Peering through the windows of the storefront on the corner of Broadway and Canal Street, it may seem like just another luxury boutique. Inside, luxury handbags – Dior’s Lady D-lite, Louis Vuitton’s Loop, Loewe’s Puzzle Bag, Telfar’s Shopping Bag and several Hermès Birkins – are arranged on a grid of white shelves and lit like individual works of art.
But all the merchandise in this store is fake. Even the ceiling lamp is an imitation of a Serge Mouille design. Window shoppers will find that they cannot simply walk in. A sign showing the opening hours — Monday: closed; Closed on Tuesday. Closed on Wednesday; et cetera — instructs interested passers-by to scan a QR code for more information.
What looks like a new store is actually an exhibition, ‘Ask Yourself What Is Real’, that can only be seen from the street. The installation, which will be operational until early September, will showcase about three dozen “superfakes” – or particularly convincing counterfeit handbags – sent to the RealReal.
Historically, the best superfake bags have taken the form of long-popular styles like Birkins, Louis Vuitton Speedy bags, Chanel flap bags, and Dior and Goyard bags. But lately, workers in the luxury retail market are increasingly seeing exquisite imitations of products from brands like Khaite, Jil Sander and the Row, which can be harder to distinguish, says Hunter Thompson, the director of authentication at RealReal.
“The leather could be great,” Mr Thompson said as he picked up a small, black, knock-off Double Circle bag from The Row on display at the Canal Street exhibition. “If I saw someone walking down the street with this, and I look at these things every day, I wouldn’t really know.”
The concept of the exhibition – and its location on a street known as the epicenter of counterfeit goods in New York – was intended to spark conversations about authenticity, a pillar of RealReal’s business model, which was founded in 2011 and subsequently had financial difficulties. become a publicly traded company in 2019.
“It’s about starting a conversation: ‘Why does it matter?’” says Kristen Naiman, the company’s chief creative officer.
Superfake handbags, which cost a fraction of the styles they are intended to imitate, are part of a multi-trillion-dollar global counterfeit trade known for flouting labor and intellectual property laws, as well as increasing of the environmental problems resulting from the non-stop production of cheap disposable items.
“There has been so much talk about fast fashion and how harmful it is to the world,” Ms. Naiman said. “Counterfeit products are even worse.”
Such bags also pose an economic threat to the RealReal and other companies in the used luxury goods market, which generates about $48.3 billion worldwide. last yearabout $2 billion more than in 2022This is evident from research by consultancy firm Bain & Company.
Newly made fake bags may be more attractive to people who want to spend less than the cost of an authentic second-hand style. And because superfakes are less distinguishable from real bags, some of them have slipped through the AI technology, X-ray machines and human specialists that RealReal uses to determine the authenticity of items, which can undermine shoppers’ trust.
In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will have a an estimated $2.7 billion worth of counterfeit goodswhich included electronics, pharmaceuticals and other items in addition to clothing and accessories.
The RealReal claims that it has identified and removed approximately 250,000 counterfeit items from its inventory since 2011. Items submitted unknowingly will be returned (the company has a three-strike policy for such cases), while items submitted with the intent to defraud will be used for training. purposes, destroyed or transferred to local authorities.
The company is trying to collect more fake bags during the superfake exhibition on Canal Street. On certain dates, the RealReal invites anyone who has a counterfeit handbag from any supplier to hand it in at an office above the installation for a chance to win an authentic second-hand bag.
