to go down the route of veneers (why would I want to file away my perfectly good teeth to have false fronts stuck on?!) because I think they mostly look so fake and like the owner has too many teeth. But my teeth are always spotlessly clean and well cared for 🤷‍♀️

And so probably some PPs would assume my bag is fake. Well, that just goes to show how you can't judge from appearances. It is completely possible to like nice bags and be willing to pay for them, whilst being less fussed about other style/beauty areas.

But anyway. I don't really mind what a random person on the street thinks. I don't buy bags to impress people, I buy them because I like them. And if someone judges me badly and assumes I am carrying a fake - well, that says more about them, than about me.

You would be absolutely surprised at how many people with money use fake handbags, especially Hermes.
Some are bought in the Middle East, are shown by invitation only. A lot of the women also own the real thing but don’t want to take them out because they are so covetable and therefore attractive to thieves.
They do the same with their watches.

I kind of always assumed that someone getting on a bus with me with Louis Vuitton bag has a fake. I lived in a bit deprived area

Ohh if you don’t mind could you DM me where they are from? Xx

And for me personally there's no way I could wear a tescos top & carry a gucci bag to an event

I have a Mulberry & an Isabel Marant but I can't afford the actual designer bags I would love. There's just no way I would buy or carry a fake. It would really bother me even if i was the only one who could tell

It's the principle for me.

So I buy other nice mid-range bags from Maje, campomaggi, Polene, Whistles & Ally Capellino ba&sh etc. I'm much happier with a decent leather bag from somewhere like that than a fake Gucci.

I absolutely judge the bag wearer by the rest of the appearance - hair, teeth, jewellery & shoes are indicators & I make a judgement on whether a bag is real or not depending on these.

I have a few high end designer bags. I dress in primark, river island etc. couldn't care less if people think my bags are fake. I know they're real, that's what matters to me.

I got on the train last weekend and sat opposite a woman with an obviously fake version of my bag which I had. She couldn't stop glaring at me, like how dare I have the real thing.

I think the fakes are so good on websites like Hacoo that it's getting harder to spot the difference.

When my friend was in China for a work trip her Chinese counterparts told her that a lot of fakes and genuine stuff is made in the same factory now and sold off as a sideline.

Really? I have 9 designer bags none of them are fake, they are my guilty pleasure but I dress mostly from new look or river island 🤣

This is why I don't buy fakes. DS is not so principled and does buy fake kits or a gucci cap in tenerife.

Everyone I see around non chi chi parts of Manchester. Not necessarily looking bad. I assume they are carrying fakes. Especially those LV totes or YSL camera bag or Chanel flap bags or those awful Marc Jacobs shopper bags or there's a certain chloe bag you see often on a sheet on the floor tenerife.

I've got a friend who is probably well off enough to afford a real bag (she has nice holidays and drives a premium marque car but that could be leased). She always has a new bag after a holiday so I assume they are fake. Plus she once bought her own gin to the pub to add to fruit juice so I'm betting she's not stupid with her money.

I have a couple Mulberry bags and couple from Coach etc I also don't dress up particularly, usually in jeans and trainers so you shouldn't really assume bags are fake just by what someone is wearing.

Exactly this! I would never buy fake. I won't buy fake if people ask me to (I used to live somewhere very well known for fake everything) and I judge anyone who buys fakes very harshly indeed. Fake goods are the 'more acceptable' face of crime, with the proceeds funding everything from terrorism to trafficking.

I know a lot of people who buy fake bags (and clothes). I don’t really see the point in either the real or the fakes myself but I’d not be surprised at anyone having counterfeit brands.

That’s an excellent point!

I only buy designer bags and it wouldn’t bother me at all if people thought they were fake - I know they’re the real thing and it makes me feel good having a nice bag (and shoes!) I always buy decent bags and shoes but will buy clothes from the high street (I think I’m very good at only buying expensive/classy looking stuff)
I must admit I do usually assume a bag is fake if the owner isn’t polished in general and wearing slobby clothes. Good hair/teeth are also usually a good indicator of whether someone is affluent or not.

I’d feel like a phony carrying a fake bag but that’s just me.

My aunt has a wardrobe full of bags, some genuine designer, a few fakes, most though are just bags she likes the shape or colour of.

As she said, they all do the same thing, whether they cost 50p from a charity shop or thousands from Chanel, she also says most people assume her real bags are fake.

@TurquoiseBear same for me! I comfort myself with the thought that at least if people think my bags are fake, I'm less likely to be mugged for them

Yes, I'm always amazed that people don't understand this and think there's no harm in it. The human cost of fakes is high.

I assume most of the Chanel bags I see are fake because they are so much more expensive than other designer bags. I have one real designer bag – people probably assume it’s fake as otherwise I am not that well turned out 🤣

I’m aghast that people don’t know they are supporting crime including human trafficking by buying fakes and are so blasé about it.

I guess some are fakes but definitely not all. I dress like a tramp some days but carry a bag that cost £1500 🤷

Ive worked in that industry and when you know what to look for, you can spot a good proportion of the fakes. Yes, there are a lot, especially LV bags. They are widely available in Mediterranean tourist resorts and in the middle east, despite increasingly strong laws in Spain there simply isn't the resource to enforce.

It really bugs me, people think nothing of buying fakes but don't realise how much effort goes into designing and producing the real ones. Good quality ethically sourced leather, buckles & other metal trims, decent linings, manufacturing in a country with good labour laws - these things all cost.

Your cheap fake bag is made with stolen designs, low quality materials produced in sweatshops, manufactured by underpaid/poorly treated labourers. The processes are probably flushing toxins into water supplies, using chemicals that harm the environment and the workers health.

You are better off buying an inexpensive bag from a less chichi brand, with a respectable supply chain, than a fake luxury brand one.

Depends on who has it- I work in the City and the women are wearing expensive clothes so I assume the bags are real.

On holiday somewhere with bad fakes of certain bags (say a rubbish copy of the Chanel quilted flap bag) and people with them I assume they are fakes.