Copying versus Counterfeiting

The Fendi counterfeiting case I wrote about yesterday made me wonder what will be the ultimate fate of the Design Piracy Act that some designers lobbied congress about back in April. Congress adjourned without taking it up and major changes are expected.

Fellow Portfolio blogger Felix Salmon put in a hell of a lot of work a few years back trying to track down where the counterfeiting statistics that are bandied about come from. He found they're overblown and, more recently, are leading to unnecessary controls. I agree with his contention that fakes do little financial damage to the companies that make the real thing. I have plenty of friends happy to carry either their real Hermes Birkin or their fake one, but I believe that the existence of the fake does not represent a lost sale to Hermes. In fact you can usually tell the fakes by their vivid colors. If you were going to spend thousands of dollars on a bag, would you get it in lime?

But nevertheless, I have much more trouble with counterfeits -- direct replicas -- than with copies and I'm convinced the Design Piracy Act is a bad idea. Why? Because of the way fashion works. To buy a fake Gucci watch says you love the brand image, but hate the price tag. You want the cold-hard status, but for a fraction of the cost. But for the people who buy a copies of a YSL runway dress at H&M, it says that they love the trend, not the brand. And trend lovers ensure the future of the fashion business. Rarely do shoppers of H&M and Zara think they are passing off their pieces as the real McCoy. And although the big chains are capable of getting their versions of a trend into store the same week it is shown on the catwalk, the vast majority of their customers won't want it until it has been through the fashion/celebrity magazine processor. It's trickle-down trend theory. By the time it comes out in full force, the smart designers and their fashion-forward followers are well onto something else -- thereby guaranteeing new demand. What self-respecting YSL customer would keep wearing her kaftan after it had been in the windows of Topshop? And while we're at it, who deserves ownership of the kaftan anyway? You know who gets to decide if the bill is passed? A judge. That alone ought to give the fashion designers pushing for this bill pause.

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