stimpy

I see loads of unbranded soccer shirts in various African cities. They are quite popular down there. Very cheap too.

MinetaFlyer

What about high quality eyewear? Does anyone know if designer knockoffs are available for prescription glasses and sunglasses?

PTravel

When I was in Xi'an in January, I bought a pair of new glasses, and had new lenses put in a pair of existing frames. I don't pay attention to designer brands, but the frames that I bought were flexors, and my wife said they were designer as well. The frames, the two sets of lenses (single correction, transition lenses -- the kind that turn dark outside) set me back only about $130 US, about 1/4 to 1/5 of what I'd pay in the US. The quality was as good or better than what I get in the US, the service was certainly better, and the entire experience as painless as I've heard had getting glasses. The only problem was that I have a rather big, wide head, and it was a little hard finding large enough frames. Rather than mucking around with knock-offs at the tourist markets, you'd probably do pretty well just going into an optical store (with qualified opticians and optometrists) frequented by locals.

mmy613

looking for a specific LV bag in beijing looked all over anyone know some place good to look (been to al the markets and one private apratment) all help is apprecciated

jpdx

Thought I'd resurrect this good old thread. Headed for Shenzhen; any advice on where to find the good stuff?

slickalick

Right across the border is the infamous LoWu Commercial City - ignore the touts. For the best quality stuff, head to the upper floors and ask around inside the shops. Helps if you have a chinese speaker with you.

number_6

Many manufacturers made a business decision to relocate manufacturing to China and part of the deal was that their chinese partners got to make fakes -- yes, some fakes are made on the same assembly line, using the same workers and equipment, sometimes even using the same materials (but more often using cheaper components, but same design and process). The factory runs 12 hours a day for the manufacturer, and 12 hours for fakes. The designers know this going in, and probably view it as market segmentation. A few designers have kept all their manufacturing in country, though one had the chinese build a factory in Italy, bring in chinese workers to run it -- all so that they could keep that "made in Italy" label. They don't have a fakes problem, btw. In a way this is somewhat like the "second label" approach, except some high-margin designers have lost control. Rolex is a good example.

Some of the problems with fakes: using steel which rusts for some parts; using toxic paint; using plastic which melts/deforms; etc. I've often seen fakes with the same workmanship but never with the same quality of materials. For things like clothes this isn't too much of a problem (it shortens product life, but goes out of fashion earlier). For things like aircraft parts it can be life threathening. But most fakes are manufactured with some sort of tie-in to the genuine product; so it is a business process failing, and a business decision -- more profitable allowing fakes than eliminating them.

stimpy

The fakes cost about $25 or at least that is what I pay. I'd much rather pay $25 for a bunch Rolex's (and other high end watches) than pay $5000 for a real one that I would probably lose somewhere.

stimpy

I don't believe this is true. EU visa, minimum wage and benefit laws would prevent importing cheap Chinese labor.

But some brands such as Longchamp only manufacture their main products in Europe thus avoiding the fake model as you mentioned.

number_6

Der Spiegel had a nice well researched story about this ... quite an eye opener:

"The next stage of globalization is in full swing in Prato, once the center of the Italian textile industry. After the city lost jobs to factories in the Far East, now the Chinese and their low-wage workers are encroaching on Old Europe....

The new home of 2,000 Chinese entrepreneurs and an army of low-wage workers, 25,000 strong, is growing rapidly in front of the walls of this small city of 180,000. One in five of the workers is undocumented and, officially at least, isn't even here....

Prato's residents call the immigrant neighborhood, which has grown rapidly in the last five or six years in an area once inhabited by local factory workers, "San Pechino," or St. Beijing. When the first Chinese, their suitcases filled with cash, arrived in the early 1990s and leased their factories, the Italians laughed at them. But now that their numbers have quadrupled and they own a quarter of the city's textile businesses, where they make "Made in Italy" fashion at "Made in China" prices -- often illegally -- the newspapers are full of op-ed pieces about the "yellow invasion," low-wage competition and the Chinese mafia.
..."

Lots more detail (some quite fascinating) at http://www.spiegel.de/international/...435703,00.html

stimpy

Of course you have plenty of illegals in Europe and low level cash jobs, especially in Italy. But a full factory sounds unreal. My suspicion is that Der Speigel is pandering to their audience and I didn't really think the cited link was a balanced piece of journalism.

biggestbopper

Just ran into an old friend. She had a very snazzy looking "Prada" wallet she bought in Bangkok near the Oriental Hotel about ten years ago and has used steadily ever sense. It looked like new. Cost less than five dollars.

Dromomaniac

Agree and agree.

A somewhat pedantic question if I may: How do you handle Customs [the CBP form and/or questioning] on return to the U.S.?

Exactly the reason for my question (above). And I have been slapped on the wrist by CBP before for this very reason.

dtsm

Every place has fakes and depends on what you're looking for.

For instance, from my and mrs. experience, best fakes for leather product is shanghai ans shenzhen. Triple AAA quality prada, hermes, coach, louis vutton, etc. etc. men and women leather goods - customs wouldn't be able to tell their not real but the prices are also not 'cheap'.....$35-$200, depending on if latest model and size. I am talking about getting a $5000 hermes for $200.

And they are private locations, that one must visit with someone in the know, by appointment.

number_6

Actually it is trivially easy for customs to determine if they are real or counterfeit. The manufacturers have provided customs with a list of things to check, that are easy to check and hard to fake. I don't know the current list, so I'm not giving any secrets away here, but example of fake vs. real easy check is using a magnet (fake will have some magnetic components where the real is non-magnetic). So while these leather goods are often very well made (sometimes better than real Hermes!) and look good, they are also easily detected as counterfeit.