Wednesday 1 September 2010

Faking It

Just a quickie as I have things I must do ... mostly Science Museum today with a side order of gift shop avoidance. Lord's was superb yesterday, the London Film Museum less so (seriously, wait till they get their act together - a couple of years might just suffice).

The IPN daily bulletin pointed me to this:

Fake goods are fine, says EU study

A new European Union-funded report has declared that buying designer goods can benefit consumers and the companies whose brands are being ripped off.
The article is well worth reading if only for the ovine 'drug dealers' reference.

It reminded me of recent occurrence. The £3 fake 'Levi' jeans I bought in Turkey in 1998 finally fell apart a couple of weeks ago. The genuine Levi 501s, costing £45, which were bought for me on our return because "you can't beat the real thing", lasted six months before I could touch skin through both inside legs.

The Turkish (cough) 'Timberland' fleece is still going strong.

And yes, I do realise that there could be more to this than meets the eye, but just saying is all.


5 comments:

subrosa said...

Where did you write this? In the shed?

Off you go and do family things or you just may not be able to ever buy fake goods again. All your cash will be going on alimony payments. :)

Man with Many Chins said...

Reminds me of the Turkish Reebok sweater that I have....7 years old, been washed loads and loads and still looks good. Compared to a real and genuine one which fell apart after about 18 months.

Atlas said...

It would seem that the forgers copied everything but the shoddy workmanship...

Ciaran said...

I always assumed people wearing clothes with company logos on were getting paid to do so. Imagine my surprise when I found out they actually paid extra for the 'privilege'. Very strange behaviour.

Gordon the Fence Post Tortoise said...

For the most part brands have lost their original purpose - which was to identify a reliable product of consistent quality. People paid for perceived value - and generally a dose of honesty.

I think now, in the developed countries brands have been twisted into a social signalling device - it is instructive though - to spend time in the less developed world and see that original purpose being fulfilled - it's something they could teach us and we could do with re-learning.

The western marketeers who play their "choice" games with low cost, low quality tat substituted for the original well made, durable items need a kick in the proverbials.

Timberland original shoes lasted 20 years - you're now lucky if they last 20 months.

What's annoying as has been pointed out here is that somebody knocking off "copies" seems to find it difficult to replicate the grim quality of the brands that are foisted on us at eyewatering retail markups...