August 09, 2004, 12:58 PM

Are Shoppers being Duped?

By Terry Bohannon

For years, the distinct and popular look of the tan against brown print on a Louis Vuitton purse has depleted the savings of many boyfriends, husbands, and even fathers. The purse makes girls feel as though they're special just because they have an iconic and expensive purse at their sides.

The purses are in high demand, and they can cost anywhere from about $250 for a small pochette (wallet) to $1,100 for a small briefcase. The standard purse (pictured) costs somewhere around $520, indeed, that's no small change.

Because of the high costs, though far more for the social statement they bring, there have been crops of counterfeiters producing these bags around the world. Marketing to those girls and women who want the look without the cost.

This problem has not left Houston unscathed. Houston, as this AP release published by KHOU shows, is the third largest supplier of counterfeit goods:

Federal inspectors are working to stem the flow of knockoff Louis Vuitton and Coach handbags and other items coming from Houston, which lags behind only New York and Los Angeles in supplying counterfeit products to the rest of the nation.

Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials seized fake goods valued at $22 million in the Houston area alone.

Nearly all of these seizures led to Harwin, a retail area in the western part of the city where police in the past five years have made 70 arrests on counterfeiting charges, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.

This news, unfortunately, doesn't help establish a good name for Houston. Not only does our train have an accident rate 20 times higher than the national average, as the Dallas Morning News printed, which succeeds, as Rob pointed out, at bringing a bad reputation to Houston. Our city might just have the tag “counterfeit capital of the south” added to its reputation.

There's only one thing we can do. When a deal on a Louis Vuitton or Gucci purse looks too good to be true, for the women and the men who shop for them in this audience, we should ask the store where they got it. And if they act defensive, we should walk out and shop somewhere else. The best way to fight counterfeiting is to leave the fakes on the rack, unsold, where they belong.

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