Ooh, the attraction was there, the lust. It hit you hard and it was smoking hot. Suddenly, your imagination ran wild. How would we feel, look, fit? The moment was in your reach…then, wait-stop-don’t-do-it-damn! You faked it. A “no no” in bed and also in the bargain world and that’s what I’m talking about – fake goods, counterfeits, the knock off Louis Vuitton bags, Oliver Peoples sunglasses and Rolex watches that are becoming epidemic in this economy.

I know, I’ve been tempted, too. I wanted this one Gucci handbag from the moment I first laid eyes on it but it was well beyond my pocket book. On a trip to NY I made my friend, Laura, take me to counterfeit central on Canal Street, but I just couldn’t do it. I lust after a certain diamond rimmed Michele watch that “replica” websites list at bargain prices and are such dead on knock offs that some jewelers would take pause, but still I can’t. Even at 1/5 the price tag, I can’t fall for a forged brand-named good. YOU might never know I’m wearing a fake, but I always will.

How It Hurts Us

Brandweek magazine reported that counterfeits take as much as $250 billion, BILLION, annually from brand earnings. Money that companies would normally put into advertising, manufacturing and salaries…basically our broken economy. And I’ll tell you where the goods are not made…here, in the U.S.A. Eighty-one percent of all counterfeits come from China according to the Department of Homeland Security.

So how do they do it? Shocking, really…legitimate manufacturers make the products during the day for the designers, but at night, on the very same machines, run the counterfeits and sell them. And sweatshops still abound even though consumer criticism and pressure have helped. A 2008 New York Times article stated, “Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose [them] to dangerous machinery. [As young as 16] in the Pearl River Delta…workers lose or break about 40,000 fingers on the job every year.” Why? Because they’re forced to work 16 hour days. And you thought your work day was long? We might be able to afford their counterfeit purses, but can we afford to morally support these working conditions?

Sure, many countries are trying and are in talks to form an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) but guess what? China isn’t one of them. Wonder why?

“Bid at Your Own Risk” has become the disclaimer on Ebay, a site rampant with fakes. In 2009 they had to suspend 30,000 sellers of suspect goods, many advertised as the real deal that could fool even the savvy shopper. Make sure you only buy from an established seller with a excellent rating and if the price is too good to be true, well, it’s too good to be true. Brands feel that the only incentive to stop this new wave is a good old fashioned law suit and you don’t ever want to get caught in the middle of that.

How It Hurts Me

I’d feel guilty…easy for a girl raised Catholic, like myself. Not that I’m perfect, not even close, but it would eat at me. Every day I’d have less and less pleasure from the now blaringly fake item. Who needs that? I’d constantly worry about you looking too close and getting busted for carrying a fake. Or worse, you knowing and not saying a thing. Surely paranoia would set in. And what would I do if you asked, “Where’d you get that Dior?!” Would I make up some extravagant lie – “Heh, heh, heh (nervous laugh) believe it or not… I have this, um, friend who got it as a gift from her boss and hated it and when I , um, drooled over it she just gave it to me.” Or would I quickly, quietly, tell the truth – “It’s a fake. Leave me alone.” Then all my friends would say, “She used to be so normal then she bought that fake purse and now she’s anti-social and strange.”

How I Can Get Around “Faking It”

It’s called bargaining and acceptance (no, this is not a little death.) Look, I am never going to be JLo. I don’t have her money, her body, or her beautiful butt. And if you shorten my name it sounds like some anti-static laundry sheet – DDri. So maybe I don’t get the mansions, the gems, the cute nickname and the Jimmy Choo’s, but I can love my home that I’ve made and the things I can afford to buy. And if there’s one thing I can impart on you, my friends, is bargains abound and fine things go on sale for a steal every second. Maybe not the luxe luxury brands…but then again I did see a pair of Jimmy Choo hot, hot boots for $109 at the outlet so maybe I can have a little “sex in my city.” Seek and you shall find.

And, lastly…

How Can I Accept That No Other Name, Except My Own, Is Going to Make Me?

Well, sometimes that takes a lifetime, doesn’t it?

Here’s some tips on how to not buy a counterfit item:

Related topics: Anti-Couterfeiting Trade Agreement, Canal Street, Counterfit merchandise, Fake handbags, Fake watches, Gucci knock offs, knock offs, Louis Vuittan, Rolex