Luxury goods: Chinese students taught how to spot real from fake
- The second-hand luxury market in China is booming, but a vast trade in counterfeits lies in wait for ill-informed bargain hunters
- So one man has launched a course teaching would-be traders how to tell the difference between the two
It is the world’s biggest market for luxury goods – and their counterfeits – so an expert eye for telling a bona fide Chanel handbag from a bogus one is a skill set in hot demand across China.
Enter the “luxury appraiser”, an eagle-eyed differentiator of real from fake, trained to triage handbags, belts and garments for dodgy serial numbers, stitching and logos.
China’s factories churn out huge quantities of luxury goods, much of which is destined for a domestic market worth about 4 trillion yuan (US$617.7 billion), according to market researchers UIBE Luxury China.
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Finding fakes among the real Hermes, Prada and other luxury items in China’s second-hand market
The second-hand luxury market is also booming as those unwilling to part with thousands of dollars for a handbag seek out the prestige at a discount price.
But a vast shadow trade in counterfeits lies in wait for the bargain hunters.
Many are fooled by “good imitations with little difference” from the originals, said Zhang Chen, founder of the Extraordinary Luxuries Business School in Beijing, who teaches students how to detect fakes and value second-hand goods.
