All Stories
Recently my brand-new car was vandalized at a Bakersfield hotel valet parking garage. The garage was equipped with security and cameras which provided me with a false sense of security, as it does for so many of us when we visit upscale hotels and restaurants. It is heartbreaking and devastating to see your car smashed, scratched and robbed when you go to checkout. In my case, I had a Louis Vuitton piece of luggage, a coat, and a makeup bag–all inside the trunk ready for the next stretch of my road trip, all gone.
After the initial shock of being robbed, I did all the right things you are supposed to do: I contacted the local PD and filed a police report, called my insurance, filed a claim, and then set up appointments to repair my smashed-in window and the body damage that the outside of my vehicle sustained.
When filing the claim, I was told that I needed the original receipt for the Louis Vuitton bag and my designer coat or they wouldn’t cover the items due to the glut of knockoffs of the high-end fashion world. I was shocked and upset because I am not one who saves receipts. When I tried to look up my receipts on the online retailers’ portals, only half of my purchases were on record. So now I am going to have to work hard to authenticate my purchases to get my items recovered. As an optimist, I am confident it will all work out, like everything in my life seems to do. The process, however, is a battleground that I now must work through, a process that is sticky and frustrating.
The next evening, I met with some friends in LA, and they suggested that I should just replace the items with knockoffs because nobody can tell the difference, and most of the real luxury brands are terrible if something happens to your bag. The brands refuse to stand behind their products, so why waste the money?
My friend went on to explain that her Louis Vuitton was cracking and peeling, and the bagmaker would not do anything about it. Further, her Chanel zipper broke, and the company blamed her for over stuffing her bag. She said she is done with being disregarded by luxury makers and will be buying knockoffs from now on. She believes that way, you get the image of designer without the sticker shock, nobody can tell the difference, and you don’t have to fight the system if something happens. I had a difficult time wrapping my head around this, but I called a knock-off bag peddler and had her send me pictures of the merchandise. When I saw the pictures of the products, I was tempted. My mom recently bought me a bag for my birthday as a thank you for all the help I have provided with my dad the last few years–certainly not expected, but much appreciated – and I gave thought to taking the bag back and replacing it with a knockoff. As tempting as it was, however, I couldn’t pull the trigger. At least for now. I loved some of the clothes and accessories, but I know buying knockoffs cannibalizes the luxury brands.
When I finally returned home, I took a deep dive into the luxury retail industry and how knockoffs affect the bottom line. They devalue the product and break down the moral compass of luxury prestige. But I also found that luxury brands protect themselves from overstock by putting things on sale, which devalues the products purchased at full price.
“I found that luxury brands protect themselves from overstock by putting things on sale, which devalues the products purchased at full price. ”
Some companies destroy rather than discount their merchandise. Cartier burns thousands of watches per year; Chanel, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Gucci all say it is less expense to burn the merchandise than to sell it at a discount. They receive a tax write-off, and they maintain image control of their products. Importing and repurposing is too expensive.
Some retailers shred and toss their products into a landfill and are the third-largest source of methane exposure in our world. Many of the retailers don’t care about the amount of plastic and carbon dioxide emitted into the air that is contributing to global warming and causing major health issues around the world.
“Some retailers shred and toss their products into a landfill and are the third-largest source of methane exposure in our world.”
I have long known about fast fashion and the impact on our planet with single use outfits and shoes, but to burn these beautiful luxury pieces–SHOCKING. We praise the sustainable, smaller companies for doing the right thing, but they can’t do it alone. They need the big conglomerates to jump on the wagon and take ownership of their behavior. Burning and landfilling should be illegal. Perhaps we should vote with our wallets.
My dive went deeper still. I decided to see if the rumors were true about knockoffs. Turns out the truth is worse than I imagined. Often these purchases of counterfeit luxury goods go to support human trafficking and criminal activities such as fraud labor and major abuse to those who are peddling the merchandise.
Retailers worry about eroding the brand value, so they burn their products and harm the environment, but the knockoffs support criminal activities and harm to children. That leaves us between a rock and a hard place.
The takeaway I got from my deep dive is that I must follow The 5 R’s of Fashion: Reduce, Rewear, Recycle, Repair, Resell.
I’m not sure what to do about my beautiful piece of luggage and my other personal items that a man with a crowbar stole from me. But I did learn a lesson. Never have a false sense of security—whether you are leaving your car with the valet or buying luxury goods at the mall.