A woman buying a luxury bag is no less than a man buying a luxurious car. In both, you need to pay close attention to its intricate details and must be armed with high knowledge beforehand; after all, it’s a huge investment!
Now, let’s say you have your eyes on a designer bag like Chanel, Coach, Louis Vuitton, or perhaps Hermes, and you’ve been saving for it for a while now. How can you guarantee the dream piece that you’re about to buy is authentic?
Do you know how to spot fake designer handbags? Or maybe you didn’t get what you ordered for. Designer bags not only last for a lifetime but if you’ve kept them in a decent condition, you can even resell一 actually making it a good investment.
You can’t afford to get scammed; in situations like these; therefore, here are 6 essential things you need to look for before opting for your favorite branded bag in Pakistan.
Source: Racked.com
Authentic manufacturers of Hermes use a variety of high-quality leather-like pebbled calf leather and Epsom leather, which is highly scratch-resistant, soft, and remains dry despite your area’s humidity. At the same time, common manufacturers can’t afford to buy leather as rich as the high profile designers buy.
Another giveaway of replicas bags is the shape that holds the bag in its right shape. I get it, some authentic luxury bags have soft and flexible, and some can be quite stiff to carry, but remember, original bags will always remain in shape no matter how roughly you use them.
Another common indication to see if the bag is fake is through the feel you get when you touch its leather and hardware. It is not very surprising to spot fake designer handbags with an oily, sticky, or slippery texture wrapped around the light and hollow hardware一giving it an overall cheap look to the bag.
When you touch real leather from this one, that’s when you realize how badly you were about to get scammed.
Source: legitgrails.com
To give an element of elegance and quality, manufacturers and inspectors of high-end brands leave no stone unturned to pay attention to the intricate parts of the bag. If you see imperfect, sloppy, too tight, or even loose ends一yup, that’s the first red flag.
Start by checking the seams of the bag. Take, for example, Louis Vuitton designer bags. The sewing pattern of the real Louis Vuitton bag is perfectly aligned in straight lines and is equal in all directions, especially when it comes to the edges where the picture on the right is of a stiff stitching and a light shining clasp.
Tags on the inner linings can also reveal a lot. When you have a close look at it, you could see the logo precisely laid in the middle of a neat seam surrounding the tag. At the same time, the replicas could never go close to the standards of Louis Vuitton.
Other than that, most of the times where unauthentic bags get caught are through the glue residues left over the edges of a luxury bag like straps or near small hardware.
Source: realstyle.therealreal.com
The best way to spot fake designer handbags is to look at their intricate details. If not logos, replicas definitely have spelling mistakes on the inner tags of their so-called “luxury bag.” Before you order a designer bag online, look for close images of the real luxury bags from the official website and the site or shop you are about to buy it from. They’ll either have spelling errors, different manufacturing countrieses, or perhaps have used a completely different printed font.
However, a common misconception of spotting a fake designer bag is when people see a different shade of the same color. According to experts, the color of the same authentic bags changes over time, so to call a real bag fake based on its faded/too bright color is not the right way to authenticate the bag.
Source: Pinterest.com
As luxurious as shiny hardware sounds, cheap manufacturers use exactly that concept to use too shiny details to make their bags look expensive. Little do they know, you’re always a step ahead of them!
Upon purchase, make sure you are attentive towards the logos and details in zipper pulls, locks, and metal clasps to get the right idea. If you don’t know how to distinguish the fake one from real, go (carefully) through the Google images of the original bag before stepping out to buy your dream arm-candy.
Source: Racked.com
Generally, to authenticate anything, original brands use holograms that store the real data about that particular item. Most counterfeiters can, however, duplicate the tags and writings, but there’s no way they can fake a hologram.
This real Chanel bag shown above has a hologram on the top right corner. Whereas the fake one has a plain sticker to ‘trick’ its customers. Unfortunately, many other designer bags like Hermes don’t originally have a hologram, nor are they quite open about ways to authentic their original brands; you can look for other methods like the right material or artistry.
Certain luxury designers have unique serial formats. Take the image mentioned above; authentic Chanel bags manufactured between 1984 to 1986 have a different format (6 digit codes) than made after them. Or like the tags of Hermes that didn’t have a background square shape until 1997, and you get the idea. So make sure you carry out the essential research beforehand.
Source: packhelp.com
Luxury authentic handbags like the real Gucci bag comes packaged in premium packing with high-quality fabric and vivid colors. The manufacturers of high-end bags pay the same attention to their packaging as much as they do to their irresistibly fashionable bags.
Faded colors or stains are something that inspectors of a large company could never bear. The best part, you’re never asked to pay an extra amount for the luxurious packing, so if a counterfeiter offers you whether you want better packaging, it’s surely a no-deal.
Now that you’re fully armed to spot fake designer handbags go out there and get your favorite designer bag with confidence; you also need some of the sixth sense that we women are naturally blessed with. When all else works but still you don’t get the right ‘feels’, we’d suggest dropping it right there.
Yes, that’s totally irrational, but it may have to do with things you overlooked. Maybe it’s the way how the bag looks when you carry it, the craftsmanship, or the unprofessional salesman who’s making you doubt the authenticity of the Louis Vuitton bag that looks clearly original at first sight.
