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100% Authentic

Are you the real deal?

It turns out that many Brits aren’t. We recently surveyed 1,000 Brits and found out that one third own a fake designer item, so we decided to do our part to raise awareness of the true costs of buying fake by launching National Authenticity Week. We believe that buying real is worth the investment, and have put together, with our friends at Catwalk Queen, this handy authentic buying guide.

Our goal in launching National Authenticity Week is to encourage everyone to take a second look at what they are buying and where they are buying it – make sure you are getting the real thing. We’re proud to be supported in the effort by Catwalk Queen, The Bag Lady, Vauxhall Fashion Scout, LeJu Designs, forwardPR, and OpSec Security.

We’re happy to welcome Gemma from Catwalk Queen as a guest author in support of National Authenticity Week. With more cash to splash than your average shopper, it probably comes as a surprise that some celebrities still fall for fakes. When Courtney Love stepped out in an unmarked dress supposedly sent to her publicist, she set alarm bells ringing at Chanel. The dress was a dead ringer for a catwalk sample that had never left Paris, and Karl Lagerfeld was less than pleased at the rip-off!

Even label hound Victoria Beckham hasn’t escaped unscathed. She once accessorised her designer outfit with a Louis Vuitton monogram belt, which surprised folks at LV, who’d never seen the design before. Louis Vuitton also sued Britney Spears’ record company for featuring faked monogram fabric in her ‘Do Something’ music video. As far as we know, they’ve never covered a Hummer dashboard in pink cherry blossom leather!On the other end of the scale, Tyra Banks declared war on fakes with a segment on how to spot a counterfeit on her talk show. For this she teamed up with the amazing blog Counterfeit Chic, which is full of great info on how to spot fakes, and why we should be avoiding them.Finally, P Diddy has gone to great lengths to protect the reputation of his Sean John label, by creating the ‘Don’t Buy A Lie’ website for Canadian customers. The site shows the difference between the real deal and cheap fakes – from uneven stitching to missing linings – and really shows why buying a fake may (sometimes) save you money, but also means a great compromise in quality.- written by Gemma from Catwalk Queen.

Introducing the game that’s taken our office by storm – Spot the Fake. Productivity is at an all-time low as we try and beat each others’ scores and be the best ‘fake spotter’ around. With authenticity being an increasing problem in the United Kingdom, it’s important to be able to tell the difference between a real and a fake item, especially when buying online and relying solely on images.Earlier this week Catwalk Queen shared some tips on authenticity - have a look at the video.To sharpen your skills on identifying a fake, play the game below. Then play again to beat your score, send it, share it, slap it on your blog. But be warned: this could be the only thing you do all day.

We’re happy to welcome Julie Cotterill, Director of Brand Protection from security firm OpSec Security as a guest author in support of National Authenticity Week. Unfortunately, the internet is a haven for counterfeit designer goods. Since you can’t physically examine the item before you purchase it, it can be extremely difficult to establish its authenticity. Internet auction sites such as eBay cannot guarantee the authenticity of the merchandise as they act purely as an online marketplace and not as the direct seller of the goods. It is extremely easy for the sellers of counterfeit goods to pose as genuine by setting up what looks like authorised retail websites or genuine auction listings. As a quick guide, we would advise buyers to take the following steps when purchasing designer goods online:

Buy from the original designers’ websites, or from sites such as koodos.com so you can guarantee the source.
Make sure you have the ability to return the goods for your money back before making your purchase.
Stay away from auctions sites which use images taken directly from the designers’ own images of the product and are not an image of the exact product you are buying.
Sometimes designer goods have certificates of authenticity which should be included when you purchase the genuine article, especially leather goods. If not, ask for the original purchase receipt.
When you receive the item, if it is supposed to be brand new, check the labels – do they look genuine? Also check the product itself as some designers use authentication devices such as holograms on the labelling.
If you are in any doubt as to the authenticity of the item, check with the original brand manufacturer. If it is counterfeit, make sure you report this to the brand manufacturer and the auction site where you purchased the goods from so they can take action.