Hello,

I'd like to have the addresses of shops selling knockoff purses on Canal Street or any other place that is worth while.

Thanks

you can just walk down canal street and every other store is selling knockoff purses.

When I was in New York I also found purses on street corners near 5th ave. and Madison

I saw purses on just about every street corner. I preferred the great jewelry buys.

Just thought you'd like to know that when you buy knockoff pocket books, some of that money filters back to Terrorists!!!!! Saw a show about it a couple of weeks ago, so no more knockoffs for me!!!

That story was placed by the designers to guilt people into buying the originals instead of the fakes. Their campaign would have some effect if they reduced their prices instead.

Do you mean discounted when you refer to knock off because here in England this would mean stolen goods.

I prefer the term "designer imposter" purses. They're not stolen, they're just fakes.

They aren't "stolen," but rather manufactured as faux. International copyright laws being what they are (whatever that is), it's tough to track down and prosecute the offenders. They do confiscate entire boatloads of counterfeit designer merchandise, but it appears that most of it makes its way here. I find it interesting that while it's illegal to manufacture or import these counterfeits, they're openly sold on the street by licensed vendors. And it's not just New York. I've seen the same knock-offs sold by seemingly the same guys (99% of whom are from Senegal), on the streets in London, Paris, Rome, Florence.

does anyone have any tips for recoginzing a designer bag from a fake one? some of the fakes are pretty good. Louis Vuitton fakes, for instance...some have a completely different "LV" design on them... but others look the same. Any comment?

I prefer the term knockoff, because it means fake. Knockoff bags however just do not appeal to me, nor do the original designer ones. I want something different that says "Rita" no matter which way you look at it. That would be just about any red purse (bag, pocketbook) at the moment.

The real Louis Vuitton should have a hallmark (I'm not really sure what it is called) inside somewhere that is like an impression in the leather. I have a real one and my daughter has a couple of fakes and hers don't have this. My husband was trained by some of the girls he worked with in Korea, where a lot of the fakes are made, and he always looks at the inside at the lining and at the stitching, both internal and external. He says that is how you tell a quality fake. Apparently in Korea there are different grades of fakes and that the better ones even have their own serial numbers.