An expert shows you how to tell a well-made, fake replica bag from a genuine designer bag.
The sale of fake designer bags is a global billion-dollar business. The quality of fake bags varies greatly and some of them are really well made copies, called super fakes.
– These may pass through the sieve, because they are faked very carefully and may not be recognized as copies by a professional, opens the expert and entrepreneur of Pre-loved bags Kristina Warden From the Luxury Helsinki store.
Designer bags from luxury brands are a global billion-dollar business. Jenni Gästgivar
You stumble upon a fake bag especially on the second-hand market. Some of the fake bags look very authentic.
– There are a lot of fake branded bags in circulation, so you should be careful when buying a vintage bag, especially on online market platforms and Facebook flea markets. Today, purchase receipts, boxes and dust bags are faked, and certainly not just the bags themselves, warns Warden.
Expert Kristiina Warden tells you specific tips on how to avoid falling for a fake bag. Jenni Gästgivar
All genuine luxury brand bags are made by hand, with solid professionalism, and therefore every detail is made with care.
– The field of fake bags is organized crime. There are, for example, poorly made, cheap copies bought in Turkish bazaars and then there are these super fakes.
Super fake bags may also come with a purchase receipt, a box and a dust bag – they are also fake. Jenni Gästgivar
REMEMBER
You can recognize a genuine bag from these details:
Metal parts and zipper
Logo
Seams and stitching
Leather or material
Kuos’s placement
Date code or serial code – code from the brand’s own database, if there is one
Carrying handle
Warden himself ended up in the industry through his own Chanel bag hobby from the banking industry, where he managed to work for ten years. A brand bag hobby and later a new industry was found when Warden ended up looking for a used vintage Chanel bag for himself at a cheaper price.
The bag was finally found in France, where Warden’s French partner was also found, who has taught him a lot about the industry. Fashion had interested Warden for years, and he had also learned a lot from the Internet.
He started selling vintage designer bags from his own studio in 2018, and founded his Luxury Helsinki company in early 2019. The showroom brick-and-mortar store in Helsinki opened in spring 2021 and is open by appointment only. The expertise of the store’s staff is based on years of experience, and they also have an electronic microscope and Entrupy software based on smart technology, which they use.
Nowadays, electronic microscopes and software based on smart technology are used to help with authentication. Jenni Gästgivar
Warden’s instructions for a vintage buyer of a designer bag online is to request all possible photos of the bag, compare the photos and check all the described details after receiving the bag. The surest way is to check the authenticity of the bag by an authenticator for your own peace of mind. In the Helsinki region, authentication typically costs around 50 euros.