A hit product can be a brand-building moment for an independent designer, helping to raise awareness and increase revenue, while giving them the space to take more risks in the future.
Now it means we also need to be wary of people who will scam us.
“[After releasing a collection] “The question going forward is, ‘How long will it be before people start knocking them off?'” says Evangeline Titiras, co-founder of With Jean, an Australian dress and blouse brand beloved by the likes of Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa.
In the past few years, “dupes” — cheap knockoffs of popular products — have achieved a new level of ubiquity in the cultural zeitgeist. TikTok is filled with videos touting alternatives to trending products like Skims bodysuits, Staud handbags, Gelf Avenue pajamas, and Miu Miu jackets. Mainstream media outlets like Teen Vogue and Cosmopolitan do the same on a regular basis.
Dealing with counterfeits is becoming a necessity for brands: Lululemon got aggressive with an event in May to encourage trade-ins for fake Align leggings. Cathy Ho, founder of activewear brand Popflex, whose ruffled “pirouette skort” went viral after Taylor Swift wore it in April, says she now battles about 70 counterfeits a month.
“You take a risk on something, bring it to market, and if it’s successful…” [dupers] “We’re open to it,” Ho said.
There’s an ethical grey area: at what point does an item stop being a “dupe” and become a fake? But that hasn’t stopped dupe culture, driven by the fast trend cycles of social media, lightning-fast e-commerce and skepticism towards pricing strategies, from playing a bigger role in how consumers shop. This has had an impact on the fashion system, especially for independent brands, making it even harder to operate in an already volatile environment.
“It’s really disheartening. There are days when I think, ‘What’s the point?'” Titiras said.
“Nobody thinks about that these days. They’re all like, ‘Who cares, it’s fake, why would you buy it?’ [the original] “You can get it here for $15, but there’s no way you’re going to pay $149 for it,” says With Jean co-founder Sami Loking Tanner.
Deceptive Origins
There are differing opinions on the distinction between fake and counterfeit.
Counterfeit advocates say an item that looks like or resembles something is a fake, and an item that pretends to be something is a counterfeit. But the line is often blurry. Vidyuth Srinivasan, CEO of luxury goods authentication company Entrupy, says that in reality, counterfeits and fakes are essentially the same thing. There’s no official distinction, and typically, a counterfeit becomes a counterfeit when someone declares it to be a counterfeit online.
To be sure, copying has always been rampant in the fashion industry — in the mid-20th century, American ready-to-wear manufacturers would often steal designs from Paris haute couture runways — but today’s demand for, and the conditions that fuel interest in, counterfeiting is unique to this era.
First, availability: In the e-commerce world, counterfeit goods have proliferated everywhere, from ultra-fast fashion companies like Shein and Temu, to online shopping giants like Amazon and eBay, to mall retailers like Mango, H&M and Zara. Then there are websites like DHGate and AliExpress, where many people shop solely for their selection of fake goods.
“When I Google a designer’s work, so many similar products pop up, even though I didn’t ask for them,” said Laura Schulte, a Germany-based producer and fashion content creator.
Influencers and tastemakers have reason to promote them, motivated by the potential for a surge in likes and affiliate commissions that comes with consumer interest. On TikTok, videos showcasing counterfeit products, such as fake Bottega Veneta Intrecciatos, include WhatsApp numbers in the captions so viewers can call to buy, says Henry Du, CEO of brand-protection firm Huski.i. When accounts are taken down, others pop up in their place.
It’s not just ultra-luxury items that are affected: Counterfeit versions of Ho’s $60 skirt cost around $20, a reality that makes it hard for brands to accept the argument that shoppers who buy counterfeit products are unable or unwilling to purchase the originals.
For designers, how to talk about dummies is tricky. The fashion industry runs on repetition, and it’s hard to prove that a particular piece is “original,” even when there’s evidence of timing or the use of certain fabrics. Blaming dummies can invite backlash, and no one wants to feel like they’re standing at a podium.
Put simply, “I understand why people want to buy cheap shoes,” says Paris-based women’s wear designer Michel Del Rio.
While staunch supporters of dummy products will argue that original products aren’t actually unique, or that they should be cheaper anyway, shoppers are increasingly aware of the difference between the cost of making a product and what they actually pay for it.
“It’s almost an act of rebellion. Consumers are basically saying, ‘These prices are against me, these economies are against me, but I want what I want, why should I sacrifice myself?'” Srinivasan said.
Tough business
At the same time, consumers don’t think about where the product comes from, why it’s so cheap, or the fact that it may be small businesses that are being harmed by buying fakes, Srinivasan said.
Last week, Ms. Del Rio noticed $100 replicas of her $325 black-and-white Soledad skirt circulating online, and while the feeling of being ripped off hurt, the thought of losing sales on a profitable product that had taken months to develop was existential.
“I was scared. I thought, ‘This is going to take away all my income, limit my future collections and cause chaos in the market,'” she says. “I’ll have to create another affordable line that I can sell on an ongoing basis. It’s completely changing my hopes for what I want to do with fashion.”
Because counterfeit goods often don’t bear logos or other protected trademarks, brands have few ways to fight back against perceived theft.
“The courts take time and are expensive. Just to get a patent you have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to court and you’ll run out of money,” Ho said.
That means they have no choice but to deal with the repercussions. When items from a With Jean drop are counterfeited — typically the most popular and most visible garments on social media — the shelf life of the item is short because “the market becomes saturated and no one wants to wear it,” Titiras said.
Jan releases products in small quantities to avoid overproduction and risk. With so many counterfeits now in circulation, brands feel pressured to move faster and produce more, increasing the likelihood of having excess inventory. “We’re very time-sensitive, because we try to buy as much as we can before the counterfeiters start making them. It’s very hard to predict,” Titiras said.
Ho said that not only their products but the entire brand are being counterfeited. The syndicates use Popflex content and product photos and change the faces and races of models to avoid detection. This can confuse consumers, Ho said, because poor quality counterfeit goods will tarnish the brand image.
Nia Thomas, a New York-based resort-wear designer, said the prevalence of counterfeiting has forced her to think about it in her design process: In addition to concerns like wholesale appeal, color choices and pricing, she also has to consider how easily a product can be copied.
More insidiously, she said, the prevalence of counterfeiting is causing a major rift in the relationship between consumers and fashion.
“Duplicate culture borders on throwaway culture,” Thomas says. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I found this exact thing and I was wearing it, but then I found something better and I’m going to buy that.’ The problem is that people don’t see the value in it anymore.”
