To have or not to have?

[LaylaMonroe]

I was ultimately sure the shoes were fakes when he started selling see-thru Nikes.  If Nike made something if this nature they would surely advertise, as the novelty woul;d be very profitable for them.

Actually, Nike did make a clear AFO about 5 years ago.  I know because my daughter (and her father) are huge AFO fans.  They would get a new white pair about every month.  When the clear ones came out, my daughter wanted those instead of the white ones. I bought them each a pair from Foot Locker.  I doubt Foot Locker would sell knockoffs.

[B3Wannabe]

Korea is one big knock-off factory.

But then again, a lot of REAL stuff is made here and China.

You can get BabyPhat jackets for about 20 dollars here. They have mink blankets for $30.

[kingrhollo]

One of our members work for Customs and his father works for the State District Attorney's Office.  They both say that knock-offs are illegal.

[B3Wannabe]

One of our members work for Customs and his father works for the State District Attorney's Office.  They both say that knock-offs are illegal.

Yea. They are, but you can still import a certain amount of them.

The main reason they're illegal is because companies "lose" money from you buying cheap products, and the government loses money from imports of cheap products that bypass Customs.

People over here get into trouble a lot from buying things and using the military postal system to export goods back to the States. Sometimes they'll sell duty-free goods from the military post to Korean civilians, too.

[LaylaMonroe]

Korea is one big knock-off factory.

But then again, a lot of REAL stuff is made here and China.

You can get BabyPhat jackets for about 20 dollars here. They have mink blankets for $30.

1. If I send you some money, can you pick up a couple of those blankets for me?

2. How much do full-length mink coats run over there?

[kodacolor]

My motto is...if you don't have the cash with you/on a debit card put it on a wishlist.

I don't care about name brands.  If I need it, it looks cute, and doesn't break the bank then I'll buy it.  However, I don't buy from sidewalk stores and out the back of trunks.

[kodacolor]

Wait, about this drug thing are they selling them to get money for drugs?

[kodacolor]

Actually, nearly everything is a rip-off of an original but I'm talking about those products which are not only made to look like the real thing, but passes themselves off as the real thing.

OOOHHHHH!  I'm slow 

[csedwards2]

Wait, about this drug thing are they selling them to get money for drugs?

no.

[SirTJ]

I definitely don't buy knockoffs, but it's not really a moral thing for me (although integrity is about #1 on my life's priority list).  I just hate fake stuff.  Hate, hate, hate. Uggghhhh!!!  Hate knockoffs.

This is me.

[kodacolor]

If you just buy it because you like it and didn't even know it was a knockoff (like my mom, who doesn't even know what Burberry is, but bought a knockoff from a cheap store in a mall because she liked the colors), that's different.

Lol! That's me...kinda.  I know Burberry is a brand and I've seen the perfume/cologne around but if you put a real Burberry item and a knock off right next to each other and asked me to tell you which one was the real one I wouldn't be able to.

[under13]

1. If I send you some money, can you pick up a couple of those blankets for me?

2. How much do full-length mink coats run over there?

Why would they sell minks over there for $20, when they can import it here and sell for thousands? They must be cat skin or something.

----

As for fake stuff, I'm done with em. You get what you pay for. Last year I bought 10 Lacoste shirts for like $200 from some lady (they are $75 each in the store). They looked and felt just like my real ones, but After I washed them, almost all of them had holes in em and the stitching came loose. So I learned my lesson the hard way.

I also brought a knockoff Louis Vuitton Messenger to use as a laptop case. I probaly paid more for it than most people pay for knockoffs, but the quality is great and it looks exactly like the real thing but for a fraction of the $1500 price tag of the original. And I guess thats why people are into knockoffs. Why pay thousands of dollars when you can get a fake one that looks exactly the same for a whole lot less, and wont nobody know its fake but you?

So would I buy more knockoffs? Most likely not. As I grow older I no longer feel the need to have name brands and logos on my clothes. I dont think I've worn anything with a logo on it in over a year, and I get more compliments on my style than ever before.

[Loopy]

Singing: Ain't nuthin' like the real thing, baby. Ain't nuthin like the real thing. 

Actually I like real stuff too, but I'm not one of those people who can readily tell the difference between a "real" brand and a knock off. I have some friends, however, that will take one look at something and say "Oh THAT's fake!" OR "THAT AIN'T REAL". I don't know how they do it, but trust me they know. It's like they have X-Ray vision when it comes to this stuff! 

[Loopy]

On a deeper note, I'm not interested in what people think concerning my socio-economic status.  I'm not going to fake it just so people think I got it like that.  That's silly and immature to me.

If you just buy it because you like it and didn't even know it was a knockoff (like my mom, who doesn't even know what Burberry is, but bought a knockoff from a cheap store in a mall because she liked the colors), that's different.  But, if you're buying stuff to try to keep up, that's really silly, IMO.

I must FIERCELY cosign this post!

[kodacolor]

Why would they sell minks over there for $20, when they can import it here and sell for thousands? They must be cat skin or something.

----

As for fake stuff, I'm done with em. You get what you pay for. Last year I bought 10 Lacoste shirts for like $200 from some lady (they are $75 each in the store). They looked and felt just like my real ones, but After I washed them, almost all of them had holes in em and the stitching came loose. So I learned my lesson the hard way.

I also brought a knockoff Louis Vuitton Messenger to use as a laptop case. I probaly paid more for it than most people pay for knockoffs, but the quality is great and it looks exactly like the real thing but for a fraction of the $1500 price tag of the original.

That's actually the reason why I don't buy from sidewalk stores.  They look good but it's crappy quality almost all the time.

[B3Wannabe]

1. If I send you some money, can you pick up a couple of those blankets for me?

2. How much do full-length mink coats run over there?

1. Act fast! I'm leaving next Thursday, and I'm not carrying anything extra on the plane!

2. I think they're like $130, maybe $300. I'm not sure. My wife isn't into those things. Our Bishop's family buys those things up every time they come here. They're definitely not more than $300.

[csedwards2]

I dont think I've worn anything with a logo on it in over a year, and I get more compliments on my style than ever before.

Air-five!

[Mysteryman]

I definitely don't buy knockoffs, but it's not really a moral thing for me (although integrity is about #1 on my life's priority list).  I just hate fake stuff.  Hate, hate, hate. Uggghhhh!!!  Hate knockoffs.

Atlanta also has a big problem with those places that illegally sell knock-offs.  They stay on the news.  I don't know if they are related to drug dealers, but I do know that it's illegal to use another manufacturer's label on a product that the manufacturer didn't produce.  (On another note, it's NOT illegal to purchase a product - e.g. a Hanes t-shirt - and put a different label on it).  Weird, huh?

Is it still a Hanes shirt after the label is pulled off?

[BigFoot_BigThumb]

They have mink blankets for $30.

1. If I send you some money, can you pick up a couple of those blankets for me?

2. How much do full-length mink coats run over there?

You can try this as well.  They may supply these folks for all we know.

www.fabulousfurs.com

Now it makes me question the authenticity of the high-end dealers.

[BigFoot_BigThumb]

Lol! That's me...kinda.  I know Burberry is a brand and I've seen the perfume/cologne around but if you put a real Burberry item and a knock off right next to each other and asked me to tell you which one was the real one I wouldn't be able to.

I never understood the Burberry craze.  Burberry is a 150+ yr old company, and I knew someone that had a Burberry trenchcoat in the 70's when I was a child.  All of the sudden someone in the hip-hop world says it's cool to wear and black folks go nuts and buy anything khaki-plaid.  That's one trend I never gave into.  As far as being able to tell the real brand, it's all about the layout of the stripes color-wise.  The red may be where the black should be and the white has less sripes on the copy.  That's how the knock-off folks get away with it as it is not a blatant copy.

Basically, if people would stop gravitating towards the knock-offs just to be in style, then these folks wouldn't have a market.  But that human desire to be "in with the in crowd" seems to never cease.