Photos Credit: Christine Kim

I was so bummed that I could not make it to the Rebecca Minkoff Sample Sale in San Francisco on May 16th.  However, a dear friend of mine, who is also crazy about bags, went and took some pictures for me.  I did not think that she would have had a chance to take pictures because this kind of sale is usually very hectic.  I was so happy when she emailed me the pictures she took.  I felt like I did not totally miss out on the sale.

Although the prices were not incredibly cheap, a lot of the shoppers were pretty feisty and snagged a lot of the bags.  After the jump you can see that shoppers were holding many bags at the same time.  Within the first five minutes of the sale most of the bags were snagged, just so that they could decide which one to get.  In my opinion, that kind of shopping is very exciting as it gets your adrenaline pumping.  In the end, when you finally score something nice and cheap, you will experience victory.  Where is the fun of shopping retail, where everything is priced at the full price, comes in a complete selection, and no one is trying to snatch your finds.  Perhaps, I’m just not mature enough to appreciate the “uneventfulness” of retail shopping.

NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) – Italian fashion house Gucci sued rival fashion and leather goods label Guess Inc. on Wednesday, claiming it copied a dress design and several trademarked logos.

Gucci accused Guess Inc (GES.N) of imitating trademarked designs, including a green and red stripe, a repeated interlocking GG mark and stylized G mark it emblazoned on accessories like handbags, belts, gloves, watches and glasses.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan federal court and seeks unspecified monetary damages, also accused Guess of copying a dress featuring an interlocking GG diamond motif.

“Rather than going through the effort and expense of developing and creating their own unique designs, defendants have chosen to target Gucci by knowingly and slavishly replicating Gucci’s world famous design elements and designations,” the lawsuit said.

Article from Reuters

After reading that news article I immediately thought about Target. I’ve seen so many copycat designer handbags sold on Target. They are not counterfeits, since they use their own brand. However, the designs of the Target bags are almost identical to the high end designer bags. I am aware that Target has been collaborating with many designers in producing affordable designer goods, but this is not it.

Here are some examples:

Louis Vuitton Mahina Copycat from Target	Louis Vuitton Mahina
Image from Target	Image from Momist
Chloe Paraty Python Copycat from Target	Chloe Paraty Phyton Tote
Image from my camera	Image from Net-A-Porter

I can’t help but wonder: Is it ok for Target to sell these bags? Where do you draw the line between counterfeits and copycat?

Source

The current economic recession definitely changed the public’s perception of luxury. The exclusive designer goods that used to be so expensive and hard to get are now flooding the outlets and sample sale sites. Consumers are now used to the 70% discount.  How will we ever pay full price again? Will the designers inflate their price even more and give us pseudo discounts?

Read Buyer’s Market from WSJ Magazine