In the last few years we have seen an interesting practice on the runways - brands joking about fakes. We saw that happening for example in Dolce & Gabbana's T-shirts in which the duo celebrated knockoffs (remember the "Docce & Gabinetti", "Drunk and Gorgeous" or "Daiquiri & Ginfiz" slogan shirts?), then it happened in Alessandro Michele's collections for Gucci ("Guccy" joke anybody?).
The latest to join the trend was Diesel: as New York Fashion Week kicked off the brand secretely launched an "authentic knock-off" store on New York's Canal Street, known for its shops selling counterfeit products including fake Rolex watches and Louis Vuitton bags.
The shop sold "Deisel" branded garments such as T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats, with the name of the brand in the trademark red box logo. Prices started at around $60 for a hoodies, so a fraction of what you would usually pay for a Diesel's item.
The fun twist of the project was that the shoppers actually ended up buying in a store that looked authentically fake, real limited edition pieces disguised as fake ones. Obviously the project was filmed to show how those who bravely dared to buy clothes and accessories in the store were actually rewarded with real products. The collection will be available in a very limited edition on Diesel.com starting from 13th February.
Yet there are silent and rather tragic implications in this sad exercise in appropriating the fake: it is obvious that good ideas must be finished in the fashion industry as appropriating the fake is a bit like surrendering and almost telling to the fake market, "You know, you do have better ideas than us, after all." (Well, actually they do, as proved by the well-documented "Aliexpress Syndrome"...).
Yet there are more silent implications behind these fake real garments. In Italy the fight against counterfeit products has been on for decades: the fake market was extremely rife in the '80s and allowed many consumers to buy from a market stall fake branded items that may have helped them achieving a much desired cult status.
In Italy there is a special police corp - the Guardia di Finanza (Tax Police) - that deals with a series of specific crimes, among them investigations about counterfeit and illegal goods, from dangerous toys and appliances to garments, accessories and even fake luxury yarns.
The Guardia di Finanza activities regarding the counterfeit market increased in the last two years and nowadays you get constant and frequent reports about new investigations into the fake market.
Behind fake products there are often illegal factories and workshops based in China and Italy where workers are exploited. The anonymous people who work in such places are badly paid; they are not covered by any special labour regulations and manufacture bags and clothes or simply apply fake logos on a wide range of items in unsafe conditions.
Many illegal migrants are also recruited to make such products or sell them on the streets or on the beaches of many European capitals. In most cases Italian criminal organisations are involved in the production and sale of counterfeit goods as they know this is a profitable market. Last December the Guardia di Finanza seized 10,000 fake garments in an operation in Montesilvano, in the Abruzzo region. It was estimated that on the market these items may have generated around 150,000 Euros.
Between the end of last year and the beginning of 2018, the Guardia di Finanza seized fake products from cities all over Italy, from Sassari to Montesilvano, from Turin to Naples. It takes months to track down illegal items: nowadays the Guardia di Finanza is also operative online, investigating fake goods sold via social networks or sites facilitating consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumers transactions such as eBay.
The most famous labels and fashion houses copied include (just to mention a few ones) Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Fred Perry, Celine, Gucci, Balenciaga, Emporio Armani, Adidas, Nike, Moschino and Chanel.
Diesel/Deisel's publicity stunt was maybe a fun way to play with its fans and encourage them to wear what they want. The brand seemed to tell consumers "just buy fake goods, if you have the confidence to do so".
Yet encouraging people to get into the fake market, is a bit like telling them to engage in activities with criminal organisations. So, while we should applaud Diesel's choice to ditch the A/W 2018 catwalk show and eliminate useless parties for poseurs that do not generate sales, jobs and money, the fake store was a terrible faux pas as it implied a side of the coin we don't want to explore as it involves human exploitation issues we'd rather forget about. In a nutshell the fake joke in Deisel's publicity stunt was on the final consumers, but it says a lot about the state of fashion.
When Virgil Abloh ran in 2016 Off-White™'s "if the cops come run" handbag campaign, he probably never thought that there are people who live like that to get by. Most peple selling in the streets in Spain or Italy for example arrived in these countries through difficult journeys on packed boats and what they do is the only option they found, it wasn't a lifestyle choice.
Last year the "manteros" (street vendors called like that after the blanket, "la manta" on which they display their goods), launched in Spain a (legally registered) brand called Top Manta: maybe next time Abloh or Diesel may consider a joint venture or a "collaboration" (as they say nowadays...) with street vendors. Rather than taking the piss out of them and out of consumers, this could be a great chance to promote original pirate products and come up with a positive project that may really benefit people.
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