Because I'm Worth It

So, here in America, we're supposedly in the middle of a crackdown on counterfeit luxury goods.

Did you notice?

Neither did I.

Once in a while you see an article about some luxury goods conglomerate getting in a huff about lost revenues due to knock-offs. Or you hear that some vague new initiative is being passed to keep counterfeits off the streets. Consumers are told that buying fake bags is equivalent to buying drugs, and that the counterfeit trade has links to terrorist groups.

So why, then, are those plasticky, ill-hemmed Louis Vuittons so weirdly ubiquitous?

To illustrate: the other day I trotted down to Canal Street, in a mini-adventure that could have been a page in Investigative Reporting for Dummies. Once there, I made a list of all of the knocked-off brands I encountered on my foray.

Prada: check.

Dior: check.

Gucci: check. In spades.

Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Versace. Checkity-check-check.

And I was there for less than ten minutes.

Some stall-owners were sheepish enough to hide the designer knock-off bags in the backs of their makeshift stores. But to get to the bags, you had to pass all of the designer knock-off jewelry glinting in the sunshine (those beckoning, tinny Yurman rings! Those tempting, barely-ticking Cartier watches!).

To be fair, these establishments are some of the more subtle knock-off vendors I've encountered. By contrast, in Washington, D.C. (home of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has supposedly waged war on counterfeit merchandise), elaborate street stalls sit right in the heart of Georgetown, teeming with fake Coach bags, Louis Vuittons of all shapes and sizes, the works. The boys who run these stalls are there every single day. They're so established that you could probably send a letter to them there on the corner of Wisconsin and Prospect Streets.

But then, even these vendors are comparatively subtle.

I've read that it's illegal to own a counterfeit in Italy. But amusingly enough, last time I was in Venice, there were street vendors selling Prada knock-offs literally right outside the Prada boutique.

According to one report, New York loses $1 billion in taxes due to counterfeit sales every year. And the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has estimated that fake goods have been responsible for the loss of 750,000 jobs in the United States.

Those are hard numbers.

So I'm genuinely confused.

It would be one thing to try to stem the flow of that merchandise into the country from China, where eighty percent of fakes are manufactured. Everyone knows that a piddling percentage of all shipping containers are actually physically searched. Two percent, according to U.S. Customs.

But once those goods get in, they're literally lying around on sidewalks, under the noses of cops and around the corner from the very boutiques that spend millions to eradicate them.

There's such an odd disconnect.

Here's a thought: does counterfeiting actually help certain merchandisers? For instance, back in the day, I didn't even know who Kate Spade was, until I saw her name plastered across countless, brightly-colored fakes toted around the city.

So does counterfeit merchandise inadvertently serve as cheap, underground brand promotion?

When I put this question to Kate Spade's representatives, they declined "to participate in the story."

Hmmm.

Ultimately, where there is a demand, there will be a supply. Pick up any magazine, and you'll see that this season's fashionable designer handbags are retailing for an average of nearly $2000. For most of the magazines readers, the street version of those bags is as close as they'll ever get.

And right now -- unless you live in France or Italy, where buying such goods is a crime -- there are zero consequences for buying into the poor-man's version of the dream.

Except self-imposed guilt over depriving your state of tax revenue.

And we don't live in a culture that thrives on self-imposed guilt or self-denial.

We live in a "Because I'm Worth It" culture.

And right now America feels entitled to $50 Louis Vuitton Speedy bags.

Ask, and you shall receive.

Follow Lesley M. M. Blume on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lesleymmblume