Three Cheers for the Musée de la Contrefaçon July 28, 2009

Sunday’s LA Times brought us this story on Paris’ Musée de la Contrefaçon, or Museum of Counterfeiting. The Museum’s goal is to educate the public about the scope of illegal counterfeiting, not to mention its ugly effects.

It’s amazing to think that the Museum has been in existence since 1951 – more than half a century – yet counterfeiting is more rampant (and does more damage) now than ever.

And it isn’t just phony Lacoste polo shirts and fake Hermés bags, either:

Exhibits are stocked with faux foodstuffs (including Tabasco, powdered milk, Laughing Cow cheese, Coca-Cola, Perrier and vermouth), tools (Swiss Army knives, Stanley tape measures), toys (poor quality “Babie” dolls stand elbow to elbow with Barbies), car parts (oil filters, body panels, brake pads, ball bearings) and home appliances (pressure cookers) and, most frighteningly, health and beauty products such as condoms, pregnancy tests and Viagra — the only visible difference between the real and the fake being the shade of blue on the box.

Here, with displays that showcase cheaply made prophylactics, knife blades that lack safety locks and drugs of dubious provenance, the emphasis shifts from aesthetics to safety, reflecting both the changing nature of the counterfeit trade and Unifab’s attempts to give consumers a clear sense of the potential risks that come with counterfeits.

It makes one realize that buying fakes just might be physically dangerous, on top of being immoral. In fact, trade group Unifab (which operates the museum) estimates up to 10 percent of pharmaceuticals are fakes. (I’m not especially fond of meds – I didn’t even have the Vicodin prescription filled when I had my wisdom teeth removed – but it’s a very scary thought.)

Of particular interest to me, and hopefully to everyone with ethical and environmental concerns, is this chilling quote from Marc-Antoine Jamet, current President of Unifab:

“We did a study in France, and most people think of counterfeiting as a game they play with the police…They don’t think about the fact that these companies use child labor, or that if they are making illegal goods they probably aren’t going to care about recycling.”

Can’t get to Paris? Check out Fakes are Never in Fashion. And while you’re at it, read this article from the author of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster. Sure, it’s not always easy to muster too much sympathy for the labels that are knocked off, but please attempt to spare some compassion for the victims of the rotten criminals who run counterfeiting operations.

The Shoe Lady Hates Phonies March 16, 2009

In yesterday’s Social Q’s column, Philip Galanes took a reader to task for buying a counterfeit designer watch and then pondering whether to own up to its illegal origins when complimented on it.

While I would have greatly preferred that Galanes mention the ugliest aspects of the fake-fashion trade (specifically, the organized-crime syndicates that finance most knockoff operations and the horrid sweatshops producing them), I do have to give him points for making the reader at least somewhat aware of the consequences of his incredibly stupid faux pas:

And try not to feel too guilty when you walk by your local elementary school or hospital. Because I can assure you, the counterfeiters didn’t pay a penny in taxes to support them.

As previously mentioned in several entries, I despise knockoffs. They represent the ugliest side of labelmania, and bring out the apathetic hedonist in otherwise sane people. No true vegan would ever be caught dead buying a knockoff; their sale funds exactly the sorts of things that compassionate, socially conscious people find absolutely despicable.

In other news, another kind of fake caught the eye of authorities in Vermont. Specifically, a young hunter illegally shot at least one immature buck and several does – then bolted a 10-point rack onto a doe’s head. Draw your own conclusions about the hunter’s IQ and/or need to overcompensate for a “personal shortcoming.”

Imitation = Irritation November 13, 2008

This just in: even small-time designers have their hard work shamelessly stolen.

Rebecca Pearcy, owner and founder of Queen Bee Creations, was recently shocked to discover a pair of Robeez toddler shoes with a blatant copy of her popular “Chirp” bird on the vamps. Robeez, which is owned by Payless Shoes’ parent company (Payless is not a company known for coming up with its own designs…yet another way to cut corners), must really have no shame to steal a design from an artist with bills to pay…egad, can’t these people come up with their own work and let independent designers make the money they deserve off their creations?

I’ve ranted before about designer knockoffs being inherently unethical, but buying anything with a stolen design is wrong, even if it is not necessarily made in sweatshops or financed by terrorist groups. Robeez wouldn’t get a cent out of me anyway (their goods are not vegan), but I’ve got half a mind to forward the story to every Robeez retailer in the area. Who do these people think they are?

Designer Knockoffs are Not Vegan September 16, 2008

…no matter how fake the leather/fur/wool/silk might be.

If anyone knows what it’s like to have haute-couture taste on a Salvation Army budget, it’s me. And I wouldn’t be caught dead with a vinyl Balenciaga copy from Santee Alley on my arm (even if the “It Bag” phenomenon weren’t dead, which it pretty much is).

This is not about label mania, snobbery, or greed. This is about human rights and standards of decent behavior.

What do human rights have to do with knockoffs? Read and learn.

In the old days, most people who knocked off designer goods were relatively ordinary, if somewhat unscrupulous, people just looking to capitalize on someone else’s creative work. This only harmed struggling designers with poor cash flow and anyone tricked into buying a fake who was subsequently mocked for it. Some American department stores were allowed to reproduce European designers’ goods and sell them, but they were charged fees for the privilege.

In recent years, most knockoff goods have been made in shady conditions (read: sweatshops), often by child workers. In Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, Dana Thomas describes an account of Thai children whose legs were broken to keep them from going outside to play while they were supposed to be making fake handbags.

The knockoff trade is mainly run by organized crime syndicates (probably because the cops are more likely to bust someone for money laundering than for copying the Vuitton logo) and even terrorist groups. Thomas also mentions al-Qaeda and Hezbollah’s ostensible forays into South American sales of knockoff t-shirts to fund, among other awful things, the 9/11 attacks.

These groups are, of course, also actively involved in the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and humans, to say nothing of terrorism and gang links. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

Being vegan is about reducing suffering. When you buy fakes, you are giving your money to people who are actively making the world worse. Don’t believe it? Talk to someone who has worked in a sweatshop for 72 hours straight, having been fed amphetamines to stay awake and meet the production quota. Talk to someone who lost a friend or relative on 9/11. Talk to someone who has struggled with drug addiction for years or seen their once-respectable neighborhood overrun by a large street gang.

Buying knockoff goods cannot legitimately be called a victimless crime. Please don’t support those despicable criminals.