Fake Logo Fabrics

With logo fabrics check for obvious misplacement of the letters incorporated into the seams.  Well designed women’s bags with logo fabrics never run the lettering into the seam lines.  Design features such as LV lettering are never obliterated by for example, the image of a cherry.  The whole design is carefully worked out so that fabric placement looks aesthetically pleasing.  Observe how the cherries would intertwine in a controlled way with the lettering, which may be of 30 plus different colours, but certainly not as few as 8 colours.

Always check the placement of the hardware and the distressing on bags.  Many designer bags have vintage effect distressing and if the design is intentionally soft, the bag will slouch in a certain way.  If the bag is more formal, it will probably stand up on its own as my Dolce & Gabbana bag below does or as a McQueen Novak does, without any inner stuffing support and without kinking in the straps.  The straps will be even in length and placement.

You can also see in this final photo of my Dolce & Gabbana bag that when the straps hang down the design elements of the handles are as well crafted on the back as on the front.  Look for good design elements.  This bag has the Dolce & Gabbana name engraved into the rings.

Look for Shoddy Workmanship/Materials – On genuine bags, straps don’t have kinks, zippers match the skin colour well and the designer run of bags may only truly come in a very small range of colours.  Very smooth and over shiny highly processed leather is often a sign of a fake. 

Tell tale signs on unauthorized copies comprise minor differences such as the use of cheaper leather or left-over scraps and inferior, easily abraded hardware.  Often the bags are made in colours and even designs never ever originally a part of a seasonal collection.

Look for Shoddy Workmanship – Poor uneven stitching is a dead give away on a bag that is supposed to be hand stitched by a craftsman.  Bags of high quality made with natural tannin methods also often have a wonderful leather smell which softens down naturally with time.